Stuck Between Games And Greatness

The strangest part of finishing a game that wrecked you emotionally is the silence that follows. We step into that quiet space after Claire Obscure Expedition 33 and unpack what it means to truly “beat” a game—why a 56 million damage nuke on the Simon fight popped trophies but missed the point, and why chasing a parry-perfect rematch matters more. That theme threads through a funny, very real parenting moment with Dispatch’s spicy cold open, the siren pull of Baldur’s Gate 3 for story-first play, and the “keep it simple” approach that finally made The Witcher 3 click without drowning in side quests or Gwent.

We trade shortlists for greatest games of all time and explore how certain titles become part of who we are: Cloud and Tifa statues on the shelf, Claire’s lyrics whispering plot in French, art prints that sell out because the world on screen becomes the world on our walls. We also wrestle with budgets and priorities, from gymnastics fees to the wild disconnect between modern living costs and ancient poverty formulas, and how that shapes choices like waiting on a new game or dreaming about a living room-ready Steam Machine that just plays games well.

What emerges is a conversation about mastery, meaning, and momentum. Some wins should be earned, not engineered. Some games are better when you narrow your focus and let the core story breathe. And sometimes the best part of gaming is the community—friends dropping into your campaign, listeners sharing Spotify Wrapped shout-outs, and a moment to celebrate new recognition for turning games into care and growth. Come for the boss talk and GOAT lists, stay for the human parts that make playing worth it. If you enjoyed this one, follow, share with a friend, and leave a review with your top three games of all time—we’ll read our favorites on the show.

Chapters

• 0:00 Gaming Rut And Dispatch Setup
• 2:20 The Awkward Dispatch Scene With Son
• 6:40 Simon Boss Fight And Super Build
• 12:10 Beating Simon Versus Mastering Parries
• 13:50 Looking To Baldur’s Gate 3
• 17:40 Witcher 3 Pace And Focus
• 22:20 Greatest Games Shortlists
• 27:20 Music, Art, And Claire’s Impact
• 33:00 Budgets, Poverty Math, And Steam Machine
• 39:20 TVs, Ecosystems, And Living Room Play
• 42:00 Baldur’s Gate Classes And Choice Anxiety
• 46:30 Character Preferences And Party Builds
• 50:20 Community Milestones And Gratitude

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Okay. I'm stuck in a gaming hole. And before you put your mind in the gutter, I'm I'm saying I literally feel as if I have nothing to I don't want to say nothing to play. Because I beat Claire where I shouldn't have I shouldn't have beat Claire. I was rolling, I was loving it, I was doing all the extra stuff, and I beat the game.

SPEAKER_00: 0:26

And wow, those are some tough words. And by the way, there is a video game reason why my mind might be in the gutter. And you just completely blocked me from enlightening our amazing community with why that is and how much they could have laughed at me. So I'm gonna tell you now. Have you heard of the game Dispatch, Marcus? Let me look it up. Okay, so Dispatch is a choose your own adventure kind of game.

SPEAKER_02: 1:04

Oh, you told me about this game.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

It is a cartoon style show with eight episodes. And you play a main character who is a former superhero, and he loses access to his Iron Man suit for all intents and purposes, and he gets a job as a dispatcher, like 911, for sending superheroes across the city to save the people. And your job is to delegate the different calls for superhero help and send different people to solve the problems, but there's scenes like in a TV show where you make conversation choices and get to know the heroes in this company. It's like the office with superheroes. And I'm really loving it. And my son was watching me play it, and he was playing on his Switch too. He's playing the Kirby Air Riders game, and I'm playing Dispatch, and it's just a fun father-son activity. We have our own game, but we're in the same room. It's really nice, right? Oh, you're playing it on a Steam Deck. Oh no, I'm playing it on the PS5. Okay. Okay. So here's where the gaming hole thing happens. Episode four of Dispatch starts with one of the female superheroes in bed appearing to masturbate or have sex. And I'm sitting here with my son who's 17, so I guess it's about time we get into this territory and I have the talk. But we're watching this girl with her face down in the pillow making noises, and I hit the PlayStation button to go to the menu and close the game so fast. I was like, I guess I'm gonna play this chapter later. He just looked at me with the most disgusted, disappointed dad, what's wrong with you? So I played chapter four on my own, and it was a regular episode after the first 90 seconds of opening like that. It was a dream sequence where she thought she was having sex with the main character. And so I talked with him a few days later about how chapter five and six didn't have any of that stuff. He's like, Oh yeah, the whole game does, it's not even a bad game. I was like, wait, so you know how it ends? He's like, Yeah, I've watched so many different creators play that game. I'm just like, ugh. So, like, you I didn't even have to be embarrassed. I should have just been like, Yeah, this is what we do, it's fun, and then on with the episode.

