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0:00:10 Introduction
0:00:49 Magazine Talk
0:04:40 Play Australia Magazine Review
0:11:00 COVID 2 (Sequel Impressions)
0:15:11 Collar Bone's Connected to...
0:26:47 Square Enix Sells Tomb Raider et al.
0:33:30 This War of Mine
0:38:38 All profits from this podcast will be going to Ukraine
0:41:00 Opiate Talk
0:58:30 Gran Turismo 7 Update
1:01:00 Mario Kart 8
Transcript
Phil: Hello, and welcome to Episode of The Game Under Podcast.
Phil: I am your co-host, Mr.
Phil: Phil Fogg, and I am joined by Tom Towers.
Phil: Tom, welcome to Australia's longest running video game podcast until someone tells us that we're not.
Tom: Well, no one's gonna tell us that unless they're a liar.
Phil: Well, they would be, because I think we are the longest, well, I know that we're the longest running.
Phil: We've stuck at this longer than anyone else, which is more than what I can say for various video game publications and magazines, but perhaps we'll get into that in a little bit, unless you want me to jump right into it right now.
Tom: We may as well.
Tom: It sounds like you're eager to talk about it.
Phil: Well, I am, because I went into my local grocery store.
Phil: So I live in a small community, and this grocery store came in about years ago and shut down all the local stores in our community because they were the one stop for everything, including a really spectacular news agency and toy store.
Phil: So everyone said that's all right because this grocery store is here now and they're going to have the magazines and this way you don't have to walk into two shops and do two transactions.
Phil: So I walk into the news agent and after coming home from a gun safety course, because I'm applying for my gun license, which is another topic, but I figured, oh, you know, now that I know a little bit about this, so, you know, maybe I could get a magazine like Guns and Ammo, you know, and start reading about it just to get a little bit more informed on the hobby.
Phil: So I went to my grocery store and the magazine section is not there.
Phil: And I start walking around the shop, they've moved everything, like everything is moved to a stupidly illogical place.
Phil: Like there's now nappies that used to be like, baby's nappies used to be next to like paper towels and toilet paper and tissue, right, paper products.
Phil: Now the nappies are like in the candy section and you know, the cereal sections in with the-
Tom: Well, there's a child related still.
Tom: So maybe that's their logic.
Phil: Well, not the nappies I was looking to buy.
Phil: In any case, so the magazines aren't there.
Phil: So I go to this, you know, stereotypical, you know, pimply face team, who's the only other guy in a store.
Phil: And I say, hey, do you-
Phil: Where's the magazines?
Phil: Do you have any magazines?
Phil: He's like, oh, well, we have the IGA magazine at the-
Phil: After, well, first of all, he said magazines.
Phil: I'm like, yeah, you know, like Guns and Ammo, Women's Weekly, People.
Phil: Oh, yeah.
Phil: He said, well, we've got the magazine at the-
Phil: IGA magazine at the front of the store, which is the four page color catalog that tells you what this week's specials are.
Tom: Is it good reading?
Phil: Clearly not what I'm looking for.
Phil: And I said, oh, no, not the store catalog, like a magazine like Women's Weekly or Guns and Ammo or, you know, Sport Fishing.
Phil: Oh, maybe it's over there near the newspapers.
Phil: And I'm like, no, there's only newspapers there, because we can both see the newspaper stand from where we're standing, and there's three newspapers.
Phil: And he's like, oh, no, I guess, I guess not.
Phil: I guess not.
Phil: So this is the situation, man.
Phil: There's no more magazines in my local shop.
Phil: And I talked to him today.
Phil: I said, so what's the deal?
Phil: Like, are you going to get magazines back?
Phil: Like, well, they're like, well, you know, we have these three magazines, which are, you know, the three most scurrilous, you know, you know, pop culture, celebrity type magazines.
Tom: Which ones?
Phil: I think they said the name, the lady said it was called Take Five and OK.
Phil: I'd never heard of these things, but you know.
Tom: I think OK I may have heard of.
Phil: I think I've seen OK.
Phil: I'd recognize OK.
Phil: And I could have misunderstood her accent about the whole Take Five thing.
Tom: But she may have been saying to you, OK, Take Five.
Phil: OK, Take Five.
Phil: That's hilarious.
Phil: But in any case, I have I blind subscribed at a cost of $a year to a video game magazine called Play Australia.
Phil: Are you familiar with this magazine?
Tom: It sounds familiar.
Phil: Well, what was the magazine that you used to go on and on about?
Tom: Hyper.
Phil: Hyper.
Phil: That's it.
Phil: Right.
Phil: It's not Play.
Phil: So anyway, this is Play Australia.
Phil: And it's got five contributing editors.
Phil: And then there's about probably, I'd say, seven freelancers.
Phil: And it is a -page mag, full color gloss, published by Future Publishing, which is the same people that do RetroGamer magazine, one of the other four remaining video game magazines.
Phil: Play was the longest running PlayStation magazine in the UK until it was folded, and then it was resurrected last year in of all years.
Phil: And from what I can tell, they licensed this around the world.
Phil: So this Australian Play magazine is actually just the licensed version of the UK.
Phil: So like the Australian Game Informer magazine that used to come out, it's predominantly the content produced by the UK team.
Phil: And then they've got, like I said, five local editors that localize it and make it Australian sort of thing, and then contribute their own reviews as well.
Phil: So all in all, so first of all, I was pretty impressed with it.
Phil: They're up to their seventh issue.
Phil: It is a PlayStation only magazine, but given the way gaming is these days, obviously they can't rely on exclusives alone.
Phil: In terms of their scoring, they appear to use most of the scale.
Phil: Like most of their scores were, I have to admit, seven to ten with one ten for Elden Ring.
Phil: But they do give out a two.
Phil: They did give out a three.
Phil: So Shadow Warrior I don't know if you knew that that had come out.
Tom: I did not.
Phil: Well, Shadow Warrior has come out.
Phil: It got a five out of ten.
Phil: They gave a two out of ten to Curious Expedition, a five out of ten to The Cruel Key, and even a two out of, yeah, like I said, a two, a three and a five out of ten.
Phil: They also gave a seven out of ten to Dying Light
Phil: So they're using the scale, and there was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen reviews, which is pretty healthy for a magazine, and a similar amount of previews.
Phil: In terms of their credibility, well, the front cover had Ghostwire Tokyo.
Phil: It's made by Tango Works, who is the team that was headed up by Mikami, I believe.
Phil: They did the two games, The Evil Within, and Ghostwire Tokyo was supposed to be the third Evil Within, but then they've set it in Tokyo, which sounds like it's going to be a cult classic, which is a PlayStation exclusive.
Phil: So it's probably the last Bethesda game now that they're owned by Microsoft that will be a PlayStation exclusive, but also available on PC.
Phil: But in terms of their credibility, well, they've got the front cover.
Phil: Ghostwire has also got the back cover, which is usually the big ad, which costs typically around $for a back ad on a subscriber-based magazine.
Tom: Do you think it's going to be that much today?
Phil: In Australia, probably still, I'd say.
