Mafia Is One of the Strangest, Messiest AAA Games Ever Released

Mafia: The Old Country is one of the most visually extravagant AAA video games we’ve ever played. And yet, there’s very little game to be found in this strange, disjointed, but decadent tale of organized crime in early 20th-century Sicily. Why has the Mafia series struggled for decades to deliver on its ambitions? And how did this get made? The Besties unpack their complicated feelings after a week with this oddity. And because we always like to provide something fresh for you to try, we share a few new, enjoyable games.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Um, I'm about to begin the count. One.

• 0:04Chris Plante?

  Two.

• 0:05Russ Frushtick?

  Three.

• 0:05Speaker 00

  Four.

• 0:06Chris Plante?

  Five.

• 0:07Russ Frushtick?

  Six. That was worse.

• 0:08Chris Plante?

  Wow, it's worse.

• 0:10Russ Frushtick?

  Yep.

• 0:11Chris Plante?

  Fuck.

• 0:12Russ Frushtick?

  So when you say it works great on other platforms, what other platforms are you referring to specifically?

• 0:17Chris Plante?

  It doesn't matter. I'll have to figure this out later. I don't know, like, long-term, what a solve is.

• 0:25Russ Frushtick?

  Well, what's weird is like, again, long-term, you were, we more or less had addressed it. And then you switched to the desktop and it was borked, and then you switched back to web.

• 0:37Chris Plante?

  I want to try one other thing. Let me, let me try seeing if, like, if it literally runs any different if I run it through a different, um, like, if I'm get off Chrome.

• 0:46Russ Frushtick?

  I mean, is this just like a technological impossibility?

• 0:53Russ Frushtick?

  No, because we've had it working. So there's like a variable here that we're not accounting for that I don't fully some sort of plugin or something.

• 1:02Speaker 00

  Me too. All the way. Banana.

• 1:06Russ Frushtick?

  Boop, boop, boodoo doo.

• 1:08Speaker 00

  You know what, Russ?

• 1:11Chris Plante?

  Um, it's not working on Safari. It's like just literally not giving audio, but.

• 1:16Russ Frushtick?

  It's a, there is a process that's going on in your computer.

• 1:20Chris Plante?

  That's slowing it down. Yeah, I'm gonna, okay, so I'm gonna do a restart and let's see what that does.

• 1:24Russ Frushtick?

  I think we should go back to, before you do that, we're, okay. Fucking kill me.

• 1:31Speaker 00

  Can I say something, Russ?

• 1:32Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 1:33Speaker 00

  It's a shame because this is, oh, I guess we're just recording the backup here.

• 1:36Russ Frushtick?

  It's funny.

• 1:36Speaker 00

  This is at least, Russ, at least this is still more fun than.

• 1:42Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, that is, that's a good pull up for we could do that.

• 2:05Speaker 00

  My name is Justin McElroy and I know the best game of the week.

• 2:09Chris Plante?

  My name is Christopher Thomas Plant and I know the best game of the week.

• 2:13Russ Frushtick?

  My name is Ross Fraschik. I know the best game of the week.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  And this week here on The Besties, we have decided to sort of convert it into less of a club and more of a family.

• 2:28Chris Plante?

  A lot familiar.

• 2:30Speaker 00

  Well, when you're here, you're a lot familiar. Whereas here, it's Mafia: The Old Country. Chris Plant, what's that?

• 2:38Chris Plante?

  Mafia: The Old Country is the latest entry in the long-running but long-troubled series Mafia. People often think it's gonna be like Grand Theft Auto, and people are often mistaken. This time, the trend continues, baby, and I can't wait to chat about it.

• 2:55Speaker 00

  Yeah, though, we'll talk about that and we'll take a trip to the old country right after this.

• 3:02Russ Frushtick?

  This episode of The Besties is sponsored by Lisa. You know, we are starting to get into the cooler months of the year, and you know what I love in the cool months of the year? An incredibly cozy mattress that you can just cozy up into. You got the blankets and everything, and I will speak from experience, but maybe not my experience, because Lisa sent me one of their mattresses. But it was timed as such where actually my son, who was becoming a toddler and needed like an actual bed, needed a mattress. So we had him use the Lisa mattress, and every time that I get into that bed to read him a story at night, I am incredibly jealous of his mattress, because holy cow, that thing is incredibly

• 3:47Russ Frushtick?

  comfortable. Lisa was awarded the Best Hybrid and Best Memory Foam Mattress by New York Times Wirecutter and is featured by West Elm as their go-to mattress partner. You can go to lisa.com for 25% off select mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code BESTIES, exclusive to our listeners. That's L-E-E-S-A.com, promo code BESTIES for 25% off select mattresses, plus an extra $50 off. Let them know we sent you in the survey after checkout. Lisa.com, promo code BESTIES.

• 4:23Russ Frushtick?

  You know, Chris, in the, in the intro there, you, you described Mafia as a long troubled franchise. And that's kind of an interesting point, cause like, they've been, what is this, the fourth one at this point? They must do okay, right?

• 4:37Chris Plante?

  This guy's, this is my 100%, this is, I think Strauss Selnic loves the Mafia, guys. That's the, that's literally my operating theory. That, that, that he's, that he owes a debt to a certain somebody.

• 4:50Russ Frushtick?

  Oh.

• 4:51Chris Plante?

  Maybe, you know, who helped him get there.

• 4:53Speaker 00

  Who maybe likes to take a video game over to the old country.

• 4:57Chris Plante?

  So obvious that it should work. Imagine, you are the people who, who controlled the Grand Theft Auto series. And then you say, why don't we make a Mafia version of that? That seems like a great idea. And it's like, you, you take that to the board and they're like, yes. And you take that to the game designers and they're like, yes. And then you finally bring it to the audience and they're like, maybe not. Maybe, maybe it didn't work. But there are, ah. They're all, okay, should we go, should we go back to the beginning? Take us back in time.

• 5:27Russ Frushtick?

  Let's go back to the beginning. Cause I've talked a little bit about Mafia in the past and I actually have a lot of fondness for the original Mafia game that came out in fucking 2000, whatever it was. You're right, it came out around the same time as the like, the GTAs were starting to rise up. But it was a very different thing insofar as despite taking place in an old timey, open world setting, you really had no choice. Like, every mission just sort of led from one to the next, to the next, to the next. As it kind of guided you through this kind of classic Mafia story. At its, at the time that it came out, it was, in my opinion, very ambitious from a narrative standpoint when compared to other games in the world at that time.

• 6:09Russ Frushtick?

  Like, it was telling a mature, interesting, if a little bit trope-y Mafia story. I am, having played the newest one, not sure that it has changed one fucking iota in the 25 years or however long it's been since that first game.

• 6:26Chris Plante?

  So this is what's weird, and we'll fill in the, the space in between there, is they did get a little bit further away from that with each entry. Mafia 2. Goes a little bit more into like, oh, we're an action game. It's still kind of, levels are little closets that you find inside of the open world. You know, you drive around and then you like enter a level and you play and then you come back out. And then Mafia 3 really felt like-

• 6:50Speaker 03

  Maroni's hardware, they say that it's eight stories tall and some of the walls are cardboard and others are glass and rebar. Yeah, and I know it looks like it's a two-story, but no. You walk inside, chest after chest after chest after chest.

• 7:07Speaker 03

  The floor is littered with some machine guns, the place is incredible.

• 7:10Russ Frushtick?

  Justin, your voice over business is crushing it right now. You're doing okay.

• 7:15Chris Plante?

