Next-Gen Console Launch - Busted Buttons Episode 35

We start with the fiasco that is the next-gen console launch of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 (PS5). Why did Sony and Microsoft release their systems if they had so few units? How bad has Wal-Mart's online experience been? How can the gaming industry prevent this going forward?

Through all this, Red did manage to snag an Xbox Series X. What are his first impressions of the system? How does he like the controller? What games is he playing?

We then dive into the game of the year nominees for The Game Awards. What game do we hope wins? Which ones have we played? Was there any that we feel didn't deserve a nomination?

Afterwards, we address Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for the Nintendo Switch. Has our excitement changed for it any? Is it getting lost beside the launch of next-gen consoles? When do we plan on buying it?

We end by giving you an update on Two Guys Playing Zelda. How much content do we plan on releasing? Will we be spending more time with it or TGPZ Gaming?

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Transcript

Hick: 0:17

Welcome to Episode 35 of the Busted Buttons video game podcast and boy is great to be back after two weeks off thanks everyone for your patience a little quarantine situation when my daughter my four year old and really during that time we weren't able to do the podcast because trying to do an episode The four year old is damn near impossible but anyway I can imagine we're talking to next gen console launch read and his Xbox series x i guess i'm happy Game of the Year nominees file bosses traveling in open world high rewards agent claiming and we're going to give you a two guys playing Zelda update. But let's go ahead let's get to it. I'm not happy I'm happy to be back but I am not happy right now with what's going on with gaming and that is this next gen console watch and read got one red gun Xbox series x. Very very happy for you read. But to me this is one of the worst periods ever for gaming because like you just can't find a system anywhere and all like all the bots and scalpers are getting all these systems so yep, I mean to me, it's just I think it's ridiculous that I understand that the pandemic and everything is going on. But I think it's absolutely ridiculous that aid we're not allowing people to go into the stores and get these systems because you can still practice social distancing. You can still say six feet like you know apart in a line, right make it safe.

Red: 1:39

I see the grocery store

Hick: 1:40

Yeah, gamers are like really good day like I don't know that how many gamers are wearing their mask but I feel like they would be better than like a different demographic so right like I said, me just just terrible. Just terribly can't find system. But scalpers go on for a while people reds not gonna get to talk for a little while, but just you can run with it. Okay.

Red: 2:01

Let's play my new Xbox over here. Well, yeah, yeah,

Hick: 2:04

but just I just don't. I mean, there's always been a shortage at console launch. Like I understand, right? Like, I just can't make you can't make some First of all, it's bullshit. I think he can make as much as there was for demand. But you don't want to everybody's like oh, supply demand supply demand. I don't demand I don't know, like, if I was buying something, why don't you provide it to them? That's called money. You're making money, you win the race up front, but whatever. But I just don't know the whole target. I mean, target doesn't have them Best Buy doesn't have them. Amazon doesn't have them. GameStop doesn't have them. And you're sitting here you click and refresh constantly. I'm not doing this every single day. But delver gamers out there who are doing this every single day because that's how much it means to them. And it's just 2020 minutes already fucking suck right in like the one like light that we had was gaming. Like there's more people come into gaming and then we had this just travesty where there's none available the bots again them and then all the scalpers like you know are reselling for 1300 dollars, which people ran out like we've said before, we are in a good financial position not a good financial position. I am not spending 1300 dollars on a PS five that's principle like just no so if you're one of those people that do that you're actually one of the fucking problems Okay, so yeah, you know, I'm happy you got your system whatever, but you're the reason this is continuing, but I mean, just I talked about target and all the other stores I mean, just the fact that you had not seen them at all online and when they are online, you know, Walmart which is just a fucking joke, this whole Walmart thing which added red guys from Walmart I don't know what the hell red guy is from Walmart. That was amazing. But just like all the bots are getting them and like I see tweets of people getting like five or six systems in one session and all these kinky any issues like warmer How do you not have some bomb protection? Oh, we have we checked the box. No, you can get past it. We have something at work they I'm not gonna get into that. We have something that can get past that. Like Give me the damn pictures where I got pick buses out or something. That's how you get past this and how we did not think about this upfront and how Walmart did not fix this after a week like dishes just pathetic debt, it might get five or six systems. Nobody else can get any and just all the bots and everything and read I got some more points. But can you I'll let you talk out for a little bit. take a breather.

Red: 4:32

I got it. I got to take a breath myself after that. No, I I was like this. This release has been an absolute mess and part of its COVID I get that like Sony themselves came out and said they did not want PlayStations being sold in stores because they didn't want the crowd

Hick: 4:48

so I can't really fall but the stores are already allowing thousands of people in every single day for

Red: 4:53

other shit. Absolutely for groceries for everything else.