Phil: I mean, $is not a lot of money for advertising.
Tom: But with inflation, it's a lot less.
Phil: That's right, yep.
Phil: But they got the front cover for their back page ad.
Phil: They got the front cover, a review, which was, I'm looking right now, out of and also a fluff piece preview.
Phil: So in terms of their credibility...
Tom: They had a preview and review in the same issue.
Phil: A preview and a review, yeah.
Phil: The preview was the making of, and that was pretty light.
Phil: It was probably less than words, spread over four pages, and didn't really get into it.
Tom: Well, there's basically never been a good preview written in a games magazine ever, so...
Phil: No.
Tom: That's not expected.
Phil: But yeah, they gave a preview, a making of and a review in addition to the front cover for their back cover ad.
Phil: But you know what?
Phil: I'm at the point where I'll take what I can get.
Phil: The rest of the magazine was very good.
Phil: There was no grammatical errors that I could pick up on, and you'd be like, yeah, like you'd ever pick up on a grammatical error.
Phil: But in terms of readability, it was pretty good, and they had a pretty diverse crew in terms of the number of people contributing.
Phil: There's a game on there I want you to write down because I think it's right up your alley.
Phil: It's a game called Martha.
Phil: Martha...
Phil: is dead.
Tom: I think I've heard of it.
Phil: Yeah, it's a walking simulator with a photography bend.
Phil: And it's really sort of creepy.
Phil: And I'm pretty sure it'd have to be available on PC, but it was also available on PlayStation
Phil: But it looked like a game that was right up your alley about six or seven hours long.
Phil: They gave it an out of
Phil: So yeah, all in all, play Australia.
Phil: It's another voice.
Phil: It's certainly not a magazine I'd rely on.
Phil: % for my coverage.
Tom: Is it released per month?
Phil: It is released monthly.
Tom: So $isn't too bad.
Phil: Yeah, $isn't too bad.
Phil: It's more than what I'd like to pay for a magazine subscription.
Phil: But given the lack of choices, it's certainly something that I'm going to support.
Tom: Now you mentioned Hyper.
Tom: I actually sent you an issue of Hyper a long time ago.
Tom: I don't think we ever actually discussed it on the show.
Phil: No, and I don't have it in front of me, so I wouldn't be able to give too many substantive comments about it.
Tom: So we'll have to do that in the next episode of The Game Under Podcast.
Phil: Yeah, sure.
Phil: It's still handy.
Phil: I did read it and I did appreciate it.
Phil: It was mouldy smelling, as promised.
Tom: It certainly was.
Phil: Yep, yep.
Tom: Or rather mildew.
Phil: Yeah, mildewy.
Phil: But with that, is there anything that you wanted to talk about this week before we get into some games or some news?
Tom: Certainly no news.
Tom: I don't think there's anything interesting news-wise ever, but I think you also have impressions of coronavirus for us.
Phil: Yeah, look, and that's why we didn't record last week.
Phil: Look, we're trying to, I think it's fair to say, try and record every week or every other week as best we can.
Phil: But after your impressions of COVID, I decided that as usual, being a follower of yours, if it's good enough for Tom Towers, I will give it a try.
Phil: So I went out and got some COVID.
Tom: Well done.
Tom: And given the timing, you may have got it from me, in fact.
Phil: I think so.
Phil: The show wasn't quite long enough.
Phil: I think you have to be on a show for four hours before you can get COVID from your co-host.
Tom: I think so.
Phil: So I went out and got it.
Phil: It was on sale.
Phil: It was pretty easy to get, I've got to say.
Phil: It used to be, I'd say, pretty hard to get in Australia, but recently you've been able to pick it up pretty easily, even from small children.
Tom: I think the thing is they've started producing it here, whereas before it was imported, whereas now we're manufacturing our own coronavirus.
Phil: I wish we were manufacturing our own video games like we used to years ago, but anyway.
Tom: Or magazines.
Tom: We're also importing them.
Phil: That's right.
Phil: Hey, do you want some impressions or?
Tom: Yes, go ahead.
Phil: Okay.
Phil: Well, I thought it was pretty weak.
Phil: I had muscle pain for about two days, which was really distracting.
Phil: Just a general sense of fatigue, if you will.
Phil: And then one night of fever that wasn't even proper fever.
Phil: Like, you know, the kind I like.
Tom: That's the part you were looking forward to and it didn't live up to it.
Phil: No, I did have a weird dream, but I don't think that was related to the fever.
Phil: It wasn't weird enough.
Phil: That was still pretty weird.
Phil: But yeah, all in all, it's a big fizzle.
Phil: I mean, after two days of muscle pain, basically I had a positive test to show for it and just basically having to stay away from people for seven days, which was, you know, the best part about it.
Phil: But yeah, I mean, I've got my own die of destiny here.
Phil: Unless you have any follow up questions, I'm ready to review it.
Tom: It sounds like a pretty disappointing experience overall.
Phil: It was, yeah, completely disappointing.
Phil: But not as disappointed as the people whom I gave my impressions of it, because there was a very large sympathetic audience that wanted to know how absolutely horrible it was to have COVID, because it is still very rare in my community.
Phil: And there's a lot of people who are very fixated on how horrible COVID is.
Phil: So when I took great pleasure in telling them how much it was really just a very mediocre cold so yeah, so if it's okay, I'm going to roll the die.
Phil: My Phil Fogg die of destiny.
Tom: Go ahead.
Phil: Okay.
Phil: Well, the die of destiny has given it a out of
Tom: So the same score.
Phil: The same score.
Phil: The dies can't lie.
Tom: I didn't hear any dice rolling, I have to say.
Phil: Well, it could sort of just plonked on to the desk, okay?
Phil: I'll fix it in post.
Tom: I'm questioning if there actually is a die of destiny there.
Phil: Oh, really?
Tom: Yes.
Phil: Okay, well, my friend, do you want me to roll it again?
Tom: Yes, please do.
Phil: Okay, here we go.
Phil: There you go, a again.
Tom: Amazing.
Phil: Yeah, I know, twice in a row.
Phil: Who could have foretold?
Phil: But no one can argue with the die of destiny.
Phil: So, how's it, I mean, how's COVID been for you?
Phil: You're completely done and finished with it by now, right?
Tom: Yep, I'm finished with it.
Tom: I already given my final impressions on another show.
Tom: Although there's still, I would say, an above average quantity of phlegm.
Tom: But other than that, completely done with it.
Tom: So, to celebrate the end of coronavirus, I thought I would try something a little more interesting than coronavirus.
Tom: So, I was thinking...
Phil: Like syphilis or...?
Tom: No, not syphilis.
Tom: I thought I'm done with viruses.
Tom: I did a virus.
Tom: Let's try something else.
Tom: I have not broken a bone for decades.
Tom: So, I thought it might be a good idea to break my collarbone.
Phil: What?
Phil: On your bike?
Tom: Yep.
Phil: You've broken your collarbone?
Tom: Correct.
Phil: Why are we recording?
Tom: What?
Tom: Why are we recording?
Tom: I broke it on the rd last month.