  Nailing it. Mafia 3 was a little bit more of an open world. But, but the problem was, when it went more open world, it did draw more Grand Theft Auto comparisons, of which it could not match up to. So then, yeah, so we get this game, which is one of the weirdest AAA experiences of recent memory. It looks, on, on pure surface level, like Grand Theft Auto quality new AAA video game, quadruple A video game.

• 7:48Speaker 00

  I can't think of the last, I, I play a lot of AAA video games and it takes a lot for me to be like, whoa. And I was playing this game, I was thinking, whoa.

• 7:58Chris Plante?

  It's stunning.

• 7:59Speaker 00

  It's like you have, imagine, imagine if you had a magical horse that could take you inside a wine bottle label. That's what this game is. Imagine. Imagine, imagine being whisked away inside the label. That's where this game could take you.

• 8:15Chris Plante?

  Let me, I, I, I'll set up the setting and then we can talk about how beautiful it is. It is set, imagine this, perfect Sicily, early 1900s. You play as Enzo, who is an indentured servant, you're working in a soul for mine, extremely dangerous conditions. And one day, you say, enough is enough.

• 8:33Russ Frushtick?

  Wait, let me just say, you know what's a great way to start your game in a completely gorgeous environment? In a fucking cave for an hour.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  No, I disagree, okay, I disagree, because I do think that from Enzo's perspective, having that background is actually important. Because I do think you appreciate the outer world a little bit, once you get out of the mine, okay?

• 8:53Russ Frushtick?

  Okay, I, I would have, I would have more appreciated a text slide.

• 8:55Speaker 00

  I'll give them that boring part, okay?

• 8:59Chris Plante?

  Let, let, let's put a pin on, on Enzo's perspective because we're gonna spend a lot of time there.

• 9:05Speaker 00

  It's third person. What are we there to talk about?

• 9:08Chris Plante?

  He pushes back. He says, no. And enough is enough. And he slices somebody. And then the mafia is like, now that's our people. You should come stay with us in this gorgeous mafia estate.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  It's a good setup. I was actually pretty excited about the setup.

• 9:25Chris Plante?

  A solid setup.

• 9:26Speaker 00

  You basically escape one family as a, a, a, an enslaved miner, and then you are rescued practically by a competing family that takes you under their wing. Like, if you want to talk about like, uh, loyalty and motivation and like, a, a real like entry point into the world, like, I think, I, I was really excited by the setup. I thought it was really exciting.

• 9:47Chris Plante?

  The writing is so clever because then you go to this estate, right? And what's the first thing they do? They put you right back to work. You're, you're moving potatoes back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

• 9:59Russ Frushtick?

  I mean, I would pick potatoes over the mine. Quite honestly, like, that is an upgrade.

• 10:03Speaker 00

  They basically say that like, you like this better? It's like, well, the controls are similar, but the animations are a little more predictable.

• 10:11Chris Plante?

  The problem is, very true. If I were either of those things, I myself am the person playing video games. And I myself am three hours in, and still doing fucking chores. It is crazy. You go from literally working in a mine, doing chores, not having fun, to a going to a beautiful estate, doing chores, not having fun, to going to a beautiful festival party, and guess what you get to do there? More chores. No more fun.

• 10:45Speaker 00

  Don't say, don't think that he means chores like video game quests.

• 10:49Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, yeah, not like Fendels.

• 10:50Speaker 00

  No. He means literal fucking earn your allowance chores that your mom told you.

• 10:55Russ Frushtick?

  Slowly carry this box of wine.

• 10:58Chris Plante?

  To every house in the neighborhood.

• 11:01Speaker 00

  There's a scene, there's a scene. Okay, there is a, there's a scene where I carried this fucking box of wine so long. And then this dude gets hassled by some local toughs. And in defense of this lady who he is, has a crush on, he like throws the wine at him. And I out loud was like, no, because I'd worked for so long to keep that stupid ass box of wine hauled through this stupid village. That I was more invested in not breaking this dumb wine than the fight I was about to get to.

• 11:31Russ Frushtick?

  Okay, so let me, let me take a, take a step. Before we get too deep into the game.

• 11:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 11:36Russ Frushtick?

  I want to go back to the mine.

• 11:38Speaker 00

  No.

• 11:39Russ Frushtick?

  No, I think it's important. I think it's important. Because it's not the first time we've seen a relatively large budget game start in a dingy, dusty, unfun mine.

• 11:50Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 11:51Russ Frushtick?

  Most recently, Starfield started the game almost identically.

• 11:53Speaker 00

  Tutorial mine. I know, it's well, it's well mined.

• 11:59Russ Frushtick?

  Technically, Donkey Kong Bonanza also started a mine, a bit more fun than this one.

• 12:03Speaker 00

  What if this, what if in this game, the dude walks up to a wall, he's like, dang it, I'm so mad. And he punched a wall. And it like made a huge hole and he's like, what? Guys, get over here. Bring me more of those nanas.

• 12:15Speaker 00

  Yeah, I know they're freaky. I'm not gonna eat them. I just, let me hold them.

• 12:18Russ Frushtick?

  I guess I just don't understand if you're putting your heart and soul into a thing. And I maybe if it's a movie or something, I kind of get it. But if you're putting your heart and soul into a video game, why you wouldn't start people off with like a bit of razzle dazzle.

• 12:32Chris Plante?

  I, I agree with Hoops that, that, well, I agree with both of you. Starting it up in the place of the suck and then working your way to the reveal of magic is a cool experience. The problem is, two parts. One, the suck should be quite short because you get that it sucks within 10 minutes.

• 12:50Russ Frushtick?

  Yes.

• 12:51Chris Plante?

  And two, then there actually should be magic on the other end. And the real thing that both of these games have in common is the lack of magic on the other end. Remember you got out of the mind in, in Starfield and it was like, oh, there's still no beauty. There's still no awe. It's just kind of a mind planet.

• 13:09Speaker 00

  But get out of the, get out of tutorial mine in Oblivion and it's like, there's a bunch of skeletons around. You go do whatever you want, you know, there's a knife. Go kill somebody.

• 13:20Chris Plante?

  No, to your point, Crush, you can do both, which is the Zelda games where they start you in a place where you are stunned. And then they take you to a place where you are more stunned.

• 13:31Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, or even like Avatar, that Avatar game that I didn't particularly like, I thought did this better. Or you're in that prison and then you go out to Pandora and it's like beautiful and crazy. I, I like, I was watching this and I was like, I could have saved this team $6 million by just making a text scroll and being at the house.

• 13:49Speaker 00

  Okay, so, but it's, but okay, I understand what you're saying.

• 13:53Russ Frushtick?

  I know what you mean.

• 13:53Speaker 00

  You are right, but it could of course corrected this at any point after that also.

• 13:58Russ Frushtick?

  Like, sure, I know, I agree with you.

• 14:00Speaker 00

  I cannot over, and, and y'all, the reason I said that about Strauss Zellner, like loving the mafia is, to me, there feels like a level of, that was a joke, but it feels like there's a level of inoculation between whoever developed this game and whatever market pressures are like dictating the success in games right now. Because it does not, it feels so obviously out of step with literally like everything right now. And it is so obviously in such an infringement on the players' patience that like, I, I feel like someone at some high level learned the wrong lessons from Red Dead.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  And they said, well, that was books level boring. We could get away with that. And it just like doubled down.

• 14:49Russ Frushtick?

  I think it's the opposite. I think it, this to me feels like someone was so engaged in telling this story, this narrative, in the way they wanted to tell it. And, and the publisher was like, I mean, this is so consistent with every other mafia game. The way this is structurally told and how the interactivity is, that I don't think this is publisher interaction. I think this is what the developer wanted to make.