SPEAKER_02: 3:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 3:52

Welcome to parenting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 3:57

Yeah. Yeah. Mine is more of a nine-year-old that's turning 10 in January and thinks she is 40.

SPEAKER_00: 4:07

Probably shouldn't play dispatch with her then.

SPEAKER_02: 4:09

No. But the point I'm trying to make is I Claire was so good. And beating it, it like crying like a baby. I didn't I don't feel as if I have anything left to do. Even though I know there's a boss named Simon, and I've watched one of the attacks where you don't even see his blade spinning. Yeah. And it hits you, dude. It's like faster than you can tap the parry button, right?

SPEAKER_00: 4:41

You have to parry, because if he hits you with any hit, you die in one hit. And Simon also has an ability where if he gets another move when you're down, he can remove you from the canvas. So you can't be resurrected because he dusts you if you're dead. So he's a really tough boss, but I beat him, but I'm disappointed in how I beat him, Marcus.

SPEAKER_02: 5:17

Yeah, because you have super builds.

SPEAKER_00: 5:20

Yes, I built Mael into a one-person wrecking crew. I used all the abilities, the Luminas and the Pictos. I went into the battle only with her because I was using all the Pictos for last stand, which give you extra percentage multipliers on your attack if you're alone or if you're the last person alive. Sure. And Simon has two phases. I actually beat phase one many times without a super build, right? Just straight up beating him. The second phase, though, he gets an extra green glowing blade that trails behind the blade he's holding. So it's like a corporeal form of the same blade. So when he swings you with the combo from wave one, there's also a second hit that's like a dotted quarter note after. So instead of duh duh, the attack is duh duh. And it it but it moves much faster than that. And I could not get the second phase. So I built my L to get about 300% more damage out of her. I went in, I used the ability that makes sure she gets the first hit, too. I did 56 million damage on Simon and he died. So I got the trophy to pop. And the cool thing about Simon is he's gone from the map, and you can go pick up the journal that he's sitting next to. So you can't get the journal trophy without beating Simon. So that's like very smart in terms of if you want a platinum trophy of the game, it's not just beating Simon that's a trophy, he's also gatekeeping the journal trophy. But his sword is still leaning right there against the log. You can go talk to it and it asks, do you want to challenge Simon again? Oh, so play it, you can fight him multiple times. Exactly. So I am very soon going to work on beating him for real without doing 50 plus million damage. I just want to be able to do it. Because when I see Instagram reels of people pulling off this fight and parrying everything perfectly, that's what I want to be, Marcus.

SPEAKER_02: 7:47

No, I get it. And that's what I wanted to be as well. And then I beat the game, and it was like, okay. I really I know what my next game is gonna be. We you and I spoke earlier about this, but I'll get into it more because I've been saving some of it for the show. For context, Doc and I got to talk today for half an hour or so, and we were talking about this, and I really want to play Baldur's Gate 3. The reason why I want to play Baldur's Gate 3 is because I've never played, I've never actually gotten to play a full campaign of DD. I've never actually experienced the that type of combat or anything like that. And in the mindset I am with gaming, I feel like if there's ever a time for me to do it, it's right now. Because I have zero I really have zero interest in playing a multiplayer game, if that's a thing. So I I know what I want to play. I have a daughter who's in levels gymnastics, and that shit costs a lot of money, and we just yeah, it's a lot, and we I've spent a lot of money in the last few weeks, so I'm not gonna buy it right now. So I said to myself, what can I do in the meantime? So I started playing the Witcher 3 Wild Hunt. Yay, yeah, and I found myself I want to say rushing, but like rushed through the opening area, withering post or whatever it's called, and I have to teleport back because I just got to the new area, and I'm like, I clearly didn't finish everything there, and there's so many hidden things that I missed, and I need to do it, but I'm not saying that I'm not having fun in the game because I started playing it one night at nine o'clock at night, and I looked at the clock the next time and it was 12 45 a.m. And I was like, oh shit, I gotta get up at 5 20. And I haven't done that in a game in a long time. Because like Claire, Claire has like clear cut, perfect stop points. Yes, so like you can play and you can go, ah, you know what? I'm just gonna grind a little bit to get your gaming in and just go out into the world and find enemies to fight and get experience, or go into a new like side world that you know isn't gonna be really long, and you can probably beat it in a half an hour, maybe an hour, or whatever, because if there's a puzzle in it or something. But the point I'm trying to make is I got lost in it and I had fun, but it hasn't hooked me. Like Claire hooked me. I can tell you that, like, I'll cut when I was playing Claire, I would come home, even if it was for 10 minutes, I would grab the Steam Deck or I would grab go onto my computer and play it for 15 minutes because I just wanted to play it, right? Yeah, The Witcher hasn't done that for me yet.