Tom: So, it's been a while since then.
Tom: And it was, in fact, a very impressive break.
Tom: The bone was completely in half, and I would say or cm separating the two halves vertically.
Tom: And as soon as the technicians saw it, they said I would need surgery.
Phil: That's the upsell.
Tom: Yep.
Tom: The doctor's comment was that I would need surgery.
Tom: The surgeon's comment was that it should heal perfectly without surgery.
Tom: And while they have started...
Phil: Wait, what football match was on that he was trying to get to?
Tom: I don't think any.
Tom: But while this was on Saturday, so I went there in the morning on Saturday, and the emergency room was bizarrely empty.
Tom: But as the day wore on, there was a steady influx of amateur AFL players.
Phil: Oh, sweet.
Tom: All of them who ended up having slings apply to them.
Phil: Oh, my God, that's so comical.
Phil: I just love to see this lineup of AFL players with slings on them.
Phil: Only in Melbourne, you know, the home of the AFL or the VFL for that matter.
Phil: I guess they're the VFL players, aren't they?
Tom: Yes, they would be.
Phil: That's fantastic.
Phil: I just sort of immediately just cut to an animated version of your life.
Tom: I want fucking pussies, though, because I was there.
Tom: I refused the sling and just held my arm in place, holding my belt the entire time, unlike these fucking weak AFL players.
Tom: Why don't they take up a real sport?
Phil: Okay, they're using real slings, and you're somehow superior to them because you're miming using a sling?
Tom: Yes, I have the strength and stoicism to not need some fucking sling, like a coward AFL player.
Phil: If we could just animate this, the show would be over by now.
Phil: Okay, so...
Phil: Your collarbone, is that your clavicle?
Tom: Yep, that's the clavicle.
Phil: Clavicle, oh, righto.
Phil: That's not a good one to break.
Tom: Well, it will take a long time to recover, apparently.
Tom: Without surgery is -months.
Tom: With surgery, it's about a month, I think they said, but the surgery damages the nerves.
Phil: Oh yeah, it would.
Tom: And if it's healing well, does not result in a superior level of healing either.
Phil: I've got to say, in a woman, I appreciate a good clavicle.
Phil: I don't know that men carry off the clavicle as good as a lady.
Tom: I'd say it depends on the man.
Phil: And the woman.
Tom: I have excellent clavicles if I do so myself, or one excellent clavicle.
Tom: Now we'll see what the other way ends up being.
Phil: So is it your left or right clavicle?
Tom: Left.
Phil: Okay.
Tom: And luckily I'm right-handed.
Phil: How's that help?
Phil: So you can rub it?
Tom: No, so I, well, your left hand, your left arm needs to be immobilized.
Tom: So if you're left-handed, that will make doing a lot of things much more awkward.
Phil: This is like the story I told a few years ago where I injured myself and I was like, oh, thank God it's my left hand.
Phil: Oh, no, that's not my gamer thumb.
Phil: Whatever it was.
Phil: I think that was last year where I had a massive cut or injury and I was like, oh, thank God it's not on the thumb.
Phil: Okay, well, I'm sorry to hear that, man, but, you know, like, that's pretty cool that you've survived it.
Phil: How's the bike, the mighty, the mighty firing eagle?
Tom: Well, the bike, I think it's probably okay.
Tom: I haven't actually inspected it properly yet.
Phil: Oh, yeah, and how did it happen?
Phil: Do you run into a bus or?
Tom: Well, it was essentially the, my equivalent to drunk driving because someone invited me to the local market in the morning and I thought I am not in a state in which I should be going to the local market in the morning, let alone riding a bicycle.
Tom: But I ended up going anyway with a completely non-functioning brain.
Tom: And on the way riding home, it was a lovely sunny day, so I decided I would ride to the river, which is just a few blocks away, and where they work is actually right nearby there.
Tom: So I was riding past, right near their place, and I saw a billboard that I wanted to take a picture of.
Tom: And my non-functioning brain, while I was putting on a glove on my left hand with one hand, I saw this billboard, and my non-functioning brain decided to, for some reason, begin slowing down while I had my left hand off the handlebars and was going along at probably about km an hour on a very unstable, rickety, $folding electric bicycle.
Phil: What?
Phil: Your own electric bicycle?
Tom: Yep.
Tom: And...
Phil: When did this happen?
Tom: Well, I've had this electric bicycle for several years now.
Phil: Oh, is that when they first started installing the publicly available electrical bicycles and you stole one?
Tom: No, this was before then, actually.
Tom: I think they may have been inspired by people like me.
Phil: I don't want to get too deep into the reeds here, but is it a good brand or is it a China brand?
Tom: It is a China brand.
Tom: And for $which is the price I paid for it, I think it was actually under $
Tom: I think it has been an exceptional vehicle because for $it has lasted several years, many, many kilometers.
Tom: The battery has certainly got worse over the years.
Tom: It's gone from a range of maybe kilometers if you're economical in how you're riding to kilometers if you're economical and you're riding.
Tom: So realistically, to around kilometers range.
Phil: So you know this is your brain's fault, right?
Phil: Because you saw something aesthetically that you liked and wanted to do something creative with.
Tom: Well, it was my brain's fault more so for two things.
Tom: One, the decision to ride the bike with a non-functioning brain.
Tom: And then two, the non-functioning brain.
Tom: So I should add for our American listeners that in Australia, the brakes are around the other way.
Tom: So the right hand brake is actually the front brake, not the rear brake.
Tom: So if I have my left hand off the handlebars and I'm going along, if my brain is functioning, if I'm on a bike with recently serviced grabby brakes, I'm obviously never going to be braking with the right hand brake.
Tom: For some reason, my brain decided that it should just attempt to slow in the present circumstances regardless, resulting in immediately the front wheel grabbing, the bike immediately turning a little to the right and basically flipping forwards so that I had to somersault off the handlebars so that I didn't grow face first into the ground.
Tom: And then sliding along the asphalt for about or meters.
Tom: Luckily, purely by coincidence, I happened to be wearing a leather jacket and jeans.
Phil: Is that the leather jacket with the eagle on it?
Tom: No, but it is one of the leather jackets from that classic Game Under anecdote.
Tom: So one leather jacket saved a cat, and another leather jacket has now saved my skin.
Tom: So they continue to be a wonderfully useful purchase.
Phil: Well, man, I'm so sorry that we even dragged you onto this podcast.
Phil: If I'd known you had a broken clavicle, I wouldn't have made you record anything.
Phil: But that's quite impressive.
Phil: I've done some really stupid things between this and the last podcast as well, but I'm not going to go into that right now as it relates to putting my physical person in danger.
Phil: I think it's probably time for us to get into the gaming news and in some gaming impressions, if that's okay.
Tom: No, it isn't, because I surely have to give some actual impressions of The Broken Bone, just briefly.
Phil: So the first news story.
Phil: Okay, The Broken Bone itself, like it didn't jag out of your body or anything, right?
Tom: Yes, it did.
Tom: Well, I thought that maybe it didn't come out through the skin quite, but I thought perhaps I had dislocated my shoulder or something, but there was an experienced comical nurse there.