• 15:14Speaker 00

  But it's like, why were they allowed? It's confused.

• 15:17Chris Plante?

  I'm gonna put on my-

• 15:18Speaker 00

  I don't mean that, I mean what?

• 15:19Chris Plante?

  This is pure speculation conspiracy theory hack. And I generally try not to do it, but this game is so unusual, trying to make an exception here. This to me feels like it was meant to be a very big game. And they didn't actually know how to make the gameplay. And then they salvaged everything else and put it in a box and sold it. Like, there is, we haven't talked about the game because there are stealth, action, third person missions that are-

• 15:52Chris Plante?

  Unacceptably bad and

• 15:56Speaker 00

  They're so wild. It's PS2 level like, like we're just figuring it out kinda stuff like really bad. Ri- in a way where like the environment is so deeply like so richly rendered that it makes the behavior of these enemies seem, I mean, it's baffling. I mean, you'll see five guys just walking shoulder to shoulder with the same animation and you shoot one with a shotgun and his wrist flips and the other three, I mean, it's baffling and it's so discordant with the aesthetic detail.

• 16:30Chris Plante?

  To get it just how off this is, the, the, the hats are historically accurate. There are lifelike dead animals in the kitchen. You have the sweeping countryside. Every little detail, the performance capture, the voice work, the writing, it's all there. And then you get to the game and it's just not the, like, the, the, the experience that I think kept coming to mind for this, because I was like trying to make sense of it, would be like going to the most expensive fancy decadent restaurant of your life, right? And you are seated next to a string quartet and there are celebrities sitting across from you. And then the food inexplicably takes three hours to arrive. And when they put

• 17:12Chris Plante?

  it in front of you, it's warmed up macaroni and cheese. Like, everything else is there.

• 17:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 17:19Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 17:19Speaker 00

  It's so weird. So, I cannot expl- express how much of the early hours of this game is riding on horseback while you listen to people talk, while you follow them slowly. And it is to a point where like, I kept getting bored and I would like do other things and then I would have to reload, start again with a very long horseback ride. And there's like, once I was starting one and there was a prompt, it's like skip horseback, skip ride. And then it never happened again, and it made me feel like, so you know it's bo- wait a minute. But you know it's boring.

• 17:58Russ Frushtick?

  You can't.

• 17:58Speaker 00

  If you put a skip button in there, then you know this is boring. So let me skip it every time, because you know it's boring.

• 18:05Russ Frushtick?

  How long would this game be if you skipped everything? Because the game is nine hours long.

• 18:09Speaker 00

  I mean, I legitimately don't know. I was so desperate. And I'll tell you, man, it makes the non-interactive cinematics really feel like an encumbrance. Like, I mean, I go from like barely holding the left thumb stick so bad that my thumb is slipping and I have to just like lean on it because I can't.

• 18:25Russ Frushtick?

  Okay, I do want to talk about, because we've basically talked about like the first five-ish hours. And there was a part of me as I was playing, it was like, I'm gonna ride this out as long as I can. Because I do think maybe there's gonna be some sort of payoff somewhere. You almost beat it at that point, because again, nine hours. I know, it's about, I looked it up, it's about 14 hours long.

• 18:46Speaker 00

  If I, sorry, I want to hear all of it. I want to say what, just a last thing about the beginning part.

• 18:53Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 18:53Speaker 00

  Okay, is it is not slow-paced in the sense of a slow burn where someone goes from like a mine worker to wow, this is the first time I've ever had a knife, to wow, this is the first time I've ever had a gun. Like, the first actual like action set piece in this is like, you go from almost never having a gun to like sprinting around shooting 30 bandits with a shotgun. Someone insisted that there be a gunfight at that point, because it is, and it's wild. Every enemy looks the same, and he looks like the old racist TV icon, the Frito Bandito. Like, literally every single one is dressed like the Frito Bandito, and it's 30 dudes you have to shoot with a shotgun. It's so baffling.

• 19:33Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, once, no, once the game, okay, so the game is set in chapters, like structurally, and you kind of, like each one has a beginning and a middle and an end theoretically. And each of the chapters basically mimics the flow of the beginning five hours of the game, where you always have like a slow, very hardcore talky bit. And then the like, here's your payoff, the action. And the action sequence will be like, I'm in a car and I'm cha- I'm like, I'm trying to rescue the Don's daughter, for example. And it's like, you're shooting guys that are on horseback in your car and then you're doing a dramatic jump in a cutscene.

• 20:16Russ Frushtick?

  This is all stuff that like, again, we've seen a million, billion times. And I almost wish they made it instead like fucking Pentament, where the whole thing was boring as balls. And like, allow-

• 20:30Speaker 00

  I almost would have been down with that, honestly. If the horseback riding and stuff is good enough that I was like, the problem is it looks so much like another kind of game.

• 20:39Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 20:39Speaker 00

  That it's hard to not be expecting that other kind of game. And that, they know that expectation because they're throwing in like, a lot of the

• 20:48Speaker 00

  hallmarks of that kind of game, right? Like, you're getting the very blatant guide marker telling you exactly where to go to.

• 20:54Russ Frushtick?

  You're unlocking like, different horses and guns.

• 20:57Speaker 00

  Like, the first screen of this game is a QR code that you scan to get a special gold car. Like, that's not Pentament, you know?

• 21:04Chris Plante?

  Yeah, I-

• 21:05Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 21:06Chris Plante?

  Fresh, I went a bit further down that path. Which is to say, I watched a YouTube playthrough. And that's why I keep saying nine hours, because I watched like, last-

• 21:18Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, you know exactly how long it was.

• 21:19Chris Plante?

  And, yeah, I mean, that's watching a pro play, you know, so who knows?

• 21:23Russ Frushtick?

  Sure.

• 21:24Chris Plante?

  But, um, pretty good experience. Can talk to the story here, because the story is solid. It is, I say solid because, how does it compare to TV or film?

• 21:37Chris Plante?

  But there's like, a good romance. There is a lot about Sicilian history and the like, early, early days of the mob. There's a, there's a lot of stuff in here that is quite cool. And that's where I agree with you. I would say, I'd push back on the Pentament, and here's me being pedantic.

• 21:56Chris Plante?

  Pentament still has at least a good design idea that doesn't align with this.

• 22:01Speaker 00

  No.

• 22:01Chris Plante?

  But LA Noir is another series that they have. And LA Noir in this game feel like a match.

• 22:13Speaker 00

  But I just want, like, I would have been happy if they'd been like, why don't you go look around? No one has yet to say that, like, and it's.

• 22:22Russ Frushtick?

  I don't know that you can. I don't know you can look. Like, you can walk around a static area, but like, I don't think you can just go off on your own.

• 22:30Speaker 00

  So it never, this, okay, I think this is the the main question, and I need you guys to help me understand this. Has this been a very long buildup to a part where it opens up? Or is it really like this? Because it, that to me feels like a, oh, man.

• 22:49Chris Plante?

  Well, that's what I mean by it feels like it was a different game.

• 22:52Speaker 00

  Right? It feels like something has gone terribly wrong at some point. But they are throwing up map markers and stuff that very much feel like it's a, and I think that's part of what made it so hard is because I kept waiting.

• 23:05Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 23:05Speaker 00

  For the, when will my life begin, you know?

• 23:08Russ Frushtick?