SPEAKER_00: 11:11

I actually can relate to this a lot, Marcus, because I played the opening section of The Witcher, not the dream that opens the game, but actually the opening area after that. I did that section five different times in my life. Okay. And the fifth time I went into the game with a completely different mindset, and that got me through the main story because I had an extra motivator that was outside of the game, and that was an opportunity to write a chapter in Psychology of the Witcher, and I liked the TV show, and I had a rough idea of what I wanted to write about for my chapter, but I realized I have to finish the story. So I turned the difficulty down to casual, and I really just played the game as if side quests barely exist, and that Geralt's entire mission is just the main story, and it allowed me to meet the characters that I was familiar with from the TV show, and that helped a lot. And it helped me. What's the Breath of the Wild problem that I have that we've talked about on many episodes, where if the game is so open with no direction, I feel like I don't have a goal, or like this game was not made for people who think like me, and I stopped playing. So by getting hyper focused just on the story and on the characters that I wanted to be around, I did finish it the fifth time. But when I was trying to get the full experience, every time I would quit.

SPEAKER_02: 13:01

Yeah, and so that's where I'm at. And I'm not saying I'm gonna quit it, it's just the game hasn't hit me, and I'm my next game is gonna be Baldur's Gate because the game looks incredible, it looks like I can chill playing it. I think it'll be a good experience. And if I feel like grouping up with somebody, if I'm playing it one night, I can say, Hey Doc, do you want to come you wanna come with me? And it's co-op. Yeah, you can put your character in my story. That to me is pretty cool, yeah. So it's almost like it has the multiplayer, but like it's a single-player game.

SPEAKER_00: 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 13:48

Hey doc, you want to come for a walk with me? Sure. And like you get inserted into my story. I don't know if that's exactly how it works or not, or if you have to play the whole campaign together. I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00: 14:02

I'd play if we wanted to do that, we totally could just have a separate character, both of us, and that's our group campaign.

SPEAKER_02: 14:13

Yeah, but that's I don't get the problem is I don't get that much game time because of life.

SPEAKER_00: 14:19

That's the DD problem, Marcus. The biggest quest with DD is getting everyone together for a time to play it.

SPEAKER_02: 14:25

Yeah. And that's where like the single player games have really resonated with me. And I watched a video watch, but it's listened because I have YouTube Premium. I'll find a video that I want to listen to, and I'll just listen to it and it'll be in my earbud. And I won't see the video, I'll just listen to it. And it was Is Elden Ring the greatest game ever made? Is that the name of the video? Yeah. Okay. And it was fascinating to hear that opinion about the game because the game is incredible.

SPEAKER_00: 15:07

Greatest game of all time. Alright, Marcus let's do this. Both of us need to do this. What are your three candidates for best game of all time if you had to just come up with it on the screen right now? It's easy. Okay, tell me.

SPEAKER_02: 15:24

Claire Obscure Expedition 33, Final Fantasy VII, and Super Mario Bros.

unknown: 15:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 15:32

My list is Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time, and Elden Ring.

SPEAKER_02: 15:41

Okay. Elden Ring is one of the greatest games of all time, but it's not my top three. Like, literally, you can't get a better game than Final Fantasy VII. What that game did to my mind at in 1996 or 1997, you can't ever replace that. What Claire Obscure Expedition 33 did to me will never like games can try to like do that, but I haven't been affected by a game like that in forever. And my favorite game of all time is Mass Effect 2, but it's not the greatest game ever made. Elden Ring, I would say, is number four for me, but like all games lead back to Super Mario.

SPEAKER_00: 16:24

Like with my number four was Mario Galaxy, by the way.

SPEAKER_02: 16:31

Yeah, yeah. See, Super Mario Bros. for me was introduced me to video games. I don't remember where I was, I don't remember what I was doing, but I remember 1-1 and learning how to jump over the Koopa Tropa and getting that first mushroom, and then you go down into the tunnel and get those coins, and after that, you're like, that changed everything for me. So you have to for me, you know, if time is incredible, you could say Knights of the Old Republic is one of the greatest games of all time, too. But when you're talking about the greatest, has to be Final Fantasy VII, Mario Brothers, and Claire. Honestly, and Claire, so they have.

SPEAKER_00: 18:34

There's two franchises behind me in my statue squad that have two characters: Pokemon and Final Fantasy VII. I have Charizard and Mew behind me, and I have Cloud and Tifa behind me. I think that kind of says what we're talking about here is how many game franchises have characters where you would want to have that as your identities built around it. And Final Fantasy VII, and there's a Buster Sword behind me, right? Like, yeah, I am biased as hell on this question. That is my favorite game of all time. But this is a fun conversation that I wasn't thinking we were gonna have. You told me I was in charge of the topic, but my point.

SPEAKER_02: 19:16

So look at what I the dice told you.

SPEAKER_00: 19:18

Yeah, that's it. So everyone, we gotta explain this. We actually had a false start because of technology issues. We rolled dice before this episode to decide who picks the topic, and I failed the role, meaning Marcus succeeded at the role, and that's why he's in charge.