Hick: 4:57

You're saying? But then there shouldn't be any binary If that's the case

Red: 5:00

I agree so but for the PlayStations I can't fault the retailers because that was Sony that literally came out and said we're we're not doing this so and I guess the stores probably could have gone against it but then maybe they wouldn't get as much stock next time whatever Yeah, they

Hick: 5:14

they would got stock target best they would get stock Yeah,

Red: 5:17

they want to sell their shit yeah, no

Unknown: 5:19

and I get COVID probably fucked with

Red: 5:21

like the supply chains and everything too. We know manufacturing was like slowed down a little bit. And especially now that we're kind of at least here in America I can't speak for every country but like you know, we're going through another spike of it. So I get that production could have been slowed down a little bit. But I mean, we've gone through how many generations of launches now Yeah, going back I mean, and not even talking like the Nintendo back in 85 I'm talking like the PlayStation and Xbox are on their fifth generation now. And this shit happens seems to happen every single console launch and I get that there is demand up front and they can't make enough units up front for every single person that will want one I do understand that but it seemed like such a shit show and it seems so much worse this year and part of it is people couldn't go wait in line that was like that. I'm with you. Like these stores are allowing hundreds thousands of people in them every single day anyway. What the fuck difference does this make like you said you just make sure people stand apart from each other in line out Yeah, and it's not hard to do. It really isn't hard to do but the bigger thing even going online I'm like okay, I'll try to get one online Yes, Walmart came out and said we will release them at noon eastern time and then for the PlayStation it was what 9am new yeah three and six whatever the hell like they had multiple windows was like 12 or nine or whatever they're both they're not there you go It was somewhere in there

Hick: 6:41

but not clogging up I would have been but

Red: 6:46

other retailers GameStop target Best Buy none of them came out and said when they would actually be online I was up at midnight on target pulled up I had Best Buy pulled up and I wasn't pulling up Walmart because I knew that I knew what time Walmart's were going to give a shit about that. But no I had target pulled up Best Buy GameStop Amazon and at midnight. I start hitting refresh. Yeah, I start hitting refresh. I sit there and do that shit for till about one o'clock almost. And they never went live. Yeah. And it's I didn't understand like, and and it cracks me up. But I'll get my girlfriend all the credit in the world, not just because she's in the other room probably listening right now. Yeah, like she set an alarm. She's like, I'm gonna get up at three and check. I'm gonna get up at six and check in sometime between midnight and three o'clock they went up. So like at midnight, we were not able to get because those other manufacturer distributors didn't fucking come out and say what time they would go live. Yeah, and part of me understands that because if you do that, you know you're gonna get crushed at that time. But if you're thousands of fans sitting here have bright 10s of thousands of fans. Midnight rolls around like Okay, let's do this. Let's do this. You know, people that have worked we've got to go to school the next day. We're staying up late anyway to try to get one of these fucking consoles, you know, Say what you will about priority is whatever. But you know, it's like let us know when they're going to be available because from 12 to one I was sitting here and refresh refresh on like four different windows on my computer and fucking nothing and then some point in the middle of the night they launched on these sites and you know, it it it pissed me off. I did not have a problem with the online in general. I wish we could have gone and waited in line I would have gone and camped out at my local target. Yeah. But like the online at least fucking tell us when they're gonna fail because the people with those bots and now shit set up. Oh, they know that fucking minute. They go online, they know it, and they get them the people and you know, if you're just doing it, just to get one for yourself, whatever. I don't have a problem with that. It's the people buying them to fuckin turn around and resell them or to scalp them. Literally at noon. They were xboxes up on Amazon for fucking 1500 hours. $1,000 I'm like, this is absolutely ridiculous. And like, and you know, there will be rich people out there who buy it who have kind of fuck you money, and we talk it we're well enough off to buy a system. I ain't paying 1500 bucks. Man. Yeah, if I'm paying 1500 bucks. I'm building new goddamn computer. Yeah. But no, it just it is aggravating. It was a messy, messy launch. And like, I don't understand, like how we haven't figured this out. It's the same thing that happens when any big online game launches. At launch. There's always server issues. There's always bugs like and it's just we've been doing this for decades now. Yeah. And we can't figure out how to do a successful product launch. I don't fucking get it. So I

Hick: 9:37

understand. You really works until you get it out to the masses like I don't. There's been so many iterations. They still have bugs every time they release. So new releases and you have bugs. I understand that because it's out to the mat. Well, I was centerstage out to the masses, but it's not. And that's one thing that makes me so upset is Yeah, we talked about every single launch window. We have seen shortages. But this one seems to be really really bad hearing of hardly anybody that's gain asst like you see a victory here and a victory there but yeah it's not a lot of them and people on Twitter who are saying about these scalpers oh they just understand supply and demand Shut the fuck up

Red: 10:17

okay these people like

Hick: 10:20

makes real money is not flipping video game systems we're actually at they're making real fucking money okay we have 401k plans we got health insurance plans we're not fucking flipping flipping video game systems to make a couple hundred dollars that's a terrible business model anyways because it is like the contest won't come out once every seven years so what you make it a little you know penis tickler here and there you know cuz i'm just i'm using words like decks I pissed off but also how many scalpers? You know live in a fucking mansion. So to sit there and say these guys are smart business people and that they understand all this crap just shut up, man. Like, you know, I heard this crap happens with shoes too, which is sad, but that is not the only industry that's no sustained for gaming because PlayStation and Sony and Microsoft say that they care about the gamer. But what is happening right now is not demonstrating that like there's a way that we could fix this and I kinda want to bring up a point forward Yeah, you just enter like yeah, okay, let's talk about that. How do we fix this going for one of the ideas I had was something like you know, a lottery system, right? You know, I just apply and you win one like in that way, the real gamer or they might not all be gamers but the majority are probably going to be real gamers you aren't going to go out and sell a system for a high price and they're just great enjoy it and he kind of talked about the world that's

Red: 11:39

why they do like the World Cup tickets if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, the World Cup is there's a lottery that you have to get into for some of the big matches. So yeah, it works.