  But I would say, I would say it maybe was a different game, but you have to look at the histor, you have to look at the history of this franchise. And all of the other games in this franchise more or less use the exact same structure that this game does, which is a quote unquote, open world. It is open, but you have no real reason to go around and very little freedom to go around. But really, they're just telling like a very linear story, which again is not a bad thing. If the actual gameplay and the things that you're doing feel good. I mean, this game has almost no player choice, which is like so tough for me to get over to feel like I am essentially the entire game is a QTE.

• 23:50Russ Frushtick?

  That's like a really tough thing to to overcome for me. Because I want to feel like I have some impact.

• 23:56Speaker 00

  And I'll even say, though, like, even with the writing, I will say that, like, is. It's all serviceable, but like, and it's better than a lot of video games, but it is also like all cliches.

• 24:09Russ Frushtick?

  I think it's direct to Netflix mafia. That's

• 24:12Speaker 00

  It's all cliches and the performances are, I mean, it's weird. Like some of these people, they owe like performance capture rights to some of the Godfather actors for how closely these dudes are like, you know, just do, you know,

• 24:25Russ Frushtick?

  I thought the VO was good for what it's worth. I thought the VO did.

• 24:27Speaker 00

  I can't be a judge of the accents.

• 24:30Russ Frushtick?

  No, I think they're very accurate. Knowing deeply authentic Sicilian accents from that time, I think they really know.

• 24:38Speaker 00

  Yeah. I trust, I trust.

• 24:40Russ Frushtick?

  I do want to say there is, there is some player choice that you just completely zipped right past and I can't believe. What, picking a knife? Which knife? Close. Picking out the beads on your rosary.

• 24:53Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh, guys. My wife gets upset when people use a rosary as a necklace. I can't wait to see how she thinks about it being a fucking utility belt for your perks. Jeez.

• 25:06Russ Frushtick?

  It did kind of sell Catholicism on me. I gotta be honest. That sounds pretty appealing if I'm getting

• 25:11Speaker 00

  Pretty cool.

• 25:12Russ Frushtick?

  Faster reload times.

• 25:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's the craziest shit is the perks are, the perks are like this rosary beads. It's so insane that it makes the rest of the enterprise seem like a spoof, like a pair, like that is what you would put in the, the like Naked Gun version of this game. It's, I couldn't be funnier when I was doing like, when we were all doing like jokes about video games back at like in the ye olde times, I could not have been funnier than rosary beads that increase your reload speed.

• 25:49Chris Plante?

  I also realized the Naked Gun mafia movie is also just called mafia, but with an exclamation point.

• 25:56Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 25:56Speaker 00

  What a great film. Yeah, this is one exclamation point away. It really, man, it, I'll tell you what is hard. This is one of, this is one of my least favorite things because it really takes a little bit before you realize it's not good. Cause I, man, I kept thinking like, oh, this is good. And then I was like, Okay, this feels like it's gonna be, I guess this is getting, I'm getting fired up.

• 26:20Russ Frushtick?

  Okay, so at this point, how many hours, how many, how many, what, what period in the story are you feeling this feeling that you're having right now?

• 26:27Speaker 00

  Where I thought it was good?

• 26:28Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 26:28Speaker 00

  When I escaped and got rescued by the other family and they were gonna put me into their family, I thought, okay, that was crappy, but now I'm like in it and they're gonna instantly bring me, I thought, I kept praying to Jesus that a time lapse was about to start. I kept thinking, here it comes, baby, let's see that montage. And then I'm running around with a gun in the mafia, but nope, nope, that, that, it pretty quickly wore out. As soon as the, as soon as they asked me to, yeah, as soon as they asked me to carry the box of wine around for 20 minutes. That's when I was like, actually get, actually eat shit.

• 27:05Chris Plante?

  That is, mine is after the potatoes before the box of wine. Because after the potatoes, there are people who follow the show closely will know that we talked about Indica, a game that also asks you to fetch water and do a chore, right? Here's the big difference. One, you could finish pretty much the entirety of Indica within like the first half of, of Mafia. Two, it does that with a very clear point of yes, this sucks. And the joke is it sucks and the game is making jokes about it sucking. And then you go and do the rest of the game. What's so weird about this game is it keeps making that point.

• 27:46Chris Plante?

  It is, it reminds me so much of the brainy gamer era of video games criticism from like the mid 2000s where it's like, yeah, but it's good that this video game is punishing you. And it's buying into like, yes, on an academic level, I can appreciate it. Unfortunately, this game is called Mafia and it's released by Take Two, like.

• 28:09Russ Frushtick?

  Right. And you can make that case in 15, like we've said it before, you can make a, hey, you're suffering in 10 to 15 minutes. And, and it has the same exact level of impact without being truly torturous to the player.

• 28:22Speaker 00

  Yes, it is very confused. Like, it goes from a, you think there is a point to the whole thing and they, oh man, that runway runs out so quickly when you realize there isn't. I cannot, I'm actually kind of in shock a little bit to hear that. I, I just thought it was really taking a long time to get started. I really legitimately.

• 28:42Russ Frushtick?

  I mean, it does do that as well. It does both of those things. Takes a long time to get started and then doesn't get, you know, it changes. Like, there's more action in the.

• 28:52Speaker 00

  Is this a case of them like spending so much on a lot of these resources? They just try to, gotta try to recoup something?

• 28:57Russ Frushtick?

  No, because again, the other games follow this model. Like, that's.

• 29:01Speaker 00

  It doesn't, I don't think that can be right.

• 29:02Chris Plante?

  I, I, I agree with Hoops. I, I know what you mean, Frush. I think that was, I think the problem is they probably started out with, yes, make it more like traditional Mafia. And then it also got, when it like tripped down. I mean, it's just so short and there's so little gameplay. And then there's so, if they, I don't know. That almost makes it worse. It actually definitely makes it worse if they like set out to make this. Because then the question would be, why is there not L.A. Noir narrative features or, like, why is there not anything that is a game?

• 29:42Russ Frushtick?

  It is $50, so there's that. There aren't too many quote AAA games that are $50, but it's, uh, there's also a shitload of other games that are not $50 that are much, much better.

• 29:55Speaker 00

  Can I make a point about something real quick? I just wanted to settle this a little bit because we were kind of talking to the theoretical. So I loaded up a playthrough of Mafia 3.

• 30:04Russ Frushtick?

  Okay.

• 30:05Speaker 00

  The, the very first thing that happens is you drive to the Federal Reserve and do a huge bank robbery on the Federal Reserve, where you're taking people down. And then you're in the, uh, in the army, like in your military days, and you're doing a bunch of like action sequences. By hour 30, you are back in town, shooting like.

• 30:27Speaker 00

  The, the, the opposing, the Confederate guys in the hotel or whatever, like you're fully in the open world, driving around, doing, I mean,

• 30:35Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 30:35Speaker 00

  side quests, doing all of it. There is no compare. I mean, it, there is no

• 30:39Russ Frushtick?

  Well, and even I did the same thing for Mafia 1, because I was trying to remember. So I looked at a playthrough of Mafia 1, and it takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the point where like you have a gun and people are shooting at you, which is about half the time, maybe even less to, for how long it takes for this to go.

• 30:57Speaker 00

  But this is a different game, is what I'm saying. I'm looking at a different kind of game. You know, like it, this is a game where you get to play in it. Like you get to play this game.

• 31:05Chris Plante?

  And we're not saying you, you need to like go and be going straight to action, shooting and stuff. You just need to go to doing something. If you had gone an hour in and you were doing any sort of interesting gameplay, then no, weird.

• 31:19Speaker 00

  Wow, man, crazy, wild, wild. Okay.