SPEAKER_02: 19:36

Yep. Some could say I'm always in charge. But look at what I the link I just sent you. Mm-hmm. Doc Doc says I'm in charge tonight, but he told me the one that starts the show, he's the one that makes the show better. Yeah, I'm the one who edits it. Yeah, edit me out. But no, look at that thing. So it's the new mirror edition. I'm ordering this, or I might, I think I pre ordered it. And I'm not even going to open it and I'm just going to send it in to get graded because this game is so influential for me. That cover is beautiful. That's why I'm buying it and I'm never opening it and I'm sending it to get graded along with my Bloodborne. And it's never going to be opened. It's just going to be sealed forever because that is the you do not for people who haven't played Claire, and I never in my life ever thought I would come back to that. I bought it for so I paid it forward last week. Didn't we do it live on the show?

SPEAKER_00: 20:37

I don't remember because the first time ever, I edited the episode immediately after we finished it, so I wouldn't have to worry about it the night before Thanksgiving. So right, so I it's been a long time.

SPEAKER_02: 20:49

So Doc bought me Claire and I bought it forward for Doritos.

SPEAKER_00: 20:54

Yeah, that's what we do on the gaming persona.

SPEAKER_02: 20:57

Yeah, and it because it's so influential. And like he he has watched Doc play it, but it's not the same.

SPEAKER_00: 21:05

No, it's not the same because I'm parrying for you and making everything look good.

SPEAKER_02: 21:11

Yeah, and I'm getting hit.

SPEAKER_00: 21:13

Oh my gosh, Marcus, you panic parry so hard.

SPEAKER_02: 21:16

Yeah. It's just who I am. I can't help it. So, long story short is uh as soon as as soon as I recover some hockey and gymnastics costs, I'll be buying Baldur's Gate. That's gonna be my next game. And in the meantime, I don't know if I'm going back to The Witcher. Maybe I'll be taking a break from video games. I don't know. But I know I The Witcher just didn't catch me. How many hours do I have in it? I have 4.6 hours in it.

SPEAKER_00: 21:50

Which is a good amount. Yeah, it's a good amount. Yeah, I would say that the stuff that really got me into The Witcher probably didn't happen until 10 hours in. I also had to make a decision that I am not going to play Gwent. Right. I'm just I am not playing Gwent and I'm not talking to people if they're not important because they're gonna give me missions that are not important, and I don't have time for that.

SPEAKER_02: 22:25

And I understand that, but I if I'm gonna play it, I want to be able to like, I don't know. And I agree, like, I don't need a thousand reasons. Somebody else also suggested that I know I got frustrated with the Elden Ring DLC, and I did beat it, but they told me to maybe it's just go do new game plus and walk out of that church and go beat the tree sentinel first try because you're way overpowered.

SPEAKER_00: 22:55

Yeah, that is a good feeling. Also, New Game Plus does up the difficulty to match the idea that you aren't level one, that you're level 150 or higher. It's a great experience, and you can go get a second of your moon veil and wield dual moon veils and actually be the way you can. Wait, can you do the swipe with two of them? It's still one swipe, but you have it scales with your magic stat, and when you have two matching swords, you can do the left combo where it's like the two-handed combo instead of the one-handed combo. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 23:38

But you need your stamina up for that. But either way, so you what you're saying is the game. So you you're not strong in New Game Plus.

SPEAKER_00: 23:50

You are, but the game is harder too. So d the moveset is the same, they just hit harder. Correct. Yeah, like the numbers are scaled. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 24:08

I respect that. But the other side is if I ever go back to the DLC, I don't want to be a new game plus. Okay. I'm a wuss. I panic, right? Yeah. It happens. Yeah, for sure. And then speak going back to Claire, so right now they had a Claire Obscure like Symphony show in France. And it sold out in minutes. They did, I think, three shows. And it sold out in minutes, and they're talking about it coming to America. Wow. Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 24:49

And if it comes, I'm going. One of the things about that's the music for Expedition 33. So I saw so many little videos on Instagram this week about for us, we don't speak French. As far as I know, you don't speak French, Marcus. So if you could understand French and you listen to the music, the words of the music, it's actually telling you things about the plot. There is a song that plays in the open world near the end of the game about Renoir. Is it basically says like Renoir's trying to cleanse the camp canvas, and then Elise is trying to restore something, and it's like telling the story of the family. But for us, it just sounds like an opera singer saying words. Yeah, and I actually know that. Oh, yeah. So I listened to someone translate, they just sang the song in French, but the captions were in English.

SPEAKER_02: 25:53

Yes, that's what I did.

SPEAKER_00: 25:55

Okay. And I just was blown away at how clever that is and how much stuff goes over our head because we're not native to the culture of the game.