Hick: 11:46

Yeah. And just like you have more story understand the whole pain Dimmick and all that, like I said, I disagree with you because you're our I yes, we want people to be safe. But you're our land thousands of people into the store like you know, you can have a co people six p part in a lot. Just tell them hey, we have five systems. First Five people get one you know, you can and everyone else get the fuck out? Yeah, you can figure you can figure that out. But just quit giving so many to influencers. I don't know exactly how this worked this time. But I know they're also given a lot and give them out to their fans. And just like, for the regular gamer, you are not giving us a chance. There's a difference between having a shortage and not even having a chance. And it's being so ridiculous that I mean, you've not seen them anywhere. Like, yeah, like if you don't have this many systems to where gamers can get one at all, don't fucking launch the consoles, just push it back, you push all your damn gains back, why not push the console launch back, I understand the holidays, blah, blah, blah, it doesn't matter when a console comes out every next gen, it will sell no matter what time of the year it will, it will just dread you having more points like going forward overall.

Red: 12:53

And there's a really good point that that you kind of mentioned their outline that I didn't even really think about. And that's like the streaming, we're seeing x cloud out in the wild now, you know, stadia, whatever, Amazon that it's trying to do Nvidia, they're all like, if streaming if we can get the infrastructure in place to where streaming is a legitimate viable way to get great 4k, 120 megahertz, hundred 20, refresh rate, whatever term you want to use, then that will like eliminate the need for this. Like you can do it on your laptop, you can do it on your phone, you can do a smart TV that can do it. You know, it's just yeah, we're obviously not there yet. This generation, I don't think we'll be there next generation because they're still huge chunks of our country alone here in America, like I said, that don't have that kind of broadband, internet. And then you get overseas and I feel like some a lot of places, it's even worse yet, or there's more restrictive data caps on how much data you can use. So I feel like the streaming could be the way forward where every Smart TV, every cell phone, every tablet, laptop, whatever has the capability to play beautiful, full scale triple A games at 4k at 120 frames per second. But man our infrastructure just isn't there yet. But I am hoping that it does get there at one point. I think as much as I'd love owning the console and I love the feeling we've talked about this that feeling of getting a new toy Yeah, getting that new console is an amazing feeling. But man if we can avoid this shit show and we're sitting here clicking fucking refresh on our computer hoping that we're able to get that add to cart button to pop up or your case you got it to pop up in

Hick: 14:28

your fucking car in the end. Yeah, every single time like that Walmart has had one I have gotten one or two systems into my cart and I can never get through the process and I just can't understand how you can. I mean, I know that I guess technically the product is not yours until you check out but right that that people can go into your cart and steal stuff. I don't know it just infuriates me. I don't think that's fair. And like I'm not one of those gamers that's sitting there clicking and all day but there are those gamers and usually I would kind of dog on them but I understand the only way to get that much to them. That's why they're doing it and I feel sorry for them but you know, I don't know may just it's really upsetting. I think it's just I think it's a stain on gaming. I think they just botched this whole thing I think there's better ways that they could have done it and just it's sad in a year that's been as bad as 2020 right? Like you know in gaming has been comforting the whole time like Yeah, but it has been a comfort that so many gamers are going through this crap and a lot of people don't have money because you know, they've lost their jobs but like no laid off for a little while or whatever. Yeah, you know, so it's just I don't know but you know, anyways, let's move on and I pissed off about I'm gonna stay pissed off and target system.

Red: 15:39

Yes, this is our big topic of right right now. I mean, the launches it's been Yeah, people got it. So we we just decided to spin

Hick: 15:47

if we do got Do one thing, we gotta get props to GameStop because they did Oh, doors and let and let people in line. Now. I know that we bashed him before about letting people into your stores. But we've explained our reasoning for this. So props to GameStop they, from what I heard, they only let a couple people in line and yet based them out so GameStop you're not gonna give me props from us. But you got one right here But anyways, through all this bullshit, all this chaos, we've talked about it somehow Red, managed to get an Xbox series X on release day and then also was able to pick it up from Walmart on release day. I'm salty as shit. I'm jealous. I'm bitter. I'm not gonna sit here and lie about it. But read. Go ahead. I know you want to talk about it? What are your opinions so far of the Xbox series x?

Red: 16:33

That's a funny thing. We spend the first 15 minutes sitting here bashing on the process. It works for me, I got

Hick: 16:39

fucking excited because I will say something real quick like, like At first I was like, okay, it makes sense that you got one he just, you know, refreshing got one. But as I went through the process more and more, I'm like, I don't understand how you pull this off.

Red: 16:51

Oh, dude, I don't either. Like I just made sure I had a Walmart account made. And I made sure I was sitting there on the product page and about 1158 Eastern, I started pounding that refresh button until it popped up and said Add To Cart. And I was already logged in. All I do is punch in my credit card and it was done. So my credit

Hick: 17:08

card was already in and I still couldn't pull it off. Jesus that's

Red: 17:12

so I will say though, getting away from from the pain in the ass that this whole launch has been. I fucking love my series acts like I've been an Xbox guy. For the most part. Since going back to the original Xbox. I did love my ps4 and the exclusives on it. But I still kind of my loyalty kind of still gravitates just a little towards the Xbox, mostly because of fond memories of playing Halo with a lot of good buddies back in high school in college. And then of course, you and me playing after college got in the real world. But you know, so I was fucking thrilled to get it. My first thought when I picked the box up, it is smaller than I expected. Like all these, like everything since they first released the pictures and kind of the dimensions. You're like, Oh my god, these things. They're fucking huge.