• 31:24Russ Frushtick?

  It's not often that I can enjoy a rant for that long, but quite honestly, that was a little cathartic because the time that I spent playing this was, uh,

• 31:32Speaker 00

  They don't make them like this anymore.

• 31:34Russ Frushtick?

  They genuinely don't.

• 31:35Speaker 00

  They genuinely.

• 31:37Russ Frushtick?

  One game. Well, we have some more uplifting stuff coming in the second half of this show.

• 31:42Speaker 00

  I feel much better, actually.

• 31:44Chris Plante?

  It is weird. We don't, we don't do this very often, but I, it was, it was a long week with this.

• 31:51Russ Frushtick?

  That was like a reenactment of the first five hours of Mafia of the Old Country.

• 31:57Speaker 00

  Let's take a break and we'll, we'll come right back and talk about more, more great stuff.

• 32:03Chris Plante?

  I used to recommend a VPN to like anybody who is traveling because you'll be, I don't know, in Paris or Tokyo. Look at you, big shot. And you'll want to watch your shows and you won't be able to. You'll need a VPN. But now I recommend a VPN for everybody, whether it is your security or whether it is you live in a state where maybe you can't have access to pretty basic websites without weird security checks and all sorts of other headaches. Proton VPN is a secure VPN service designed for people who want to prioritize their digital privacy. Insecurity. It keeps what you do online private and lets you access the internet like it should

• 32:43Chris Plante?

  work. Open, secure, and on your terms. Unlike most VPNs, Proton is backed by strong European privacy laws and years of expertise, creating a safer, faster, and more open internet for everyone. So whether you want to watch content from anywhere, get around blocked sites, or just keep your activity private on public wifi, Proton VPN has you covered. It is easy to get started. Right now, Proton VPN is offering our listeners 70% off a two-year plan when you go to protonvpn.com/besties.

• 33:21Chris Plante?

  That is P-R-O-T-O-N-V-P-N.com/besties for 70% off your two-year plan. That's protonvpn.com/besties.

• 33:38Russ Frushtick?

  Okay, so the first thing I'm going to talk about as a palate cleanser from the first half of the show is a game called Dog Walk. Dog Walk is free. It's on Steam. It was made by Blender Studios, the people that make that 3D modeling stuff.

• 33:52Chris Plante?

  Yeah, cool.

• 33:54Russ Frushtick?

  It takes about 30 minutes to complete, and you play as a giant sheepdog dragging your owner around a snowy landscape trying to build a snowman. In those 30 minutes, I had so much more fun than the five hours. You know, I wouldn't put this on the level of something like, what is it, a short hike? Like, you know, I don't think this is necessarily going to like win huge awards, although I thought artistically it was pretty spectacular, which makes sense given the studio's history. But just like interaction wise, like you are literally dragging this little kid around this snowy landscape, and he's, he has your leash, but realistically, because you're a giant sheepdog,

• 34:39Russ Frushtick?

  you have like full control of the situation. And you're just running around like looking for a shovel that's trying to like act as a cane for the snowman. And you're just having like a nice little moment. It felt like a Pixar short to me. And I feel like everyone should play it. Again, it's totally free on Steam, so there's no real reason to skip it. I would strongly recommend it.

• 35:01Chris Plante?

  I love that. Uh, can I tell you all about college football? Can we talk about sports on this? Can we do this?

• 35:08Russ Frushtick?

  I, uh, I guess. Love to talk about college football. But just like focus it in a way that will make me care.

• 35:14Chris Plante?

  Um, one, it just looks beautiful. Watch the trailers. They're like Grand Theft Auto ass trailers. The game looks fantastic. It's got all the pomp and circumstance.

• 35:23Russ Frushtick?

  Do the ears look okay?

• 35:26Russ Frushtick?

  I feel like historically, they haven't nailed the ears.

• 35:29Chris Plante?

  They're wearing helmets the entire time.

• 35:31Russ Frushtick?

  So yeah, I guess they haven't.

• 35:32Chris Plante?

  Yeah, they'll get around to it. Here's the thing about this game that I am loving this year in this go around. One, the series came back last year after a long hiatus and I had a little bit of time with it. It was great. I have been slowly learning how football actually works. Uh, let, let, let's imagine that I'm saying, when I say football, I'm saying Dungeons and Dragons. Could be anything, right? I'm learning how a gameplay system works. And over the last four or five years, listened to podcasts, uh, watched YouTube videos, figuring out like what all the different packages are on offense and defense. And had not really gone back to football video games. I was just enjoying it because it made it more fun to watch football, right? Like if you read about esports.

• 36:15Chris Plante?

  And then the amazing thing happened, which is I started this game and suddenly while I was playing, I could actually read the game because I knew what a defense was doing. So if I'm the quarterback and I hack the ball and I see one of my wide receivers go out and then break right across the field, but I see a defense's safety pushing in because they're trying to apply more pressure, then I know, oh, my wide receiver is going to be open. I should pass to them versus the past where I was just like, I don't know. Let's throw to that wide receiver. They seem nice.

• 36:48Russ Frushtick?

  Mm hmm.

• 36:49Chris Plante?

  And that felt really good. And that's all I want to talk about. I'm just saying it's really cool that a video game can be close enough to the real thing that you can invest some time into caring about it. And then suddenly you hop into the game and you can apply it and it all works.

• 37:03Russ Frushtick?

  I think Justin's on his phone.

• 37:05Chris Plante?

  He's definitely on his phone. Uh, and, and he's, he's actually.

• 37:08Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, he's playing a game.

• 37:09Chris Plante?

  He's, and he's listening to a podcast. It's, it's pretty incredible.

• 37:13Russ Frushtick?

  It's funny to me, I'm glad you know how football works now. In the past, you were like, oh, let me throw to that guy. And you'd rack up like 16 touchdowns in a game.

• 37:23Chris Plante?

  Well, yeah, if you had on easy mode, but now you can like, all you're really doing is making it so you can play on a harder difficulty. I get it. It's silly.

• 37:31Russ Frushtick?

  That's funny.

• 37:32Chris Plante?

  It's nice. It was, it was really surprising and rewarding to like be able to hop into a game and actually know what the hell was going on.

• 37:38Russ Frushtick?

  That's good. Justin, do you think it's comfortable to hold the Switch 2 for long periods of time?

• 37:45Chris Plante?

  God, no.

• 37:46Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, I would agree with you. I don't think the Switch 2 is very comfortable to hold for long periods of time. There was something when the Switch 1 was around that actually.

• 37:55Chris Plante?

  There's a very, can I do a good joke about?

• 37:58Russ Frushtick?

  Please.

• 37:58Chris Plante?

  I can't imagine there'll be much need to. No, go ahead. Go ahead.

• 38:04Russ Frushtick?

  That was pretty good.

• 38:05Chris Plante?

  That was worth it.

• 38:06Russ Frushtick?

  So when, when the Switch 1 was around, I used the thing called the ZenGrip, which is made by Satisfy is the name of the company.

• 38:14Russ Frushtick?

  What was good about that, it was like a grip, pretty typical that like is more ergonomic, but you could also use the dock while the grip was installed. Like you didn't have to keep removing the dock on and off, on and off. And once I got that, it basically stayed on for the entire Switch 1 lifecycle. It took a little while, like a few months, but they are finally selling ZenGrip 2s, which is the Switch 2's version of that. It's the exact same fucking thing, but it works with the Switch 2. And let me tell you.

• 38:43Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 38:43Russ Frushtick?

  Once again, a total fucking game changer. I can play Switch 2 games at length and have no problem whatsoever.