Phil: Comical nurse?
Tom: Yes, a comical nurse.
Tom: As soon as she saw the bone sticking up about four centimeters higher than the other one on one side, she concluded that I had broken my clavicle, but nevertheless touched it, to be sure.
Phil: Yes.
Phil: Yeah, yeah.
Tom: In classic nurse style.
Phil: Yeah.
Tom: But I just wanted to add, just briefly, it is, I think, a great bone to break after my experience with my toe and my elbow, because you can keep it...
Tom: It's not a bone that is in a part of the moving body, so you still have a little bit of arm movement, so it's not as frustrating as wearing a cast.
Tom: And because there's no cast, so far it has been fascinating, because without an X-ray, it has been possible to watch the right side of the bone, which was completely pushed down into my chest and not visible at all, gradually rise to the same position as the other one, and the part of the bone that had been elevated gradually moved down towards it.
Tom: So we're getting a live depiction of the movement of the bone, which has been very fascinating.
Tom: So I think after the disappointment of coronavirus, this has been, I think, a very fascinating, a big step up from that.
Phil: Oh, definitely.
Phil: I mean, bone breaking has to be a big win over viruses, you know, because with the virus, you don't know how much of it's in your head, you know, but with a broken bone, there's no avoiding it.
Phil: You've broken the bone, you know.
Tom: Exactly.
Phil: Wow, man.
Phil: Okay, so do you want to give it a score?
Tom: Well, these are just the first impressions.
Tom: I think we can give it a score later on.
Phil: Well, with that, I do want to get into the news.
Phil: I mean, probably the biggest news of the day is that Crystal Dynamics and IDOS Vancouver have been purchased, have been sold by Square Enix so that they can fund a blockchain initiative.
Phil: I mean, that's the actual reason.
Phil: That's the stated reason.
Phil: So like, yeah, hey, Tom, just so you know, we got to let you go, mate.
Phil: And I know this is difficult for you, but with the money that we'll be able to save from your salary, we're going to invest it into the blockchain.
Phil: And we think this is going to be very lucrative for us.
Phil: So anyway, your new owner is a company called The Embracer and they've somehow a magic, somehow magically got people working for them in the United States already in such video game companies as THQ and such what.
Phil: And yeah, so that's it.
Phil: You're gone.
Phil: So Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, the home of Gex, Tomb Raider.
Phil: Deus Ex is the Eidos part.
Phil: So keeping in mind, Tomb Raider was developed by Core in the UK, C-O-R-E, and then Eidos bought them out.
Phil: Eidos is responsible for Thief and Deus Ex, most notably.
Phil: And then Crystal Dynamics was the studio that was doing the work of those.
Phil: So they got bored as well.
Phil: And Crystal Dynamics did Legacy of Kain and Gex.
Phil: But apparently, there's like something different IPs wrapped up in this.
Phil: And they sold for only $million, which in terms of companies like Microsoft hoovering up companies so that they can build these Netflix type subscription model for video games, is not a lot of money.
Phil: So it's kind of a shock to me, but at the same time, Crystal Dynamics did have the failure of that online adventure game.
Phil: Square Enix was never happy with the...
Tom: What was the online adventure game?
Phil: The Avengers.
Tom: Okay.
Phil: Yeah, the Avengers.
Phil: I'm sorry, not the online adventure game, the online Avengers game.
Phil: And they did Guardians of the Galaxy, which was critically well received but commercially a bit of a flop.
Phil: But at the same time, Square Enix discounted that down to nothing, like the Black Friday within a month of Guardians of the Galaxy being released, even though it was critically acclaimed.
Phil: And I'd love to pick up a copy myself, but it's pretty hard to get here in Australia.
Phil: So overall, like this sounds like a really poor decision on the part of Square Enix, other than for them to...
Phil: I mean, the stated reason was we're going to use the money we were wasting on you on the blockchain, which is a big insult.
Phil: But I think ultimately the reason why they got rid of them was because it was never a good cultural fit.
Tom: Yep.
Phil: When Square Enix bought them, Japanese gaming was floundering and the West was it.
Phil: The West was present in terms of creative output.
Phil: But now, like you see games like From Software, even NIS's Persona series, games like Nier Automata, Japanese games have kind of gotten back into vogue with Western players on their own stance.
Phil: So now I'm thinking that Japanese companies don't need to have a quote Western developer to be relevant.
Phil: And I really just think this is Square just turtling and getting back to their core, as opposed to any other reason why they would get rid of, you know, what would otherwise be a pretty good group of intellectual property that would be wanted by anyone who's trying to build up a Netflix type subscription model.
Tom: Well, I think that out of all of those titles, including probably even Deus Ex, Tomb Raider is really only the big one at this stage.
Tom: And million does seem pretty low for it.
Tom: But I think outside of that, there probably isn't that much interesting or marketable there.
Tom: And the only other thing is you said that Japanese games have come back since then.
Tom: I think more importantly, Square Enix games have as well.
Tom: They've managed to restore the reputation of Final Fantasy since then.
Tom: So I think it makes more sense, as you're saying, that they're wanting to focus on their own things rather than attempting to publish stuff that they don't really have any idea of how to engage with.
Phil: Yeah.
Phil: And when you think about it, like we're here in Australia so we can kind of understand this.
Phil: So if me and you were like, hey, we really aren't reaching the Japanese market or the Canadian market or the African market or the US market with this podcast, or the Cuban market.
Phil: Anyway, I could go on and on.
Tom: Are you just rattling off a few places that we've had hits from that you don't know about?
Phil: And so we go out and we buy some other podcasts that can carry The Game Under brand internationally.
Phil: At the end of the day, though, you know, you've got maybe a golfing podcast, for example.
Phil: It's a lot of overhead and a lot of worry.
Phil: And ultimately, we can't control it from where we are, which for a Japanese company, you know, it's interesting that, you know, Sony has never opened up like a Sony USA electronics arm.
Phil: You know, they have for their publishing, but they haven't branched out with their hardware.
Phil: And it just makes sense that they'd want to keep this stuff close to home sort of thing.
Phil: And they probably don't feel like they've got an immense amount of control over it.
Phil: They most likely overpaid for the Marvel license for Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers game that Crystal Dynamics had to develop.
Phil: Interestingly enough, Crystal Dynamics is working on a perfect dark game, which would have to be for Microsoft because Rare owns perfect dark.
Phil: So obviously that'll continue on just as a side note.
Phil: But yeah, it just seems to me the logical divorce of a marriage that was never going to work.
Tom: I would agree.
Phil: Similarly, just talking about the Ukraine and Russia.
Phil: Well, Ukraine, EU, depending on which way this thing is going to break.
Tom: Could you describe that perhaps rather than a divorce, that a marriage that's unlikely to work out, ending its inevitable divorce, is this a marriage that is currently occurring?
Tom: Could we continue the metaphor?
Phil: If you look at the Russian side of things, you know, why would we get into it?
Phil: Okay, so, but in any case, This War of Mine, which was one of your top games of the s.