Hick: 17:52

They're huge. You're expecting a refrigerator. I

Red: 17:55

was expecting refrigerator. I was expecting a mini fridge. Yeah, I could put beer in and everything else. But now this thing is actually not very big at all. It looks great my entertainment system because like I've got it sitting next to it standing up because I kind of like the vertical on it. And it's just it's black. It fits in with everything else in entertainment system. So just from an aesthetic standpoint, it is it's better than I expected. And if I wanted to actually put it in my entertainment system, I could lay it on its side and put it in there because being the amazing boyfriend I am I gave my Xbox One to the girlfriend. So welcome, honey.

Hick: 18:27

Yeah, gave her the old system. I see what you're doing there. But yeah, this is still awesome. A lot people still play this, which is technically true, I guess.

Red: 18:35

But getting the Yeah, like people haven't been able to get to the next Yeah, I mean, getting beyond that. Like, I obviously there's I have not had a chance to play hardly anything that's actually optimized for the Xbox series x like is the few that were the big ones were of course, Gears of War five, the latest Forza Those were the ones that were pimping as like, these are the ones that at launch will be ready for like the series x totally optimized for the graphics, the frames, all that. And unfortunately, I've never played gears for so I jump into Gears of War five. So I started playing Gears of War four, then someone on our discord kindly reminded us that the halo Master Chief Collection, got a patch for series x upgrades to the you know, the 4k to the you know, the 120 frames per second if you have a TV that'll support it. And I was like, Well, fuck, I gotta go play Halo. Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, like that's that like Halo is like is synonymous with Xbox. And it's like been one of my favorite franchises for 20 years. So I'm like, I got to go back and play the original Halo. And so I went there and played it and it's just it's buttery smooth. Man, the downloads of the games load up in no time like when they when they talk about the solid state drives and I'm sure it's the same way on the on the PlayStation side with its hard drive, like games load up in no time, especially some of these older games that you know are a little less demanding than one built from the ground up But literally, like 30 seconds you're building booted up and you're in a game. It is awesome. Like that is like it's a quality of life improvements because the graphics Yeah, they look great. It runs butter smooth is beautiful, but I'm like, it's just being able to fire up and get in there. The loading time is non existent between levels. It's loaded before you're done reading the little tip at the bottom of the screen.

Hick: 20:20

I mean, it's just those tips though, man,

Red: 20:22

those. Those got me through a lot of ghosts of Tsushima.

Hick: 20:26

Yep, yep. Question. Like, you can't get a new TV though. Now, don't you cuz your TV is not up to next gen specs. You don't have HDR, which I'm guessing probably don't have 120 frames per second. I don't think it's time to get on a new TV there.

Red: 20:40

I think I do. I really think I do a Black Friday is right around the corner, sir. That's true. Um, yeah. And I can move this into my bedroom. Life is good. But no. So I love it so far. And I haven't done a lot of like the quick resume is a big feature. They were also talking up just but you've heard us talk. I don't like playing more than one or two different games. Yeah, at the same time, so I haven't really used the quick resume too much. A lot of reviewers were loving it. So I'm looking forward to checking that out at some point. But I have loved the experience. So far, the controller, if you were a fan of the Xbox One controller, or the Xbox 360 controller, before that, you'll love the controller for the series x, it's almost identical. It's got a little more texture on the on the grips, and the D pad is a little bit better. The only thing I will say is the thumbsticks feel just a little bit closer together. And looking at it, you wouldn't know it. But when you actually hold it, you play it for a few minutes. They do feel a little closer together. But I've got small hands anyway. So it doesn't bother me at

Hick: 21:35

all. Always been better because the home button on the Xbox One controller is terrible.

Red: 21:40

Oh no, it's good. It's good. It's much more responsive. It's a little clicky or I would say it's more

Hick: 21:45

depressed that bitch down again to do anything right Xbox One,

Red: 21:48

and I haven't had to play around with the new Share button very much because I'm like I said, I went back and played Halo. So I mean, there's like, I'm not gonna I'm gonna take beautiful screenshots from me is beautiful. Don't get me wrong. Yes. Still, again from 20 years. I

Hick: 22:00

think this is thing like am I disappointed? Yes. That didn't get one. Yes, I am disappointed that didn't get one by more pissed off about the other things around just the whole console launch. And the reason yet the reason I'm really not that upset because there's honestly not a lot to play, like I talked about, um, you know, I want to PlayStation five first. Now I'm in a position where I'll just take either one, or Oh, if it happens, I'll figure out the money later on. So now I'm on Yeah, but like so one reason they're not damn disappointed. I'm pissed off about what's going on around it. Right. I'm like, I'm not that upset because there's like I said, there's not a lot of play. I just feel like I play like spider man like a year to go but it feels too soon. So like, Yeah, probably would get Miles Morales but I don't think I'm ready to jump into spider man just yet. To be honest with you, if I got the PS five, I would probably get sackboy in play that game that utilize the system the best like I'm willing to pay, like, you know, money for a game that might not really like just to see like you know, the next gen specs I put to you. So I might do something like that Xbox if I get it. I don't know. I don't know. But just

Red: 23:08

just to kind of wrap up I'm loving the series so far. Like I said, I haven't really played the games that are really supposed to take advantage of the bells and whistles of the power but I mean, let's say the quality of life stuff is amazing. The quick load times just you're in and out of you're in a game in no time controller feels amazing. It does look a buttery smooth so far from everything I've played. So I'm loving it. I'm glad I've got it. Despite all our kind of negativity coming into this podcast, it is still it is an exciting time in video games, you got new consoles, you've got big launches coming up but one of my favorite things about this time of the year is we're starting to get to those game of the year year end awards and the big one It seems like every year of course is the Game Awards. And we recently got our our nominees for all the categories but most importantly the game of the year so how about I've been talking about the Xbox for a while here so how about you jump in on the nominees what ones jumped out any surprises? Anything like that?