SPEAKER_02: 26:05

Yeah, the opening game sound, the music when you start the game, and it's all about crying.

SPEAKER_03: 26:12

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 26:14

And when I heard it, I just started crying.

SPEAKER_00: 26:18

Because the game is telling you in five minutes you're gonna be crying. Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 26:22

No, it took me a little longer than that to cry. But when everybody just disappeared, oh, is there an animal in your room?

SPEAKER_00: 26:30

No, I have a disc plate. All of my disc plates are on this wall over here, and my newest one is Expedition 33. And it has Gustav and his girlfriend are big silhouettes looming over the monolith. And she's got the flower petals blowing from her back because she's about to get snapped.

SPEAKER_02: 26:58

I'm gonna look. So, do you know what Cook and Becker is?

SPEAKER_00: 27:04

No.

SPEAKER_02: 27:04

Okay, so you know that I love video game art, right? Yes, of course you are. I do. So this website, I just linked it to you, is where I get some of my art. These are real art prints, numbered, signed, whatever. And I've been waiting for Claire to come on here. Because I know it's going to. Yeah. And when it does, I will be spending the bank to get a piece of art. These are so good. Yeah, there it's this. Oh man. Go to the Elden Ring ones. Just go to the search bar and type in Elden Ring. And look at what you can get. A lot of them are sold out. Oh no, that yeah. Just if you can search for the ringed city. Yeah, I'm looking at its loading. Yeah, that's cool. That's incredible. But these aren't even all of them. If you go to like game art, the game art, and then you click down. Oh yeah, then you find Elden Ring. Oh, it might be gone.

SPEAKER_00: 28:16

It looks gone. Yeah, it's gone. But they have journey.

SPEAKER_02: 28:21

They do?

SPEAKER_00: 28:22

Yeah. Let's click on that. Oh, I use some of these pictures as my wallpaper on my computer. Yeah, but these are real pieces of art.

SPEAKER_02: 28:35

Yeah. Right? So Journey 2019 is the only one that's not sold out. Wow. Yeah. 18 by 26. You can't even get the 24 by 34 sold out.

SPEAKER_00: 28:59

You can get it framed for$632. Oh my god. They have a Persona 5 section also, but it looks like almost everything sold out there too.

SPEAKER_02: 29:09

Well, yeah, they sell out because there's all it's limited, right?

SPEAKER_00: 29:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 29:15

Good point. But so when it comes out, that's when you want to buy it. My point to you is this is I'm waiting.

SPEAKER_00: 29:24

The other option. You spend so much time telling me you can't buy a game because it's$60, and then you're like got googly eyes for this art. Like it's legitimate art, so it's very expensive. Yeah, but I said right now. I work hard.

SPEAKER_02: 29:43

Like I'm being a dad. You know what I mean? Like, I'm doing what I have to do. Spending fucking four grand on gymnastics meets is not fun, right? Like a$60 game is not in my realm of possibility right this second. Yeah. But I do work for a living. I work a couple jobs. It's not my bills are paid. It's not that. It's just I can't buy a fucking$60 game and just spent fucking$4,000 on gymnastics meets. Oh, and mind you, did you know a gymnastics leotard for competitions is$479?

SPEAKER_00: 30:18

I did not, but that makes me sound that makes me feel very sad.

SPEAKER_02: 30:23

Yeah, so$4,479. That's not even the monthly fee.

SPEAKER_00: 30:28

All right, Marcus, we're gonna talk about society for a second. Ooh, let's go. All right. Do you know what the federal concept of the poverty level is? Isn't it like$25,000?$31,300 or something. And it's based on the cost of food for a family of four per year in 1963 or something like that. It was expected that food would be a third of your household income. So they took the amount of food for a family of four for a year, multiplied it by three, and got this number in the low 30,000s. Okay. That number is still what is used to calculate poverty. I know. It has been 60 plus years since that, and all the inflation, the cost of daycare is dramatically different. The cost of the amenities for our households to work exists now that did not even exist in the 1960s. The internet is one, but there's many other things that go into the cost of a house. And we're still basing the idea of who's living in risk of poverty at$30,000 a year when actually someone ran the analysis with 2025 numbers. And if we use the same logic from the 1960s today, the poverty level for that family of four would be would you like to guess what it would actually be? Oh 81.$136,500 would be the poverty level for that same family of four 60 years later, here in 2025.

SPEAKER_02: 32:26

We want to hear something crazy. What is it to live in Massachusetts, which is the state I live in? They say this. What does a family of four need for income to be comfortable? This is what they're saying, comfortable in the state of Massachusetts.

SPEAKER_00: 32:40

Are they gonna I can think two different ways? I can think like what's reasonable, and I would say like 145,000, or I could think the way the government thinks, and it's like 81,000.

SPEAKER_02: 32:49

No, which is$236,000. Oh boy, that's so much money. Well, so the average price of a house in the state of Massachusetts is like 700 grand.