Tom: Might have been a game of the year one year.
Phil: The s, actually, yeah.
Phil: It was your game of the year for one of the years, and you included it in your best games of the s.
Tom: All deserving of that.
Phil: Yep, a game developed by, I believe, the studio is called Bit Studios, but it's a pretty small company based out of Poland, and basically, last week, well, maybe a week and a half ago, two weeks now, they basically said, any money that we make over the next seven days, we're going to send to aid humanitarian causes in Ukraine, which is, you know, really admirable.
Phil: And they started out, and they also announced that they're going to be bringing This War of Mine to current gen consoles.
Phil: Now, I don't know if it was a part of the promotion or just because I haven't checked in on the game recently, but also if you go, if you have already bought the game on Steam, you can go and download an update for it, which has extra chapters, essentially an expansion.
Phil: And like I said, I don't know if that's a part of this promotion or just because I haven't been paying attention.
Tom: I think that happened before this promotion.
Phil: Yeah, and like most games on Steam, I guess, whenever these incremental things come along, I think most of the publishers on Steam are pretty cool about just giving it to you, which is, again, one of the amazing things about PC gaming for the most part.
Phil: I'm sure there's some expansions that some publishers force you to pay for.
Phil: But even something like American Pro Trucker, I've noticed like they're very lavish.
Phil: It's basically like if we produce content for this game that you bought years ago, you can just keep downloading it for free.
Phil: Don't worry about it, which is fantastic.
Phil: But in any case, I went down, re-downloaded This War of Mine and then replayed it for a few hours, which we can talk about.
Phil: But yeah, the number one thing is that This War of Mine, I describe it for people that aren't aware of it as a survival game set in a D platformer type level.
Phil: So the gameplay area that you're playing it in is very limited.
Phil: It's basically one or two screens wide.
Phil: And you're in charge of, in my game, three people that you switch between.
Phil: And you're basically performing survival activities in an urban environment which has been devastated by modern war.
Tom: Yep.
Phil: Or by a siege, indeed.
Phil: And This War of Mine was a game that was always interesting, but obviously given the social media coverage of the conflict in Ukraine, is a game that is really raw and real.
Phil: And okay, you look at it.
Phil: Initially, when I looked at this, I'm like, wow, man, this is a really cheap cash in.
Phil: Why are you promoting your game right now?
Phil: At this point of time, it's like, if you had published a Jaws video game, every time someone gets eaten by a shark, you're like, hey, yeah, you see the story?
Phil: Check out this game.
Phil: It's on sale.
Phil: And I thought it was pretty distasteful, which is why I added that story to the VG Press, that tagline to the VG Press, stay classy, shh, sorry.
Phil: But as it turns out, they were donating all their profits from one week of activity.
Phil: And this game was released, I think back in, yeah,
Tom: It's even older than Monopoly.
Phil: It was a flip, it was a flip game.
Phil: You basically flip the pages and the characters move.
Tom: What's the origin story of it?
Phil: It was brought out in on Android and iOS, and now it's on PC, obviously.
Phil: So it's been around for a while, and so you're like, okay, first of all, I don't know why these guys are still working on this game, but they're like, oh yeah, we're going to give all our money next week to people from Ukraine.
Phil: So you're like, okay, so that's like us saying, hey, you know what?
Phil: In fact, right now, I'm willing to pledge any money we make from The Game Under Podcast over the next month, we will provide to the Red Cross of Ukraine for their support.
Phil: And I'm, it's awfully presumptive, I should have asked you first, because you're the lead host on this whole endeavor.
Phil: But I mean, you support me in that, right?
Tom: I won't stop you.
Phil: Okay.
Phil: Now, what if we were to pass on any costs of this podcast over the next month to the people of Ukraine?
Tom: I think that would be an even better endeavor, I think.
Phil: I think so, because I could go out and get some new equipment and quite a few games, honestly.
Tom: I think they owe us.
Tom: I mean, we covered Stalker in depth.
Phil: In depth for years without thanks or comment.
Tom: Exactly.
Tom: It's about time Ukraine did something for us after all we've done for them.
Phil: It is.
Phil: And I've been using Gramily for millions of words.
Phil: And apparently, they're based in Ukraine too.
Phil: And it's been take, take, take.
Phil: I mean, I pay them $a month for that Gramily subscription.
Phil: Maybe it's time for them to start giving back to The Game Under Podcast.
Tom: Maybe this is what led to the whole thing in the first place.
Phil: It could be a sense of guilt.
Phil: Exactly.
Phil: And in fact, this is my own war.
Phil: This war is mine.
Phil: But in any case, I forget what I was saying.
Phil: Oh, in any case, yeah, they ended up raising like $because people wanted to support Ukrainians and get a free video game.
Phil: They could have just supported the Ukrainians and given them more money.
Phil: But I thought that was really cool.
Phil: I honestly thought that was really cool.
Tom: Well done to them.
Tom: I think they've done this with other various charities as well.
Tom: I'm pretty sure to begin with, when the game was first released, a percentage of the profits went to some charity, potentially of some suspicious origin, involved with war orphans.
Tom: Yeah, yeah.
Phil: So look, you know, we've joked around here a fair bit, but all credit to them for raising this money for charity.
Phil: I think it's wonderful.
Phil: I think it's really wonderful.
Phil: Like if you have a microphone, you know, you use it for good, just as we do on this podcast with our clavicle talk.
Tom: Raising clavicle break awareness.
Phil: We could eliminate clavicle breaks in our time.
Tom: Speaking of which, as well as potentially needless surgery, I was offered an opioid at the hospital.
Phil: Is that some sort of podcasting award?
Tom: I think it's I think it's a potentially addictive drug.
Phil: Oh, yes.
Phil: Opioid.
Tom: Yes.
Tom: And of course, I immediately took it.
Tom: And I can add it to the list of drugs that have had no effect.
Tom: This is a famous and popular drug, judging by rap music that people love and is supposedly an amazing experience.
Tom: It didn't even give me nausea or provide any pain relief for that matter.
Tom: So I'm giving oxys a thumbs down.
Phil: Oh, oxycontin.
Phil: Yeah, I confronted a nurse recently in a hospital because they had liquid oxycontin that they were purple.
Phil: No, I can't remember, but it was, you know, a lot of things are purple to me, but like they, you know, and they were done with it and they went through this whole extensive thing where they had two people like, OK, we've got this many milligrams.
Phil: We've got milliliters.
Phil: We're going to dispose of it.
Phil: You sign here, you sign here, because they have to account for every milliliter of it.
Phil: And then they poured it down the sink.
Phil: So I'm like, so do you guys have your own wastewater system here for the hospital?
Phil: And they're like, oh, yeah, totally.
Phil: Like all the water that comes into the hospital goes through this wastewater process.
Phil: We've got our own wastewater plan.
Phil: It makes sure that all the water is completely purified and clean because it's so important to our process.
Phil: And I said, no, no, no, what about the water?
Phil: You just threw oxycontin down a sink.
Phil: You just threw like a liter of oxycontin down a sink.