Hick: 24:04

There's really nothing too surprising I don't think I guess one that was a little surprising was Doom I think like I didn't really hear anything bad about Doom but also wasn't hearing like great things about it. So that one kind of shot me maybe just a little bit the Final Fantasy seven remake down right there. I heard really great things about it yeah, but I don't I feel like a remake should be excluded from this category because you're not really like it's not original like it's not an original concept like you're just taking something that's already been done but you know I guess remain movies make Oscars and whatever so I don't agree with it. I do not agree with it. remake should not be allowed in Game of the Year no matter how good they are. I am standing by that forever from now on because you did not come up with an original concept. You just used what was already out there but

Red: 24:52

issues with Final Fantasy seven that I'll talk about but I'm gonna let you

Hick: 24:56

aim of crossing expected to be there. The Last of Us Part Two Of course, like, but they base it on reviews which they don't, but they would lose, Hades. Here's my issue. We kind of talked about this. I love the indie game scene. I don't play a lot of indie games, but it feels like for these Game of the Year wars from not just the game awards from also other entities. It feels like they always hit the head that required indie game. Yeah, just like I just like a blind date. Like almost Yeah, like if it's a great you know, like Celeste, I played Celeste. It was okay, it was not that great. And when you're comparing two games like The Last of Us part two, and go Tsushima I just don't think no matter how well those games are made, I just don't think they can compare to those games or you know, are larger in scale and just do more in like, say,

Red: 25:46

say games Yeah, that

Hick: 25:47

they're bad games. They're just not up to the scope of these large games. So it wouldn't make me mad if you saw it here and there but you see it almost every word I just don't like that like Okay, I understand you want give the end people like a little recognition but these games are not as good as some of the other games coming out like you know, yeah, you might enjoy just as much which I guess does mean a lot but we're talking like specs and how it's built in

Red: 26:12

gameplay knowledge and action values type thing Yeah,

Hick: 26:16

yeah. So but um, you know, then goes to Tsushima was the other one. I hope ghost wins The Last of Us Part Two even though I really did enjoy the game. I hope it doesn't win because there was so much like you know, controversy not well, there's a lot of controversy everywhere like you know, yeah, the gay character and everything which we didn't agree with or whatever and of course it was controversial. Oh, IBM muscles those two are stupid but

Red: 26:39

stupid is bullshit.

Hick: 26:40

Yeah, but then there's also a controversy around well the Craig's gave it a highest score than all the review bombing which right that should have been stopped before even happened so Metacritic, I believe, is where it happened that was shame you but they fixed it from what I've heard but I'm trying they're trying yeah but just the last of us to just to me the game it missing to me critical areas areas Yeah, we've had a whole episode on this don't remember which one is go check that one out.

Red: 27:05

But not just a couple episodes ago

Hick: 27:07

yeah, but just there was a great game but just didn't have everything I want to read ghosts shame and we both played that recently. A blast and open world game the combat and I'm not usually a huge combat guy the combat was amazing it the game looks spectacular have a whole episode on goes to Tsushima there's very soon I would imagine there is a little bit of glitches here and there but overall it can be a little more polished. But I would say overall like in the whole scope of things that would be my winner Now like I said I've only played two of them but read what are your opinions on the whole nominees I'm How many of you played and who do you hope when Well first of

Red: 27:45

all, you've played three you played Animal Crossing New Horizons

Hick: 27:48

for like two days Yeah, I tried I don't know if he would say I played it I know that's not your winners. What

Red: 27:53

you're saying

Hick: 27:54

though, is that which I understand Animal Crossing and why people like it's just not a game that the type of game that I like, but I understand like why people do like it

Red: 28:04

so well. I will say that what kind of shocked me is that none of the next gen games made it on here. I know there's not many but Demon Souls is getting rave a few people are discord have absolutely raved about it. The reviews have every review I've seen has been positive and yes, it's got to be kind of one of those if you like that genre of games. Yeah, you know, the From Software extreme difficulty I get that. But you know, they had a game was it a Secor? Oh, I forgot the name of that one

Hick: 28:35

twice or some shadow?

Red: 28:36

Yeah, that was from the same company so obviously they're not bashing people for for liking the difficulty so I was That was my only surprise is that I really thought the Demon Souls remake would get in there probably overdue me eternal. That

Hick: 28:49

has not been out long enough. Like I know that one year Red Dead Redemption two had only been out not very long. Like Demon Souls was even lighter than that one. I don't know. But I feel like it was

