Celebrities in Gaming - Busted Buttons Ep. 36

We start with a quick update on Hick and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Did he buy the Nintendo game? He also talks briefly about a new game he started playing on the PlayStation 4 (PS4), New Super Lucky's Tale.

We then dive into our first topic, final bosses. Do we like to see them throughout the game or only at the end? Do we prefer to fight them multiple times or only once?

Afterwards, we address open world traveling. What methods do we prefer? Does it vary by game? Overall, do we run, ride, or fast travel the most?

Later, we talk celebrities in video games. Do we enjoy seeing them? Are there times where it works and other times where it doesn't? Will voice actors become celebrities with the gaming industry getting so big?

We end with an interesting discussion on how we like to hear the audio in our games. Do we use a sound system with large speakers and a subwoofer? Do we prefer to use headphones?

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Transcript

Red: 0:17

Welcome to Episode 36 of the Busted Buttons video game podcast in this episode, I'm not gonna lie, we're kind of going to be a little bit all over the place, because we have some scraps left over from the last episode, you know, we really wanted to get in to the console launches and kind of that future of tea Jane

Hick: 0:33

is not doing any better either, right now, I can tell you that.

Red: 0:37

So I will say so we just got to have some random gameplay type topics that were just that we've had that we really wanted to talk about. So we're going to kind of get into a, you know, final bosses in games and, you know, some games you have to fight them multiple times throughout the game. How do we feel about that? in open world games? How do we feel about traveling on foot versus horseback or using fast travel, you know, what's our personal preference and what impacts that preference, we're also going to really touch on celebrities and video games, it seems like this is it's always kind of been there, but it's becoming more and more prominent here the last, you know, generation of consoles or so so we'll get into that. And then finally, we're gonna spend a little bit of time talking about the sound preferences for video games. And by sound preferences. I mean, like, how do we listen while we're playing these headphones TV surround sound so we'll get into all that. But before we jump into that, I do want to ask, in our last episode, you said you were gonna get drunk. And by age of calamity, did you do it? And have you had a chance to play it yet?

Hick: 1:34

Well, sadly, I did not get drunk now. I had a pretty good buzz going on. But you know, with the kids, I can't always get that smashing, right. It was playing off that night and just I'm sure they were bothered me it didn't happen but I did drink I did drink my upland wheat Ale, and I did buy that game. So you know, I've got that part out of the way I play it just a tad bit really just a first actually, all I did was play the first stage. Um, you know, it's kind of just like I said, Man, you know, it's just, I mean, yeah, just I mean, yeah, there's a little bit of a story too and everything but it's really just going out into a field or whatever the saying is, it's just been mashing That's all it is. And personally, I think there's too much going on on the screen like there's all these attacks and all these buttons you have to hit to do these certain attacks. Now I know as the gang goes on that will become easier Yes. Like that people talking down the left part of the screen like are you have a hard enough time? Like there's these everywhere you do all these attacks, and there's people talking there's just too much shit going on, which is kind of like I'll kind of take it to another game. I'm playing a new super Lucky's tale account we'll have a short conversation with you here on Yeah, yeah, cuz this is like Hyrule Warriors. Like I said, I don't really have much say first stage. It's okay. But yeah, like, there's all this chaos going on. Now New Super, Lucky's tale. It's a platformer. It's very cute, very colorful. I kind of wanna I don't want to talk about this too long because we went to our first topic but as I'm playing it, like it's a little bit easier but gang which is nice when you're playing something as chaotic as Hyrule Warriors it's overlapping right now be difficult but is chaotic. But is there a point for us? Or these games might be too cute? You know? It might not definitely they're not for adults. I would say they're definitely more towards you know little kids or teenagers. Yeah, but my question to you would be can a game be too cue and unattractive for adults?

Red: 3:26

I don't think so. And one of the ones I will go to is Yoshis crafted world like it I know like the game itself is it's just a solid platformer it's it's nothing that's gonna blow you away it's fun, but it is adorable juicy like the entire world the characters The enemies are like all created out of like crafts and like do stuff around the house. So it in, in some games, especially in we've got more of these, you know, platformers seem to really have it like these really cute art style. And I think as long as the game spawn, I say fuck it, man. If it's cute, whatever. So Mike's wants to make fun of you for playing a cute game.

Hick: 4:04

Right? Come on, man. I got kids. I'm not worried about someone making fun of me anymore.

Red: 4:08

Exactly. So no, I don't think that that game can be too cute. I mean, I know Okay, sometimes it might be an art style that's like yes things where it's so cute. It's disgusting like everything's cotton candy pink or something like that then yeah, that's one thing but you know just thinking about a game like Yoshis crafted world that is a very cute game. I still had fun with it. And I still enjoyed it as an adult. So

Hick: 4:30

I'm having a blast a new super Lucky's tale I guess we've kind of made me think about that actually. was not so much the our style or anything is more like the character interactions in a way. Yeah, it's I mean, some platformers 3d platformers are pretty easy, but this games a little bit too easy so far, so I guess I agree with you like I don't care what people say I'm gonna play the game find joy. I am enjoying it so far, but it has popped up into my head with the conversations and everything like this is a little bit childish, but it's alright. Anyways, file bosses. Let's get to our first topic of the podcast at five minutes in. But um what got me thinking about this is I've been playing Super Mario 3d All Stars lately. You got Mario, you know get Super Mario Galaxy you got Super Mario 64 and he got some other game I can't remember cuz it's not porn. It's fucking trash. So just just quite the market off your list. That's the only reason that you should play Super Mario Sunshine is the market off your damn list anyways, as playing these games like you fight bouncer in each of them three times, I don't want those to you. It kind of made me think about do you like having bosses like that throughout the game to fight? Or would you rather just fight them at the end?