SPEAKER_00: 33:02

All right. So we in order to turn this back into a video game discussion, Marcus. How much do you think the stream machine is gonna be?

SPEAKER_02: 33:12

Okay, so I've listened to a bunch of people talk about that.

SPEAKER_00: 33:16

Steam machine, sorry, machine.

SPEAKER_02: 33:18

So I'm actually really excited for the Steam Machine, yeah, because my kid is I'm gonna buy it for Rhino. He'll have access to all of my Steam games, right? Which is on the TV, on the TV, which is fantastic. So good. You know, obviously, I'm gonna have to lock some of the games down, but that's okay. He'll but then we can build a library together because I'm pretty sure we can make a family. I think Steam has like a family sharing setting where he can have his own account and my account we can combine. I'm I think you can do that, but anyway, so part of me says it's gonna be anywhere from a thousand to twelve hundred bucks. That's my opinion. Yeah, but if they're really trying to tap the console market, it's gonna have to be the base model's gonna have to be eight hundred.

SPEAKER_00: 34:18

They have said in interviews that they are not doing this to compete with consoles, they are doing it to compete with PCs, and that is leaning a lot of the blogs and people covering it to believe that they're gonna aim for more of a PC light kind of price instead of a console plus kind of price.

SPEAKER_02: 34:43

So you can get a cheap computer for in between six and eight hundred dollars, you can get a slightly base model plus for fifteen to eighteen hundred, and then two thousand up is a good computer, right? So they'll be in the fifteen hundred range, I think it's gonna be in between a thousand and twelve hundred. That's gonna be my guess.

SPEAKER_00: 35:11

In nineteen sixty-three dollars, but in two thousand, I'm kidding.

SPEAKER_02: 35:15

No, but I think that the steam machine, I think the community is ready for that, and honestly, if I can put my steam machine on my TV and I don't have to drag around with the mouse, and I can do it with a controller, that's a pretty good experience for me. Yeah, I don't need I don't need Netflix on it. I got a TV for that. You know what I mean? Like, I don't need apps on it, I just need it to play video games.

SPEAKER_00: 35:45

Yeah, all the TVs in my house are smart TVs at this point, and all those streaming apps are just on the TV anyway. Consoles don't I haven't used a console for that in years.

SPEAKER_02: 35:55

Let me ask you this question. A lot of people do because it's a central hub, and I do understand. If you have an LG, a Samsung, and a TCL TV in your house, do you use their operating system or do you plug a Roku in it so you have a unified platform to use?

SPEAKER_00: 36:22

Okay, so if I had one of those types of TVs, I would probably put a Roku into it. But the two TVs I have right now are a what's it called? The Amazon one, fire.

SPEAKER_02: 36:35

Oh, yeah, fire.

SPEAKER_00: 36:36

Yep, yeah, so it has a really good menu, and then in my bedroom, I have a Roku TV, so it just is.

SPEAKER_02: 36:42

I love our Roku. So I sacrificed buying the Samsung that was X amount of dollars because I really want like the Roku platform, and I bought a Roku TCL TV, and I love every minute of it. Yeah, because it has the same everything the remotes are great, all that stuff, and it's perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 37:04

Yeah, I love my Roku TV. It's one of the best upgrades in my for my like I've never had a good bedroom TV until we put that one in. It just all the apps work great, it's just very dependable. I used to use a PS4 in my bedroom for streaming stuff and game to play PS4 games. So I missed that, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_02: 37:30

Can I ask you a couple questions? It's completely changing the subject. What is class did you pick in Baldur's Gate?

SPEAKER_00: 37:41

I have played campaigns as a wizard and a sorcerer. Oh, you've played it more than once. Mm-hmm, but I've never finished it. Really? Yeah, I'm on act three right now, out of three, and I just hit a lull where I know it's only big things ahead, and I just took a break and never came back. But I almost clicked on it for my stream on Monday. I just chose Persona 3 at the last second. You're not selling this to me right now. No, it's an amazing game, Marcus. It just I have a fear of making the wrong choices, and you can't make choices if you don't play.

SPEAKER_02: 38:26

And I'm the complete opposite. I'm the oh what am I gonna do? Tifa's dead. Oh, move on. You know what I mean? I don't need to restart the game. I can live with that decision. Or that doll or that dice roll. I don't know. That's how I play games, and that's why I'm excited for Doritos. Doritos. Thank you. That's why I'm excited for Doritos to play Claire because he's gonna hundred percent that game, and I'm never going to. Because he pretty much did that with Elden Rank.

SPEAKER_00: 39:04

I don't even know the last game that I Platinum tropied. It wasn't a platinum trophy, but I did 100% Elden Ring on my Steam achievements. I think that might be that is the platinum. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's that might be the last time I did it. I miss Elden Ring. Maybe you should play the DLC. New game plus then.