Red: 28:59

I think it was too and and then looking at this, like everything else Animal Crossing New Horizons. I never played it. It's not my genre, but I understand its appeal at a time when people were getting quarantines people were getting old to stay home. It's a happy game. It's a leisurely game. It's a time filler. And I feel like that's what people needed was that that march april timeframe when it came out was right when other Coronavirus was going apeshit all around the world. So it's worse now so it's even worse now. Yeah, you're wrong. So I get that with being nominated because it got a lot of great publicity when it came out. Doom eternal did go a little under the radar like I played the 2016 doom I haven't beat it but I put in a bright a good 15 or so hours. Great game. So do eternal is just more of that. You know, I'm on board with that. But that one snuck up on me a little bit because it did fly under the radar a little because it released on the exact same day as Animal Crossing. And I feel like Animal Crossing dominated those headlines. Yeah. So that was surprising. me a little bit. Last of Us part two, everyone predicted that one. I mean, the critical reviews are amazing. It is a very, very, very good game. As we talked about a couple episodes ago, not great, not great, not great, in my opinion not quite up to the same bar as the first one, but I get it getting dominated dominated Jesus nominated, goes to Tsushima is just as hell and we've, we've talked about this and we will talk about it in length in its own episode. Yeah, it's just such a well done open world game from a company or a developer that doesn't do open world games. So for me like and plus the Japanese setting was very different for me because I didn't play like the second row, or the the Nio is another popular franchise that set over in Japan. And I haven't played those. So for me, it was a fresh setting. A beautiful open world. The combat was fun. The story was rock solid. Yeah, I'm glad to see that one get nominated. I was a little surprised because the critical reviews were all kind of like around that 80 out of 100 type range. Yeah, because it doesn't necessarily innovate a lot. It just does everything really, really well.

Hick: 31:03

But what are you doing to innovate in an open world game?

Red: 31:05

It's hard. It's hard now

Hick: 31:06

like, the Witcher three, like the Witcher three killed it for everybody. Like there was no more innovation after that. Like we're going to put planes or something in like, exactly. Samurai setting. I don't know.

Red: 31:18

Hades. Hades did not surprise me I because every year you're right, they do have that indie game. Last year, it was disco Elysium, which I haven't even played. But like Hades was an easy one to predict. It got a lot of good publicity. The developers behind that are the same ones that did they did resister they did, Bastian. They've all been popular indie games. So that company has some good credibility. And like you said, they always get an indie game in there. So Hades made sense to me. I'm on the fence. I like seeing them get the recognition. But the indie games also have their own entire category, like there is a category for best independent game. So kind of shoehorning one into the best game of the year, like we said against these very polished, very well produced and I'm not saying anything bad about Hades haven't played it. And like I said, I've enjoyed this developers previous games, but it just it's on a different playing field than the last of us. Part Two goes to Tsushima Doom, Animal Crossing, you know, all these other games. Final Fantasy, okay. I've heard good things and people have raved about it. I get it. They took a five fucking hour intro to a game and turn it into a full 40 hour.

Hick: 32:28

I forgot to mention that part. That

Red: 32:30

is my that is my it's mind blowing. It's my it's like let's say you know, we talked a little bit about Halo earlier. It's like you take the first fucking level in Halo like when you're stuck on the the pillar of autumn I just played it. So this is fresh in my mind. You're trying to get off the ship and they make that a 40 fucking hour again, you know a board I'm going to be wandering around that ship

Hick: 32:49

Walmart behind that idea, man. It's just

Red: 32:53

people raved about it. People have raised about the raved about the graphics raved about the you know, the changes, the new missions, all that shit. At the end of the day. It is a shameless shameless fucking cash grab from Square Enix. You can't take five hour chunks of the original game and make every single day 140 hours long and sell it as its own thing your sheep you just

Hick: 33:15

gave me the year why would you not do that again? Right

Red: 33:18

and like and I know you mentioned like it's a remake maybe doesn't deserve it. And I think resin evil two last year kind of paved that. What was it last year, two years ago, I can't remember anymore. Kind of paved the way for remakes to actually show up on these lists and to make whatever I don't care if it's a remake if it's that good, whatever. But this ain't a remake. This is carving off one tiny little piece Yeah, the original game and selling it for 60 bucks to these fans who will happily pay for it because they love the original Final Fantasy seven. No offense to the fans who did I hope you loved it. It just reeks to me of just fucking bullshit greed. And I don't like seeing it get rewarded by a nomination for Game of the Year. So fuck Final Fantasy seven remake. It'll probably goddamn win anyway, just because people think Final Fantasy seven is the best thing that has ever happened in the history of gaming. So Oh. Well, that being said, I hope goes to Tsushima wins as well. That's the one I had the most fun with on this list. Again, without having played every nominee but that is of just being familiar with Animal Crossing being familiar with doom. You know, Hades, I would like to check out at some point, you know, yeah, fantasy, whatever, you know, fuck itself.

Hick: 34:27

But yeah,

Red: 34:29

so ghost gets my nomination for my favorite game this year. I do have to say in our two guys playing Zelda awards. Last year, I actually nominated Star Wars Jedi fallen order. And I realized because that was a late release. That was like a December release. So that actually popped up in some of the different categories for the game awards this year. And I'm not saying it may not be on this. It's not quite on the same par as The Last of Us and goes to Tsushima Jedi fallen order was one of my absolute favorite games last year. I'm glad to see it get nominated in a couple other categories. adventure game you know it's probably not gonna win because it's up against ghosts in the life of us and all that stuff but you know I was happy to see that because in our two guys playing Zelda awards that was my pick so yeah

Hick: 35:10

cool man I

Red: 35:11

kind of kind of

Hick: 35:12

went on there for a little while

Red: 35:15

Oh my I don't even know where we're going

Hick: 35:17

oh we're actually go looking at the time we do have to skip some points people so we do we thought we're not gonna talk about the file bosses we're not gonna talk about the traveling and open world game yeah, we will try put those in another episode. We won't get to age a claim any because this game just for re release released recently it's so I want to talk about it because a lot of you know that we start as two guys playing Zelda that's what the tg PC in tg PC gaming. I don't know why I stress that as much as the tg PC stands for is which is who This podcast is by. But um, you know, we did that for like five or six years. And you know, he will kind of give an update we'll talk about agent calamity. And then we'll give a two guys playing Zelda update but um, read I don't think I don't think you've bought it. I know I bought it yet. But I'm conscious. But what we've kind of talked about that game a little bit but now that's here just released recently like, I mean, are you planning on buying it? Are you not planning on buying it soon now because of the series x but just kind of when are you going to buy it? Like how excited are you for the game?