• 38:50Chris Plante?

  I'm looking at the website for this thing now and it looks so comfy. I think, I find the Switch.

• 38:56Russ Frushtick?

  I mean, it's the same exact design, it's bigger.

• 38:58Chris Plante?

  Yeah, something about the Switch 2, I don't know. I, it really makes my hands uncomfortable.

• 39:04Russ Frushtick?

  I think it is more comfortable than the Switch 1, because it's slightly, just from a preference standpoint.

• 39:09Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 39:10Russ Frushtick?

  But not comfortable. I actually, the first time I held it, I wrote a whole piece for Polygon about how they still haven't quite nailed it. And I think this addresses the issue. So if you're looking to play in handheld mode, there are a number of options. I know Dbrand. And sells them as well, but this is the one that I have been drawn to and it like I was playing Donkey Kong with it and it was like so much nicer. And then I, when I was done, I could just drop it in the dock and go back to playing other games and it wasn't a problem. So.

• 39:37Chris Plante?

  Also, it works as its own stand for the Switch. Is that right?

• 39:41Russ Frushtick?

  I have not been bold enough to try that.

• 39:43Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 39:43Russ Frushtick?

  But I'm sure that's true.

• 39:44Chris Plante?

  Interesting.

• 39:45Russ Frushtick?

  I was with wise, cause it's the Switch is already, Switch two is already a big fucking thing. Uh, I was curious how it compared to the Steam Deck and it is now with the grip attached. Basically the exact same size lengthwise as the Steam Deck is.

• 40:00Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 40:00Russ Frushtick?

  So that kind of gives you a sense of how fucking big it is. It's big. I'm not, I'm not joking around. It's big. But again, uh, as something that I actually want to hold, it's a nice change of pace.

• 40:10Chris Plante?

  Um, who have we talked about Blippo?

• 40:14Speaker 00

  No.

• 40:14Chris Plante?

  Do you know about Blippo?

• 40:16Speaker 00

  Well worth check. Yeah, man. I, I, I checked out Blippo. If folks, if you haven't tried Blippo, you should try Blippo.

• 40:22Chris Plante?

  Damn.

• 40:22Russ Frushtick?

  Wait, isn't that a lab, Labubu thing?

• 40:25Speaker 00

  No, sir. It's a Playdate game.

• 40:27Chris Plante?

  It is a.

• 40:28Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, okay.

• 40:28Chris Plante?

  It's a Playdate game right now that is coming in color to Steam and Switch. And Blippo, game is a funny word for it. It is.

• 40:37Speaker 00

  It's not a game.

• 40:38Chris Plante?

  It's a cable. It's, it is cable TV broadcast from the planet Blip. And you just turn on the old tube and you flip through the various channels. And each channel has multiple TV shows and each channel also airs across, I think 11 or 12 seasons. So it's just a recreation of the experience of watching cable TV and like local, public broadcasting.

• 41:07Speaker 00

  I want to see if I can.

• 41:08Chris Plante?

  But through an aliens perspective.

• 41:12Russ Frushtick?

  Not to make the comparison to, uh, Rick and Morty, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Is it like those Rick and Morty episodes where he's watching TV?

• 41:18Chris Plante?

  It's closer to Peewee Herman in style. Like it's very earnest. Um, it's closer to Peewee Herman. And if you watched early Nickelodeon, like Roundhouse. It's stuff like that or Bill Nye, the Science Guy. It is all giving that, that vibe. Um, it is made by a bunch of different LA art collectives. And you'd think like, how does that get funded? And the answer, as it always is, is panic. Panic. God bless them. I, I, I want to do like a post games episode on what's going on there. Because they are out there just putting stuff into the world and sometimes it's Untitled Goose Game.

• 42:02Chris Plante?

  And other times it is the most bonkers shit that I cannot believe it got released. And it is almost consistently awesome. They put out Arco last year. They put out Despilote. Time Flies. Both those were this year. I think our game next week is them. Uh, we're doing Herdling.

• 42:23Russ Frushtick?

  I think you're right.

• 42:24Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 42:25Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, we're, yeah.

• 42:26Chris Plante?

  They're just really making some cool stuff and this is, this is right there.

• 42:32Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, it's not next week. It's in two weeks.

• 42:33Chris Plante?

  Yeah, but this is coming out in, um, Blippo Plus is coming out in September, in late September. So people should keep an eye on it.

• 42:41Speaker 00

  I'll be interested to see. I kind of feel like the lofi is part of the fun. So I'll be interested to see how that, how that feels.

• 42:47Russ Frushtick?

  I would love to watch quote unquote TV on like a screen that's like a one bit screen. That's very cool.

• 42:52Chris Plante?

  I, I went to an event that they hosted in LA that I think was also their like after party for just finishing the game. It looks amazing on both. You're right. It looks so good. Like it looks shockingly good on the playdate and really shows how good that screen is. But there's something about the, um, the color. They shot it in actual analog TV studios in LA. So it's not the thing where you're like shooting on high def and then bringing it down. It's like, no. It really does look like you are watching old TV that just got up converted for your.

• 43:28Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah. Yeah. It looks like early MTV like music video quality.

• 43:32Chris Plante?

  It looks so good.

• 43:35Russ Frushtick?

  That's awesome.

• 43:36Speaker 00

  You know what I messed around with a lot while I was on vacation is Pico 8.

• 43:40Russ Frushtick?

  Oh.

• 43:42Speaker 00

  And this is something that like, I would just wanted to talk through it because I didn't really grok all the different components of it. And it's one of those things where like, uh, it's old enough now that I think a lot of people that were into it kind of like. Had their time or like they know about it, but it's not as, as, as much talked about. So it took a little while, like figure some of the ins and outs. So let me give you the quick pitch. Pico eight is a fantasy console. It's not a real console. It's a pretend console. But that's like a, there's a, a standard that games have to be developed for. And the Pico eight can run on just about whatever hardware you got. Once you have a license for Pico eight, then it could run on Windows and Mac and Linux. And a little guy Raspberry Pi you wanted to be on, you can do that too.

• 44:24Speaker 00

  If you pay 15 bucks, you get the license to, uh, the Pico eight. And that's both for playing games that people make for it, but also for developing games for it. When you get the Pico eight, there is a command that you can use called Splore, which is also the sort of like main browser and Splore will let you look through all the games that have been uploaded for the Pico eight. And they don't cost money. You browse through them. And when you like click on a game, it instantly loads into the game and then saves a tiny version of that game onto your hardware. So you can play it in perpetuity offline. It's not even a tiny version. It's just the game is so tiny.

• 45:10Speaker 00

  The act, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like it is, these, all the games are tiny. Yeah. Um, like a hundred kilobytes tiny, like they're tiny. They're tiny, but there, uh, there's a lot of depth in some of them. I'll tell you that like, first of all, what's really fun is there's a lot of DMakes where people have said like, okay, I want to recreate. Um, like this old Star Wars arcade game with the vector graphics. Yeah. So I was like, okay, I bet I can recreate. And there's like a decent version of it that you could play. You're like, oh, that's really cool. Uh, the, the one that I've been playing a lot is called what the flag? And it is a, uh, it is just a game where you identify countries' flags. And you can choose the continent that you want to do, and then it just speed runs through.

• 45:52Speaker 00

  You can get on a hot streak. There's no, there's very little game to it other than that. But as a tool for learning that, I love it. I, that's exactly, I love that idea. You know what I mean? Like to have flags. Was that something you?

• 46:04Russ Frushtick?

  Looking to do.