SPEAKER_02: 39:26

I'm done with it. Like I beat it, it's done. I have to close doors of games. I set out to achieve OW and I achieved it. Yeah. You know what I mean? And now I know what my next game is, and I will be playing it. But my favorite videos are the like the before you buy or like beginner tips. I love those videos.

SPEAKER_00: 39:57

Yeah, it really helps. Because it gives you like a compass to have sort of a basis for your choices.

SPEAKER_02: 40:05

Yeah. Man. I just yawned. I something. What? Christmas is coming. And my kid is gonna be so pumped, dude.

SPEAKER_00: 40:20

Didn't you go buy a switch too? Like sure. Yeah, I did back in July.

SPEAKER_02: 40:26

But every day, every single day, he says, Dad, think Santa's gonna bring me a Switch 2? I was like, buddy, I don't know, dude. I don't know. I hope he does. And then today, or maybe it was yesterday, he goes, Dad, can I show you something? Yeah. And he goes, Look this up. Fortnite Switch 2. Okay. So I look it up. Somehow, someway, this kid found out that they're releasing like a DLC pack for the Switch 2 that you're only gonna be able to get if you buy this DLC pack. It's like light and dark or something, and it comes out today or tomorrow. And yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 41:16

And I think we need to set some milestones for the podcast. And when we hit those milestones, then I will upgrade my mic. How's that sound? Milestones for the podcast?

SPEAKER_02: 41:29

You didn't tell me you didn't tell me we're trying to earn money at the podcast. This I thought this was just for fun.

SPEAKER_00: 41:36

And so that you can this is just for fun if you're looking at our stats. Well, yeah, but like, oh, what's cool about this week? I want to thank everyone who downloads, follows, and listens to our show. Because one of the coolest things for me this week, and I had a lot of cool things this week, and that's a segue that's about to happen. But one of the coolest things in my Discord community this week for you and me, Marcus, was when people got their Spotify raps and other 2025 wrap-ups where you listen to podcasts, and people are showing us when we're in your top five, when we're your number one. They're showing us how many minutes you listen to me and Marcus, and also Doritos, and also Jenny and Gene talk to you for the last five years. That kind of stuff. I create a lot of content in different ways. And when I think about stuff like that, it just warms my heart, but it also breaks me down to like getting frozen by Sub Zero, where it's like I can't move because I don't know how that's even possible. So thank you everybody for being that outlet for me to share ideas and to hang out with my friends.

SPEAKER_02: 42:57

I had the same thing with YouTube, and the my most watched creator, I sent him a message on Twitter. I post on Twitter, and because I think I'm not verified on Twitter, it doesn't show up, but I never heard back, and that's okay. But just was like, damn, I listened to a lot of this guy's content.

SPEAKER_00: 43:19

I would have replied to you, Marcus. Except I don't use Twitter anymore. My stuff still goes there, but I I'm not I don't give a shit about anything else.

SPEAKER_02: 43:29

Twitter has all the news about wrestling, like I'm obsessed finding out that pent is hurt, and then I got the video of him like working out today. I love that shit. Maybe it's on whatever stuff on threads.

SPEAKER_00: 43:43

I don't use Facebook. Oh, Instagram and Threads are my primary socials.

SPEAKER_02: 43:49

Yeah, that's funny. I don't use those. That's fine.

SPEAKER_00: 43:52

Yeah, it's just you and I are very different people.

SPEAKER_02: 43:55

Yeah. I'm the size, I'm the size of Shrek, and you're not.

SPEAKER_00: 44:00

What am I the size of in your head?

SPEAKER_02: 44:02

Ooh, that's a great question. What are you the size of?

SPEAKER_00: 44:10

Wait, I don't remember. We've only been in the same space like two or three times in our life. Am I taller than you, Marcus? No. I'm not? No. I'm shorter than you? Yes. I'm 6'2. Okay, yeah, you are taller than me. I would say.

SPEAKER_02: 44:32

You remind me of Commander Shepard from Mass Effect. Like that. Oh, I'm pretty. I wouldn't say he's pretty, I would say he's tough.

SPEAKER_00: 44:41

Oh, I was gonna say she is.

SPEAKER_01: 44:45

Oh, I do.

SPEAKER_02: 44:47

You just opened the door. So let me ask you a question. Because you're the opposite of me. Uh-huh. I have a hard time when I can't pick a male character. And you have a hard time when you can't pick a female character.

SPEAKER_00: 45:04

If I started Mass Effect over and made her a girl, I think I'd make it through the game. You would think so? I do. I really think I would. I think I just don't like playing male characters.

SPEAKER_02: 45:21

Yeah, and I don't like playing female characters. But in Expedition, my party was three females.