Red: 36:22

I feel like I should be more excited. Like I

Hick: 36:24

play Hurry up dance. I just got to transition right there. Right?

Red: 36:29

Well, I feel like I should be more exciting because I liked the original Hyrule Warriors like I had a lot of fun with it. I liked the main quest anyway, I didn't necessarily care for the like adventure mode because it forced you and all these different scenarios. Some of them were more fun than others. I didn't complete it. I got stuck playing his fee and I said fuck this I'm done. But no so like I enjoyed the main story of Hyrule Warriors and then in the gameplay like that's kind of hack and slash you versus literally thousands of enemies with some big epic boss fights like I enjoyed the original Hyrule Warriors. I'm not that excited about ag calamity though. And it's shocking because I've talked before we both talked like we would have loved to have seen high rule before the calamity right from Breath of the Wild. Yeah, now this game is giving it to us and both of us are just kind of like it's there.

Hick: 37:19

Is it because of when it's releasing right beside Next Gen. I think that's part of it.

Red: 37:24

That is definitely part like we were all very focused in our podcast obviously has been very focused as it should be for a gaming podcast on the PlayStation five and the Xbox series x and the games that come along or lack of games since they were coming along with that but you know it's it's on my radar and I do plan on getting it at some point but it's it's not something I'm in a rush for.

Hick: 37:47

But here's the thing I didn't get the next gen console and I'm still not that excited for it to the two guys playing Zelda update Yeah, but I think because of our brain I got a little burnt out on Zelda Oh no, there's also third thing I do we actually even know if it's Canon or not. Yeah not hurting official word on this.

Red: 38:06

I think it would be just because the timeframe and yeah, I think that this was the story of the calamity so I think it will be unlike whatever that spin off was for the the other one which was a fun Yeah,

Hick: 38:16

fun game. We talked about you had to make this cane or just seems like a pointless game. But yeah, first of all, I'm not really like I love like going forward and attacking. Although I have said that I've gotten a lot better at stealth and happy myself, but I don't like these type of games where you go for an attack against like thousands of enemies. I like against like one two or three. me so this game really doesn't fit my style too much because in the game like you like want to talk about going forward and just attacking like there's more aspects to the game. Yeah, this game is basically like you said hacking slash that is all you are doing in the game. So yeah, I'm really just not a big fan of that. Yeah, it'd be cool to hear the story of like, you know, high roll before the game Breath of the Wild, but I want to hear that story in a regular like a true Zelda game. In a spin off, even if that spin off is cannon, so yeah, for me, I'm kind of just like it was a hacking a slash. Yeah, you're gonna get a little bit of a story like, yeah, I'm sort of excited about it. You know, maybe I'll have a I got some upland. We'll come tonight. I'm not going to next gen console, so maybe I have a little

Red: 39:26

Archie's Oh, man,

Hick: 39:27

I got paid today. I can't get next gen console. You know what? Read we have a game tonight. We just got a couple up. One is up. We nails it. You know, I didn't think about that till right now. But yeah, I'm going. It's gonna happen tonight now. Yeah, but um, I'm really not that excited for it. But um, I think to me, we're gonna transition. Why the hell do I always say transition? I'm about ready to go through a transition. It's

Red: 39:52

right there on the outline.

Hick: 39:54

No, but I'm gonna use it to transition into two guys playing Zelda like and what's kind of going on with that? Brandon started off for us. And like I said, one reason why I think I'm not that excited is because we did two guys playing Zelda for so long. What for me? Like, you know, developing the website like, you know, doing a lot of videos, you did a lot of videos to you know, do. You also did a lot of recording. But for five or six years, I did Zelda every single day. And I got burned out on it in like, you know, what do you come back to and I play it. I do enjoy, but I'm just kind of still on that break and stuff. And people that are two guys playing Zelda fans that have kind of came over to this, you're probably not going to like what we had to say but kind of going forward. Brett and I have talked about this. Oh yeah, we feel like tg PC gaming is kind of the way because you got to do what you're passionate about. And right now why we do love Zelda. Oh, passionate about so many other games on so many other systems and gaming like as we get older, like you know, yeah, when we start as all about, you know, was all about followers and subscribers, but admits a lot is important nowadays, when we don't have as much time in our lives and you all will experience this, you kind of got to go more towards what you're passionate about and what you enjoy. Because it's an escape. That's what this is for us. It's an escape now and you know, kind of talk about the podcast is so much easier to produce than video to anywhere. just fun. Yeah, go ahead, man. I've been talking for a while. No, it's all good. I

Red: 41:25

was gonna say in the podcast, it's just fun to sit here and talk about whatever like the news. Yeah, we get or there's not that much news. It's fun to talk about the various gameplay elements that we enjoy or don't like, or it's fun to bash on GameStop and Google stadia. Yeah, that never gets old. I can do that all fucking day. I'm not ever getting burnt out on that. But you're absolutely right, the podcast, it's easier to do we get to talk about all of gaming, not just Zelda. You know, we're not sitting here recording video. We're not editing video. We're not writing scripts, we do an outline, as you guys have heard as mentioned many times, but you know, it's just it's, I understand how YouTubers and Twitch streamers and others turn. I know twitch isn't the only one. But that's obviously the one that pops in my head. I get how people burn out on this. creators. Like because you're absolutely right. It is hard especially. It's not a not it's not a job. For us. It was something that was a passion. Yeah. And we both have full time regular jobs. It's hard to come home from your nine to five, especially you you got the kids in every Yeah, for me, it's you know, I'm a little more free time I got the girlfriend, her kid and everything was not the same. But it's hard to then sit down and be like, Oh, I got to work on this video or it's not good. Yeah. Oh, I gotta record this. I got to prep to record for our walkthroughs because we're trying to do 100% we're not trying to have shitty walkthroughs

Hick: 42:37

Yes. Uh huh.