• 46:05Speaker 00

  I want to learn anything, especially if you can gamify it for me. And then for the rest of my life, I can look at any flag and tell you what country. Yeah, absolutely. I want that. I want that. And the game makes it possible. The power of the Pico A, but it's a lot of fun to like, you could download. I mean, so many different genres are represented. There's a lot of like, uh, like, for instance, one that's that is is popular is called Pico Craft that I've seen popping up a lot. And it is a little version of Warcraft that you could play with a little mouse. And you can play your mouse. You can play this little version of Warcraft. It's so neat and it's so fun. And it's like, if you have old hardware, you could turn it into a Pico eight with very little work. And that would be a very cool little project to do.

• 46:48Speaker 00

  I have been playing it mainly on the R G XX Cube. Cause it's like a square screen that looks very good with the, the, um, the, uh, the, uh, the Pico eight stuff. But that's what I've been, I messed around with that a lot.

• 47:04Russ Frushtick?

  I would also add, if it's something that you're interested in, um, everything can be played in a browser. So you, if you just want to test out some stuff, you can open up a browser without having to like, install a bunch of stuff as well.

• 47:16Chris Plante?

  Uh, I'll include a little story in the newsletter, but I met the creator of Pico eight in Tokyo about 12 years ago. When he was making some of the early games that created like popular voxel technology, which now we're seeing in stuff like Donkey Kong. But this guy, Joseph White is super interesting. Just runs a cafe in Tokyo, creates amazing stuff that ends up powering a lot of cool games, technology and inspires all these artists and really kind of just modest, humble person, quietly tinkering on stuff like this.

• 47:50Russ Frushtick?

  Real quick, we have some reader mail. Um, Ari was writing recommendations for a JRPG with good quality of life. As in, you can play it on the Steam Deck or a Switch one or two. I finished Octopath Traveler two a year ago and absolutely loved it. Before that, uh, the last year, JRPG I played was Dragon Quest seven on the 3DS, which was too much and turned me off for years. I played a ton when I was younger, but I don't have the time or patience as an adult for really grindy games.

• 48:18Russ Frushtick?

  Do Octopath one Sea of Stars or Brave, the bravely default remaster fit that bill or something else? Thanks so much. I guess this is just for plan, probably.

• 48:26Chris Plante?

  Excellent. Yes, there's a bit of grindiness, but I really recommend Dragon Quest XI S, Echoes of an Elusive Age. It is one of the best RPGs ever made, and it is absolutely perfect. I think if you really enjoyed Octopath, you're going to really enjoy this game. It is like a 3D RPG, but here's a really sick thing about this game. With a tap of a button, you can play the full game in 2D pixel mode. It is both, like you can, it can look like a SNES game, or it can look like a modern 3D game.

• 49:03Russ Frushtick?

  That's cool.

• 49:04Chris Plante?

  Yeah, it's quite awesome, and I really recommend it.

• 49:08Russ Frushtick?

  We have another question. This one comes from Emily. Question for y'all, do you ever get the controller buttons mixed up when going between systems? I've been a PlayStation and Nintendo player since I was a kid, and I was able to keep those button configurations separate in my head. But when my significant other got me to play some co-op games with him on the Xbox, it drives me nuts that they use the Nintendo names with the general PS formatting. What controller config do you guys use on PC? And does it ever mess you up when you play on different systems? It definitely messes me up, for sure. I play on, usually I use an Xbox controller on PC. And it just, when I, it's really just when I go back to Switch games. That's like, everything else I'm fine.

• 49:52Russ Frushtick?

  But when I go back to Switch games, I for sure get it screwed up.

• 49:55Chris Plante?

  I was like, no, I think this used to be a problem for me, and then I got over it in my 30s. And then I looked at my Xbox controller, and I was like, yeah, the X is at the bottom, and no, it's an A. So, yes.

• 50:08Russ Frushtick?

  I think that Nintendo should give up the Ghost. They're not going to, but I, even though they were first, I think Xbox has it right. I think that alignment makes the most sense.

• 50:19Speaker 00

  Are we talking about the glyphs? Or are we talking about the orientation?

• 50:25Russ Frushtick?

  Oh, I think it's the fact that A is in two different spots. And X is in two different spots on the, between Xbox controller and Nintendo controller.

• 50:35Speaker 00

  But you don't have a problem with like PlayStation to Xbox?

• 50:39Russ Frushtick?

  No, cuz it's so different.

• 50:40Chris Plante?

  Well, then the part that'll really mess your brain up is the original Xbox, or not, sorry, the original PlayStation Japan versus US, where they switch the X and the O as what is your main command prompt.

• 50:54Speaker 00

  So this is the problem that I have been into lately with stupid retro handhelds, is that so many of these things default to one, like, to either south or east as confirm. And I have gone back and forth so many times at this point, that nothing feels natural to me anymore. Like, I don't, I don't have one that, cuz I was playing like Banananza, and I was using the confirm on the, you know, the, the, the, the confirm over on the, the east side, and that's the way a lot of those Japanese PlayStation games are, so I'm doing that half the time. Nothing feels right anymore. I, I don't, I don't know what the, the true

• 51:37Speaker 00

  answer is anymore for me, if it should be confirm on the bottom, or confirm on the right.

• 51:43Russ Frushtick?

  I think it's a question of what are you doing more? And I think if you are confirming more than you're canceling, the button that your thumb is on more frequently, which would be the south button, should be confirm.

• 51:56Speaker 00

  That makes sense to me.

• 51:57Russ Frushtick?

  That's my logic of it.

• 51:58Chris Plante?

  I think that's logical.

• 52:00Russ Frushtick?

  That doesn't really jive with what Nintendo has been doing. I realize they were first, but you have to keep in mind, they were first, and they kind of figured out the lineup, the, like, arrangement on the NES, when it was just two, like, buttons that were directly in a line together, and then they had to convert that into something that was in a diamond shape for SNES, and I think it's just been a mess ever since. So, uh, yeah, I, I get confused, and I would prefer it if everyone just sort of accepted the accept on south, because I think that's the MO.

• 52:33Speaker 00

  Someday.

• 52:34Russ Frushtick?

  Someday. Um, okay. Any honorable mentions before we wrap?

• 52:40Speaker 00

  Uh, I would just like to mention very quick, I read a great book while I was on vacation called Camp Damascus. Um, and it is by Chuck Tingle, who you may know from his Tinglers, that he writes a lot of erotic fiction, a lot of erotic fiction with a lot of really desperate themes. Like dinosaurs, or Tide Pods, or a lot of really erotic, if you've never looked up the name Chuck Tingle, then you should look up the name Chuck Tingle, because usually he writes Tinglers. Yeah. Which, this is not a Tingler, okay? Chuck Tingle mainly writes books like, um. Is Space Raptor Butt Trilogy?

• 53:24Speaker 00

  Yeah, there's, um, Transwizard Harriet Porber and the Bad Boy Parasar Olafus. Um, Not Pounded by Anything, Six Platonic Tales of Nonsexual Encounters. There's a lot of different Chuck Tingle books, but this is a not explicitly erotic. Um, not like Space Raptor Butt Ascension, or Pounded by How Good This Bowl of Cereal Is at Like 2:00 in the Morning, or, you know, any of those like classic Chuck Tingle stories. This is a story about, this is a serious book, about a, uh, Christian gay conversion therapy camp that boasts a 100% success rate.