SPEAKER_00: 45:31

That's because they are all so badass that Okay. So my party are hot. Okay, that's also part of badassery. I think the thing that broke that up for me is having to collect the feet for Minoko. Like I I was very motivated to complete his move list, so he was in my party the whole game. And so yeah, no. When you kill the enemies, he takes their feet, and that's how he absorbs their ability to have a new move.

SPEAKER_02: 46:11

I wish I used him when I did that, like that stupid boss that like makes himself a rock and just bounces. I'd like to see how much damage that does to an enemy.

SPEAKER_00: 46:21

You can't take every move. There's only certain moves. So I don't know if he can do that one.

SPEAKER_01: 46:26

Oh. Huh.

SPEAKER_02: 46:31

But my favorite characters in like an MMO have been dudes. Or I make them my wife.

SPEAKER_00: 46:41

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02: 46:41

If I make them my wife, then I have fun because I usually am like a jerk to people because that's how my wife treats me most of the time, so it works out perfect.

SPEAKER_00: 46:53

I can't pick up that topic today.

SPEAKER_02: 46:56

No, I'm just being more funny. But either way, I think that something else big happened this week, and we're if you guys didn't know this already, Doc wrote a book. And he's an award-winning author. But now, on top of that, he is gonna be featured in a magazine because he's like the top 100 book writers in the world.

SPEAKER_00: 47:28

Health and wellness professionals in the world. I know, I was just being funny.

SPEAKER_02: 47:32

Yeah, not only are we hanging out with a YouTube partner, Twitch partner, dad. You guys, I'm gonna say it again. I get to podcast with an award-winning author, okay? What's the name of that book again? I can't remember.

SPEAKER_00: 47:50

The gamer's journey.

SPEAKER_01: 47:51

Oh, yeah, that's what it is.

SPEAKER_00: 47:53

Actually, it's so fun. I love the fact that I can see the binding of the book right there on your bookshelf, Mark.

SPEAKER_02: 48:00

Of course. You think I didn't strategically place that?

SPEAKER_00: 48:03

I know. It's just that picture means so much to me, the cover art.

SPEAKER_02: 48:08

So just seeing how so it just can we be like honest with each other right now. Do you know almost my my favorite coffee cup is to take in the van with me to work? My Dr. Gamology Gamer's Journey Cup, because it's big.

SPEAKER_00: 48:23

Oh, yeah. I love the size of it. I only have three mugs that are that shape. Dude, it's my favorite BBC. Yeah, thank you. I love it too. Everyone should go buy one. Yeah, everybody should buy the BBC.

SPEAKER_01: 48:38

Yeah, it's so big. It's the big black cuff, dude, with the logos on it.

SPEAKER_00: 48:44

Oh my gosh, Marcus. Why is your mind in the gutter, dude? I'm talking about the cuff. This is gonna end up in the show notes. We're gonna get SEO blasted by people searching for this phrase.

SPEAKER_02: 49:00

But no, but seriously, it it's no joke. So can you tell everybody? You can get tell everybody more about it. I make a joke of it.

SPEAKER_00: 49:08

Yeah, about three or four months ago, this magazine called the official top 100 magazine reached out to me and explained that they're they scan online presence, social media, LinkedIn, they scan peer-reviewed publications, they scan conventions and public speaking appearances, and they look for people that are having impact on their field in health and wellness categories, which includes doctors and therapists, and business owners, and technology people. There's a lot of stuff happening in technology with telehealth services, and I'm involved in that actually. And they said that they've never had anyone talk about video games the way I do and use it as a therapeutic tool. And once they started looking into my social media, they found my website, they found my videos, like they knew all the stuff about the podcast, and so they asked if I would be willing to do an interview with them. So I did the interview, it went really well, and I didn't hear back for a little bit, and then they reached out to me again. It was the editor-in-chief for the magazine, and she said that she wanted to have at least two meetings with me. And uh, so they picked me after all that conversation out of their bank of people, and they put me into the top 100 list. So whenever the magazine gets printed, there's gonna be a website version that you can read, and I'll have two pages in the physical magazine. And they talked to me for hours. So there's gonna be my story, my my background playing games as a kid, what video games have been to me, and how it's transformed at different phases of my career, and eventually how video game therapy started to be a thing, and my book is in there. My my streaming and my treatment programs and my educational programs are all gonna be highlighted in there. Also, the post went out on LinkedIn and Instagram yesterday afternoon, and I've already had so many other follow-up things. 2026 is gonna be wild, everybody, but I'm really excited to share all of that stuff on the podcast and on my streaming, and eventually YouTube. There's a plan of what I'm doing on YouTube too. It's just a matter of time and resources and energy. And and Marcus and Doritos, we're gonna have a bunch more really cool conversations, and I am hoping next week. I don't know how many people will hear this before it happens, but I'm hoping we can arrange to do a live on Twitch post stream with the video game awards. So that will be a really fun thing to try to put together. So it's gonna be cool. Continue the journey.