Phil: Like that's going somewhere, you know, like we recycle that water.
Phil: And they looked at me like completely dumbfounded.
Phil: And I said, look, hey, I'm not making a documentary.
Phil: I'm just asking a question.
Tom: You just don't have a microphone on.
Phil: Yeah, I said, I'm not making a documentary.
Phil: I'm just asking because like there's ads on the radio that say don't throw your medications down the toilet because, you know, they reprocess that water and turn it into drinking water, you know.
Phil: And you've just put a liter of oxycontin into the water system.
Phil: And they're like, oh, no, no, never thought of that.
Phil: So, yeah, real story.
Tom: They'd have been better off drinking it.
Phil: They would have been.
Phil: Yeah, but all joking aside, I mean, it was a good opportunity for me to re-pick up This War of Mine.
Phil: And, you know, I've got to say, I only bought it out of respect to you because you liked it so much.
Phil: What is it about that game that you liked it so much that it was one of the best games of the s for you?
Tom: Well, I think it stands out as being one of the few art pieces that is successfully anti-war to some degree, with basically the majority of supposedly anti-war content either promoting the concept of war through all the problems being solved through violent conflict, or ultimately actually being a way of absolving guilt for something.
Tom: So if you look at something like Apocalypse Now, a supposedly important anti-war film that shows how bad war is, there are some elements of that to it, but it is ultimately about how great the suffering was of American soldiers and how they got drawn into this horrifically bad thing that drove some of the greatest American minds insane, which is a completely disturbing and perverted take on Heart of Darkness, which is very much not that.
Tom: And there are very, very few artworks on War that do not ultimately either become absolution of the place that the thing is being made in, while supposedly being a depiction of something bad they've done or something bad they've engaged in, or just simply being a moral tale on how practically speaking, violence is the best solution to all of the problems that the characters face.
Tom: And that's not the case at all in This War of Mine, and not only is it thematically very interesting that it successfully avoids those issues, while also not suggesting that violence may not be necessary in certain situations or practically useful either.
Phil: Right.
Tom: In terms of gameplay, it's an absolutely exceptional survival game with incredibly deep mechanics that build on one another and a fascinating use of interaction between people and the environment as well.
Phil: I would say that it is not so much a survival game as it is a sim game.
Phil: So people that are familiar with the sims and similar type games are going to feel right at home because there is a need.
Phil: There's no life bars.
Phil: There's no hunger bars.
Phil: There's no fear bars or injury bars.
Phil: There are really like there are, but not in real time.
Phil: Yep.
Phil: And I've got to say basically, you know, you can dilute this.
Phil: It's now we're talking about a or year old reference, but like, you know, in a Lost Vikings sense, you've got three characters and you can switch between them in this D platform plane.
Phil: And basically, if you can imagine a urban building that's cut in half and you're seeing it halfway through, and then you can walk up and down these four stories that are essentially two screens wide, two screens wide at the most.
Phil: And you're stuck there with three people and you've got to basically scavenge what you can from your own building first and then from the surrounding areas.
Phil: And during the day is a time to eat.
Phil: It's a time to build things in your environment that are going to strengthen your community, you and the two other people that live there.
Phil: This might be something as simple as a bed or a chair.
Phil: You can cook.
Phil: You can make a lockpick or a shovel to make digging through rubble more easily.
Phil: And then someone will come to your door and you get to trade with them.
Phil: They always want more than you want to give for items of survival.
Phil: And at night, you get to choose who gets to sleep, who gets to sleep in a bed, who gets to sleep on the floor, who gets to guard the building, or who gets to go out and scavenge.
Phil: And on these nightly scavenging hunts, you never know what you're going to find.
Phil: You might go to a church that you attended as a child and now you have to steal from it.
Phil: You might go to a gas station or a local close home and you might find that, you know, you're comfortable stealing some things and then you go into a room and you know that the people back in your apartment would really like this food, but now you've got to steal it from someone else.
Phil: And I've got to say that this game to me, the first time I played it, it was only out of respect to you.
Phil: I downloaded it, I played it and I died pretty quickly and then went, well, I've played it.
Phil: And in this time around, for whatever reason, I got stuck in it and I wanted to survive.
Phil: And I played the game horribly.
Phil: There's no tutorial that I can find.
Phil: I didn't even know that you could switch between the three people.
Phil: And I played pretty horribly.
Phil: I was criticizing the game because it's got all these icons that are crowded together and I didn't know.
Phil: It was really loose and sloppy as to how you could pick these icons for actions and then I finally figured out you use the cross pad for it.
Phil: But ultimately, this game really scared me because like after a few days of living in these people's skins, I was hungry and my group, we were industrious and we were trying everything we could, but ultimately we didn't have food and there was no way of getting food.
Phil: And we had one window of opportunity every night to go out and get food and ultimately that wasn't working very well.
Phil: So like I've managed to keep everyone alive, but now I'm on day and it's been four days since anyone's eaten and there's no, you know, dude turns up to try and sell us some food.
Phil: I've actually got to give him everything and then I realize I've given him all my water so I can't even boil the food that I've now acquired, you know.
Tom: Yep.
Phil: So it's a really good and profound game that I don't know how they've come across other than through personal experience would be the cheats way of doing it.
Phil: But maybe they're just really thoughtful people that have observed a lot of this type of content.
Tom: I think it was research, from what I can remember, rather than personal experience.
Tom: But you mentioned the other thing that is very impressive of it.
Tom: Again, in terms of it being a war-based thing is its focus on civilians and civilians in the context of the difficulty that wars create.
Tom: So, in this case, it is more exaggerated than in most situations, because it is based on a siege, rather than a city involved in a war or near a war that is occurring.
Tom: But essentially, what war does is it just totally destroys all of the basic things that you take for granted day to day.
Tom: So, as you experience in the game, simple things like getting water, food, heating, electricity and so on and so forth become gargantuan tasks that are very difficult to achieve.
Tom: Not necessarily to the same degree as in this War of Mine, but in ways that make life incredibly difficult and hard.
Tom: And again, that's not really something that is in the general conception of war other than in a nostalgic sense for the Second World War in countries that were barely affected by it.
Tom: For example, Britain with rationing and that sort of thing.
Phil: Right.
Phil: Oh my God, we can't get nylon stockings or cigarettes.
Tom: Exactly.
Phil: In the United States.
Phil: Now I know that, you know, in Australia we are rationing butter and make no bones about it.
Phil: The people in the UK certainly did suffer during World War II.
Tom: I was mildly perturbed.
Tom: It's how I would put it.
Phil: Oh, well, yes.
Phil: But I'm not going to disparage the difficulty that they did have to go through nor the people of France either.
Phil: But yeah, so this game really does, you know, make you stop and think about how difficult it would be.
Phil: And as you said, there's no enemy.
Phil: This is all the people of the same city and the same culture and the same community doing this to each other.
Tom: And that would be my one potential criticism of it in terms of its realism.
Tom: But for the way the game is designed, it needs to play out like this.
Tom: There is no broader community.
Tom: It's a totally isolated thing, which is obviously totally unrealistic.