• 54:09Speaker 00

  But none of the kids that have gone can quite explain what happens there. And it is a story about, I mean, about that concept, about the questions that sort of begs and about like the nature of accepting that, accepting things about yourself. Um, it's a really, really great, like, fun thriller setup, like a lot of like horror uh, imagery and like really moves fast with a fun central character, but it's saying a lot of really interesting stuff. And if you've only run into Chuck Tingle as a creative erotic fiction, then I think that you're going to be really impressed by Camp Damascus.

• 54:49Speaker 00

  He's got another, a follow-up to that called Bear Your Gaze, it's in the similar, um, more serious realm. Um, but not as serious as Pounded by President Bigfoot. Sorry, say again?

• 55:03Russ Frushtick?

  Not as serious as pounded by President Bigfoot.

• 55:06Speaker 00

  No, not as serious as that, although that one is quite moving in spots. I should also mention, just in the sense of fairness, that Chuck Tingle does have a podcast where he has people read his books and do audiobooks. And I did perform pounded in the butt by my handsome Tide Pod. So if you did, yeah, so there is a connection there. That's full. I wanted to be honest about this.

• 55:33Russ Frushtick?

  No, that's good.

• 55:34Speaker 00

  Disclosure thing.

• 55:34Chris Plante?

  I appreciate that.

• 55:37Speaker 00

  I read it to my wife, so it's tasteful.

• 55:42Russ Frushtick?

  I wanted to shout out the King of the Hill remake, which is on streaming now on Hulu. It's great. I am a huge, huge King of the Hill stan. It is probably my go to like comfort in the way that people watch The Office or Friends or whatever. I think King of the Hill is that, which isn't a shock because it was made by Greg Daniels originally. And I think the remake has done a really very clever, smart job of updating the format of it and making sense of the fact that like, like, why would Hank Hill be bewildered by an Uber? And sort of justifying that in the narrative in just a really smart way. So.

• 56:25Chris Plante?

  I cried during the end of the first episode and I was like, what is going on here? Like, this is some real like, I need therapy. And I think the thing is, it was the show that got me through the first year with Mosey. It was like my, every time I was up at two in the morning, that was what I was just watching. And I think it was a mix of like that and then just kind of genuine relief that it didn't, one, it didn't suck and two, that it wasn't. Like mean or hateful. In fact, it's it's much nicer than even the original episodes.

• 57:04Russ Frushtick?

  I think that's right.

• 57:05Chris Plante?

  Simpsons, season two, season three level sweetness going on here. And also, you're right, it is, it is amazing how prompts like Hank and Bobby get into craft brewing, which sounds like it should be trite, and yet they know just how to thread the needle to make it like, oh yeah, this is actually quite nice and relatable. Yeah, I'm, I don't know why I'm stunned because yes, Greg Danielson, also Mike Judge has an incredible hit rate.

• 57:38Chris Plante?

  So yeah, it's a good start.

• 57:39Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah, it's a new showrunner, so that's pretty impressive. But yeah, I think they just nailed the tone overall and it's redeeming because that would have crushed me if it came out and was just like something that was like a hollow form of itself. I was really pleased to see it come back.

• 57:56Chris Plante?

  Like every other TV return.

• 57:58Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 57:58Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 57:59Russ Frushtick?

  Yeah.

• 57:59Speaker 00

  My fun fact about that, that entertains me is they have a new voice for Dale.

• 58:06Chris Plante?

  Yeah.

• 58:06Speaker 00

  It's Toby Huss, who's done some of the other characters. But do you know what Toby Huss is perhaps most favorite?

• 58:13Chris Plante?

  Already the strongest man in the world.

• 58:15Speaker 00

  Strongest man in the world. Yes. That's my favorite. That's my favorite. Made me so happy.

• 58:20Chris Plante?

  And

• 58:20Speaker 00

  See Toby Huss working.

• 58:22Chris Plante?

  Did you watch

• 58:22Speaker 00

  And in Weird, he was in Weird. What?

• 58:25Chris Plante?

  Did you watch Halton Catch Fire?

• 58:27Speaker 00

  Oh, no, I was playing sports and reading books about sports.

• 58:30Chris Plante?

  Oh, that's fair. You should watch Halton Catch Fire. It's gonna be your new favorite TV show.

• 58:35Speaker 00

  I have to do Pilates and workouts.

• 58:36Chris Plante?

  Okay, okay. Toby Huss also in Weapons. So even more reason to go see Weapons.

• 58:42Speaker 00

  Love, I love to see Toby. He's really actually, he's in Weird, the Weird Al biopic as Weird Al's dad. It's freaking hysterical. He's so funny.

• 58:53Chris Plante?

  He's so good. My very quick thing that also I think both of you will dig is Stupid TV Be More Funny. It is a new nonfiction book by Alan Segal, and it is the history of the Simpsons. Basically, seasons one through nine or so.

• 59:11Speaker 00

  The worst seasons.

• 59:12Chris Plante?

  Yeah, yeah, nobody likes those early ones. They really find themselves around season 10. But it's about how the show came together, how the writers' room worked, how individual episodes kind of fell into place and talks with tons of people from behind the scenes and does a really good job of not falling into the trap that can happen with Simpsons nonfiction where it's like, who do we give credit to? Who was the person who made this good? Was it Matt Groening? Was it this person? Was it that person? And instead, it just really clearly states what individual people contributed and then you can

• 59:56Chris Plante?

  kind of piece together what you think. Because the trick is what you like about The Simpsons is not the same as what other people like about it. So it might be that you think like, oh, Simon is most important because he contributed just the structure or somebody can, what's his name? Oh, my gosh, Gracie Films contributed the heart.

• 1:00:19Speaker 00

  James L. Brooks.

• 1:00:20Chris Plante?

  Yes. And being able to see it actually come together, it's really interesting and a great audiobook, too. Like, a great thing just to have in the car.

• 1:00:30Speaker 00

  Cool.

• 1:00:32Speaker 00

  I read, God, I've already read a Simpsons history, The Simpsons, the oral history that I can't believe I'm gonna read another Simpsons history, but I think I probably actually am gonna do that. I will read any TV history book that like anything, even shows that like I didn't care about, like if it's like desperate networks, stuff like that, I'll read any.

• 1:00:56Chris Plante?

  It's wild how also little Conan O'Brien was there. I always forget that he was there for like a season. But yeah.

• 1:01:05Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, okay. We did it. I wanted to thank some patrons over at Patreon.com/thebesties. Uh, we have DJ, we have Justin, we have Billy, and we have Blurb. Thanks, y'all. Thank you for supporting us. We have a new episode of Resties that's up.

• 1:01:21Speaker 00

  Thank you, Blurb.

• 1:01:22Russ Frushtick?

  Blurb loves them.

• 1:01:23Speaker 00

  I'm begging them to listen.

• 1:01:24Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, we talked about Wheelworld this week, which is a really great game. I highly recommend it.

• 1:01:29Speaker 00

  Shit, I should have talked about Wheelworld.

• 1:01:31Russ Frushtick?

  You blew it. Uh, cool. And we're, next week, we're doing a game called Sword of the Sea, which is a game from the Abzu team. So I imagine it's gonna be like, experiential and weird and cool. I don't know. I haven't played it yet, but.

• 1:01:49Speaker 00

  Oh man, I'm getting excited already.

• 1:01:53Speaker 00

  Just don't make me carry any grapes.

• 1:01:56Russ Frushtick?

  Uh, if you, like games like Journey, I think it's gonna be in that, that vein. Um, okay, I think we did it. What do you think, Juice?

• 1:02:04Speaker 00

  Yeah, man, let's get out of here. Be sure to join us again next week on the Besties. Because shouldn't the world's best friends pick the world's best games?