Red: 42:37

I'm 100% with you, I think the podcast is kind of going to be one of our big focuses, but I know you're also still doing a lot of stuff with the TGPZ Media websites, don't you talk a little bit about that,

Hick: 42:49

well, like we kind of talked about, um, we it is an affiliate shop and well what that means is basically we do make we sell other people's products and we make a commission off of that. But the reason that I'm so committed to is one, I think I can make a very cool shop where I can include any products from this person, this person, this person and present them on the one place but here's where I'm gonna get a little boring with it. Like I have a competitive advantage over this because like a lot of work is actually taking products from Excel and you know, manipulating the day to clean up the data right and then like you know, I'll put three or 400 products into the website at one time and I had those skills in Excel because I use it every single day and so this is something that I saw competitive advantage with were like hey, I can create this you know awesome shop yes we do earn a little bit of money from it you know, it helps us out but to cover the expenses is really want to make it like a really cool place for gamers to come in. That's why we also have you know, a blog on it and like we put our podcasts on a certain page on there and we might also get more content um, you know, we do have a YouTube channel where we do put these podcasts for t GPC gaming. Who knows maybe one day down the road we'll start doing more videos on there but the whole website just I have an advantage where I can like drop a lot of products onto the shop right like I think it's very cool like you know the gamers to see all that in one place. You got to go here you got to go there to see certain things you can see the power six merchants all in one place and then combine it with an awesome blog in this is like the kicker on it, where we can talk about anything in the video gaming industry that we want. Right and that is awesome. And so as read I've gotten older as I've gotten kids as he's gotten, you know, busier with work and stuff. Like we only have so much time that we can do things Yeah, yeah, we gotta like choose what we want to come in our time to. And going forward. I just think the podcast it's easier to make. We can drop content more consistently. We are more passionate about talking to other things in Zelda ATG PC gaming, we can still talk zealot to absolutely

Red: 44:54

doesn't know we don't love Zelda. It's still there in our like lives. It's Yeah, just going

Hick: 45:01

forward like I mean just that's the best situation for us. It's word passion is that so? We will keep the two guys playing Zelda YouTube channel going we will drop videos, videos, we drop videos it's been I know that upsets our Zelda fans, but we are going to be talking Zelda here and they're on tg PC gaming, but

Red: 45:21

you're gonna laminate tonight so you'll be right yeah,

Hick: 45:24

so we just had to go where the passion was that I think naturally, we were always progressing to a place where we could talk about more video games, not Zelda. And we finally got to a point where we're like, hey, if we're gonna do this, let's do this. So yandy will keep the two guys playing Zilla YouTube channel going, we will talk Zelda but it will be on tg PC gaming. But going forward, it's going to be mostly tg PC gaming in the podcast, because we only have so much time. And that's where we want to put our time anyway. I gotta take a little break. Let's go ahead you start the wrap up for us. Oh,

Red: 46:01

no, before the wrap up, I was just gonna say I mean, this whole process. And we've been like you said, we got this on the ground five or six years ago, whatever it's been. It does make me appreciate people who fucking put out content two times a week, three times a week, people who stream six 810 hours a day, like, good for you people like I couldn't do it. I could not do it. So props to people who do I hope you all get followers, I hope you all can make a successful, you know, post successful gig out of it. So that's all I will say because I have a hard to put together a video in six months, much less days. So anyway, wrapping up, all the links for the stuff we'll talk about will be down in our disk almost a prescription description. But you know, if you want to, you can support us on Patreon or PayPal. You know, Patreon is kind of the recurring thing. PayPal is a one time thing if you can't, we totally understand that. leave us a review. Leave us a rating. We always appreciate those five stars ratings, five star ratings, even if it's not really five stars. Go ahead and lie it makes us feel good. And then we also have the two websites as we kind of just mentioned tgp z gaming, two guys playing zelda.com there they are affiliate websites, lots of gaming merchandiser. How about you talk a little bit about our YouTube and social media.

Hick: 47:10

Yeah, and we also got a new logo for tgp

Red: 47:14

change my twitter logo?

Hick: 47:15

Yeah, yes, you do. Yes you do. We probably will get one for Busted Buttons in the future. Anyways, we have a YouTube channel for two guys playing Zelda ATG PC gaming at the moment for tg PC gaming. Most of you put a podcast on there Yeah, we have a Discord server where we talk all video gaming PlayStation, Xbox Nintendo PC, definitely go check that out. And we are on social media, Twitter Instagram, mostly at Busted Buttons pc But anyways, Red just had an absolute blast, man. We've missed a week or two before but we only missed a week. This time we missed two weeks so it was just you know I'm upset about what's going on. It was just so nice to get back to talking game But anyways, um, we will see you all on the next episode.