Tom: So in that sense, that's one failing of the game.
Tom: But if you imagine your role playing as a bunch of, for some totally unknown reason, eccentric loners, it makes sense.
Phil: I'd say, yeah, you're right.
Phil: And I'd say that what it comes down to, and this sounds like an old fashioned word, but like also the lack of decency.
Phil: And I think that I observed this in Australia when COVID was around and you go into the grocery store and all the shelves are cleared out.
Phil: And you get a sense of, oh, I'm sorry.
Phil: I thought we were a community.
Phil: I thought there was some decency here.
Phil: Because where I'm from, you wouldn't buy everything you could to the disadvantage of your fellow community member.
Phil: You just buy what you needed.
Phil: And I think that was revelatory to me that, oh, okay, what I thought was a community is actually not.
Phil: It's just a collection of individuals with their own selfish needs.
Tom: Well, that's certainly the culture of the moment, but I think that's also a very different sort of societal context.
Tom: So I don't think the two can really be translatable into one another.
Phil: Yeah, but if you were to drop the community, the same community that stripped the shelves of essentials and non-essentials into This War of Mine, I mean, what's the difference?
Tom: Well, the difference is the type of disaster.
Tom: The odds of a wartime type of issue not being massively propagandized into a community-based thing is extraordinarily low.
Tom: The only similar sort of thing you could come up with would be rather than a group of individuals attempting to get everything they can for themselves would be groups of people being excluded from this on the basis of them being on the wrong side.
Phil: Yep.
Phil: Fair enough.
Phil: Yep.
Phil: However, I do think that you would absolutely agree with me that This War of Mine is a game that must be played.
Phil: I mean, you did include it in your top of the s.
Tom: Absolutely.
Tom: And with time, the more one reflects on it, I think the higher esteem I put it in.
Phil: Yeah, I agree.
Phil: I agree.
Phil: There's plenty of games that we appreciate.
Phil: And I think that this one, I'm actually, you know, stupidly, I feel really bad that I haven't looked up what -bit studios has done since then, because this is a really high quality game.
Phil: It's kind of like that SimCity level of game that led to Maxis' success.
Phil: And it would be interesting to see where this studio has gone since then.
Phil: But given the subject matter, I can't imagine that too many gamers are too sympathetic or enthusiastic about it.
Phil: But hey, they raised almost a million bucks in one week for a good cause.
Phil: So, you know, there's obviously some support out there for it.
Tom: I think they may have made Frostpunk, or possibly not.
Tom: Yes, Frostpunk and the Anomaly series.
Phil: Yeah, I'm not familiar with either one of those.
Phil: So that's since, obviously.
Tom: Yes, I think so.
Phil: I know Frostpunk is a more...
Phil: I've heard of that.
Phil: That's a more recent game that I've heard of.
Tom: Anomaly is in fact before This War of Mine.
Tom: But Frostpunk is indeed after it.
Tom: And that is a strategy game of sorts as well.
Tom: I think it's an RTS.
Phil: Okay, so probably nothing I'm interested in.
Tom: Potentially not.
Phil: Yeah, clicking through.
Phil: Actually, funny about my SimCity reference, it's a city building game.
Tom: Okay then.
Phil: So, yeah, I might check that out.
Phil: I've been known to like a few city sims over the years.
Phil: I think we can probably close the book again on This War of Mine.
Phil: And with that, I'll open the floor to you.
Phil: Is there any other games you want to talk about that you've been playing?
Tom: Well, I have still been playing Gran Turismo
Tom: And one thing I wanted to add that I think makes it so enjoyable is, I've talked about how excellent the physics engine is, but what makes it unique and enjoyable other than the fact that it translates so well to control is it's still a Gran Turismo game.
Tom: So you can still race in a bumper car style.
Tom: You can still do absurd track cuts that are massively to your advantage.
Tom: And that would be one area, I think, where the physics are not at all comparable to Sims is in things like where you end up off the track in the grass or in gravel and that sort of thing you have, I think, far too much control.
Tom: And you do not lose speed anywhere near enough or rather you lose speed so that your driving is controllable, as opposed to just careening off uncontrollably if it's slippery grass and completely stuffing up your race and that sort of thing.
Tom: But that makes it enjoyable because it does give you a super fun classic Gran Turismo ridiculous racing style game.
Tom: And one interesting thing they have is a clean race bonus, which raises the amount of credits you get at the end of each race by %.
Tom: So it's a substantial boost.
Tom: So if you attempt to drive in a non-Gran Turismo style of avoiding cars and avoiding cutting track limits and that sort of thing, you are rewarded for it.
Tom: So there is something to encourage normal driving, which there wasn't in Gran Turismo games up until Gran Turismo Sport.
Tom: But it's great that there is reward if you want to do that because that works very well with the new sim style of physics.
Tom: But it's also great that you have this wonderful combination of sim style physics with arcade style racing sensibilities, which is essentially what Forza Horizon has been, does, but in a totally different way and in a way that is to me much more enjoyable than having physics that are like a blend of the two in a ridiculously over the top presentation.
Phil: So in in video gaming, like I think for most people that play, you know, car games, racing games, you basically just press down the accelerator the whole way.
Phil: And then maybe there's an option to hold L to drift when you go around a corner, like a left trigger when you go around a corner sort of thing.
Tom: That would be Mario Kart.
Phil: That would be Mario Kart and many other games really as well.
Phil: Yep.
Phil: And I would argue the same for, you know, Forza Horizon.
Phil: Like I didn't find to be particularly challenging in terms of, you know, it was really an arcade game.
Tom: Well, I've only played the last two of them, and it depends on what you set your assist settings to.
Tom: So if you leave them on default, that is the case.
Tom: If you turn off all the assists, that is not the case at all.
Phil: So the last ones that you played, I think the most recent ones were Australia and Mexico.
Phil: Is that right?
Tom: Correct.
Phil: Is that Mexico one pretty spectacular?
Tom: Well, when I say I've played it, I mean, I booted the game up and drove several meters then stopped.
Phil: Several meters?
Tom: Yes.
Phil: Then stopped?
Tom: Correct.
Phil: Sounds like your bicycle experiences.
Tom: Exactly.
Phil: Okay.
Phil: Well, yes.
Phil: All right.
Phil: So that's the default for Horizon.
Phil: So I've got to say my daughter is playing Mario Kart right now.
Tom: As we speak?
Phil: No.
Phil: Yeah.
Phil: Mario Kart
Tom: Excellent.
Phil: As we speak.
Phil: And she was having a lot of difficulty with it.
Phil: Well, she's very young.
Phil: So I put on the auto steering, but I made her still in charge of acceleration.
Phil: And I'm still afraid that this is giving her an inflated ego in terms of her abilities to play a video game.
Phil: But at this point, I'm just trying to encourage her.
Phil: She's learning the tracks and all the rest of it.
Phil: And then, you know, because if she just plays it by herself, she's just going to be discouraged and walk away from it.
Phil: But I can't help but feeling as a lifelong gamer that when she says, I want again, I want again, I want again, check me out, I just want again, I'm like, hmm.
Phil: Yeah, but, you know, because I don't know if you know, Mario Kart has these auto steering and auto acceleration options.
Tom: And you can turn both of them on?
Phil: You can turn both of them on and basically just put the system down and walk away from it.
Phil: And you're still going to place.
Tom: So you're just watching an AI race at that point?
Phil: Essentially, but, you know, for a little kid, I've basically just left for her, I've left the steering assist on and she still has to accelerate and brake.
Phil: And by brake, I mean not accelerate at certain times.
Phil: But, you know, you got to get them hooked.
Phil: You got to get them into the experience.
Tom: So have you tried playing like that yourself?
Phil: I haven't.
Phil: No.
Tom: We need your impressions on it.
Phil: Well, I'm pretty sure my impressions are going to be I put it down, I came back minutes later, and I came third.
Tom: So that would be better than you normally do?
Phil: No, not at all, not at all.
Phil: But I got to tell you that with Mario Kart, I was thoroughly into it.
Phil: I was really into it.
Phil: I was unlocking all this stuff.
Phil: I thought I was doing great.
Phil: And this is with obviously no assists on because I'm a tremendous gamer.
Phil: And then I was like, yeah, all right, fine.
Phil: Go online.
Phil: I'll show these chumps what it's about.
Phil: And I came th every single time.
Tom: I was surprised how well I've done in Mario Kart online because against the AI, I thought I was terrible, but I raced against Bugs, who has been competitive against gaming eek, who is supposedly good at it.
Tom: And I don't think he beat me once.
Tom: I had a similar experience with Tekken with Jamie of New Game Plus.
Tom: So I do not believe I'm good at either of those games, but against people who are not necessarily good at them, but have a reputation in smaller communities, maybe I'm not as bad as I think.
Phil: Does New Gaming Plus still have a podcast?
Tom: I don't know if they have a podcast.
Tom: I think the show is still going, though.
Phil: Yeah, I didn't think so.
Phil: Game Under Podcast, longest running.
Tom: On the Switch, Mario Kart
Tom: I have to say, I am surprised at how much I go back to that on and off.
Phil: Oh, yeah, it's a fantastic experience.
Phil: And when I don't want my daughter to use the Switch, I've given her the Wii U and said, hey, this is the new Switch.
Phil: You know, this is a Switch and she'll play Mario Kart on that.
Phil: And it looks just as good.
Phil: I mean, it looks really good.
Phil: They obviously know what they're doing over there.
Tom: For the record, the last New Game Plus podcast was in November
Phil: OK, so we are Australia's longest running video game podcast.
Phil: Confirmed.
Tom: Yet another one bites the dust.
Phil: Another one bites the dust.
Phil: And you know what?
Phil: I'm sorry to see them go.
Phil: If I'd known they existed.
Phil: So with Gran Turismo have you been online, playing online with it much at all?
Tom: Well, I do not have PlayStation Plus.
Tom: I don't believe that I can.
Phil: Oh, yeah.
Phil: Fair enough.
Phil: Any other impressions of Gran Turismo before we close this out this week?
Tom: That's probably all there is to say on Gran Turismo other than that the campaign continues to be highly enjoyable for the previously stated reasons.
Tom: And so far, I'm personally not having a big issue with the amount of credits I'm getting.
Tom: It has thus far been more than enough for me to both upgrade and modify cars as I see fit by the occasional car as well.
Tom: But my interest in cars is potentially different to other people's.
Tom: The Suzuki Cappuccino was recently added to the used car dealership and became a meme on the internet.
Tom: As soon as I saw that, I knew immediately to buy it out of respect for the wonderful vehicle that that is.
Tom: So that would be one of my most anticipated cars to get in it, and it was only credits.
Tom: So there aren't many expensive cars that I'm particularly interested in so far.
Phil: Yeah, I agree with you.
Phil: I mean, like, my best experiences with Gran Turismo was basically buying my Mazda Miata that I had in real life, or MX-here in Australia, and then just basically pimping it out and taking it all the way through the game, as far as I could, at least.
Phil: So a Suzuki Cappuccino, is that like a Swift Junior, or I'm not familiar with this model?
Tom: That is a, I think it's a pretty, pretty sure it's categorized as a K car, and it is a convertible sports K car.
Tom: And there's three classic K sports cars.
Tom: One is the Suzuki Cappuccino, the other is the AutoZam A
Tom: I'm not sure what the lettering is exactly.
Tom: Maybe Zsomething like that, and the Honda Beat.
Tom: And those three cars are cult classics of them.
Tom: The Suzuki Cappuccino was actually imported into Australia in reasonably large numbers.
Tom: And I saw them in the Japanese in car importing dealerships that were all over the place on Victoria Street as a child.
Tom: So I am a big fan of them.
Tom: So as soon as I saw it, I knew to get it.
Phil: In my country, a K car is something completely different, which I'll let our audience look up.
Phil: I've actually driven a few K cars in my time.
Phil: And when I first moved to the States, my first car was a K car.
Phil: So, but completely different from what you're talking about.
Tom: Yes, basically the opposite.
Phil: Well, as always, this has been a tremendous pleasure.
Phil: And with that, we'll close out episode of The Game Under Podcast.
Phil: Thank you for joining us listeners.
Phil: Oh, and by the way, you can now join our Discord.
Phil: The easiest way of doing that is by going to gameunder.net.
Phil: And one of the top links on the top right hand side will enable you to add our, add you to our Discord server.
Phil: I can't say that we're going to be tremendously active there.
Phil: We use it to record.
Phil: And if we see you there, we'll probably drag you into a show.
Phil: But other than that, there's no reason.
Tom: Or you can listen live.
Phil: Or you can listen live, of course.
Phil: And who wouldn't want to, to this amazingness.
Tom: I like how Supreme joined the Discord, discovered we were recording it and promptly left.
Phil: And then turned off all ability to be notified when we were recording.
Phil: But yeah, some of the old crowds popped in there as well.
Phil: So it will be interesting one day to see who we can gather at a.m.
Phil: Eastern US time.
Phil: But yeah, thank you for this episode.
Phil: And we will catch you next time.
Phil: I am Phil Fogg.
Tom: I am Tom Towers.
Phil: Copy that floppy.
Tom: I am Tom Towers.
Phil: Copy that floppy.
Tom: I am Tom Towers.
Phil: Copy that floppy.
Tom: This would be how it works.
Tom: So it is kind of like Final Fantasy or Legion of the Groon.
Tom: Yes, well, I was going to say...
Tom: Legion of the Groon.
Tom: Both on PC and PC.
Tom: You are effectively a modern doctor.
Tom: Modern doctor.
Tom: Yep, absolutely.
Tom: And also...
Phil: Yes, you are quite right.
Phil: I am sorry.
Tom: Gift.
Tom: Repetition and lack of ideas.
Tom: That is a rare glitch.
Tom: I have probably had it a couple of times.
Tom: Repetition and lack of ideas.
Phil: I am sorry?
Tom: I think that is also a question of illiteracy, so to speak.