Red: 5:40

When it comes to final bosses like that I strongly prefer to only face them one time at the end of the game. Great to me it feels like you're holding in games that have a final boss. I know this doesn't apply to everything. But in games that have a final boss, like the whole game should be leading up to it. It should be trying to get to that final boss or get to where you're good enough to conquer that final boss. Or if you're playing Breath of the Wild just jump off the great plateau and run straight to the final boss. You know what? But to me, I only think you should fight the final boss or really any boss. Just one time in the game. I don't like for me it feels lazy when bosses get recycled. Especially the final boss because to me it kind of takes some of that epic Final Fight feeling out of it. I mean, think about some of you know we talked about Zelda so much just in general think about some of our favorite Zelda games, you know A Link to the Past you finally fight Ganon in the middle of the Golden pyramid you know our creative time Yes, you fight shadow Ganon but that's not their Phantom Ganon rather, but that's not the same thing like you finally fight Ganondorf Phantom

Hick: 6:43

Ganondorf right come on, man. You got no better Zelda fans will get on you. Oh, I

Red: 6:48

know what I know it. So like in those like Final fights feels so epic. Because you've seen the character throughout the game. You've probably talked to the character and a lot of cases he's taunted you or popped up here and there. But you finally get to fight him and it just feels awesome. So to me having to face the enemy several times and Mario games are horrible. The 3d Mario games Yeah, are horrible about this because obviously it was the same way you fought Bowser at least twice that I can remember just off the top my head so I'm not a fan of it. The final boss should be reserved for the end of the game. What do you think?

Hick: 7:22

It makes that boss more epic if you leave it just at the end at like a great example is Twilight Princess, when you get to like, you know, Gannett nighters dip for different versions of Gandalf when you get there. Right. But like, you know, you get there and you see them a little bit cutscenes here and there. But then you get there and you see me had this confrontation. That means so much more than if you would have fought him throughout the game. So I just think when you're sitting there and you don't get anything really from this boss until the end, it just makes that fight seem special. Whereas if you play them before usually obviously you end up being them because you progress through the game. Yeah, but usually what happens is they quit and they say oh, I'm gonna go you know, not practice but you know get practicing get bearish on the same thing. Anyways, like they're gonna go do something quick to fight another day. Yeah, to better fight you the next time and that just comes off as cowardly to me. Like you're quitting the fight like, you know, oh, the fight another day. And so when you finally get to him at the end, I'm like, dude, you're a quitter. You're a coward. So I hate fine boss, final bosses throughout the game. Now I will mention that there is one part where I think this really did work well. And that's because everything in this game works well. And so you all know what are you going to say here? Witcher three in the Wild Hunt. They had the wild I can't remember. I remember you faced him like at the Battle care more. And like that was Oh, that was probably that's probably one of the best cutscenes and battles and all video game in my opinion. But yeah, you do face them a little bit throughout and you get a little bit of cutscenes with them throughout. Like it did work in that game so props to them, but the Witcher three done things that other games just had not been able to do since the game came out in 2015. So definitely worked there. But um, as far as like you know, Balthazar okay we're talking about cutscenes and like how you know it makes it more epic when you get there it does Mario doesn't really make a difference in that sense because it cuts things there's really no story they'll still only like to fight bows are at the end think about the first couple Mario games like you know Super Mario Brothers Mario three Super Mario World you didn't face bouncer until the very end in those fights stuff truly epic but you know here I want to talk to you because we got one example that is just absolutely terrible with this facing a boss throughout the game and that sky restore watching this kind of go and talk about how bad dad one is

Red: 9:41

well in this one this one's kind of cheating a little bit for us because these aren't technically the final boss because demise but you know you have to fight gear him in the imprison both of them will demise Is he in prison. So that kind of final boss and gear him is basically a sword at the end. So you know, it counts we're gonna go together, it goes together. Yeah, so you have to fight both of them three fucking times throughout the game. And I get that they change up their attacks both times you get the group's inator against the imprison, which is awesome, don't get me wrong, but just part of it is those were the fights themselves weren't that interesting even though I liked the gear him character, but you know when you have to fight the same guy three times throughout the game and in this case they did it twice. I mean, that just screams absolute laziness and you'll gear him was the worst. I was like, Ah, you know, you've got some skill, but you know, I'm gonna cut I'll get you later. You know, he's cocky about it. Right as opposed to cowardly. But he's still like, you know, you're okay, but I'll get you later. And he was the perfect example of that. The imprison just like escaping a few times. I don't know, it just felt redundant to have to fight both them over and over and over and like they're the fights were very similar. And this goes for anytime this goes with the bouncer fights and everything else that we've talked about. Usually, the fights are so similar anyway. Yes, they might have a few new attacks, there might be a few new ways to attack them. Like I mentioned, the group's inator is really cool. But you know, other than that, it's still the same fucking fight. And it just it gets repetitive. It gets boring. I remember when you first gear him in the first dungeon. And then you're like, Oh, my God, we're gonna Yeah, yeah, you knew he was gonna pop up a few more times. And he does. And it's just, I don't know, I'm not a fan. I don't care. I know, we've mostly focused on final bosses, but even when it's just regular bosses that they repeat, and old games kind of had to recycle that just Yeah, the restraints of the systems. There's no fucking excuse in this day and age. Unless you've got a really good story reason to do it. And you can keep the fight fresh and interesting every time. There's no reason to have to repeat boss fights to me. It is absolutely lazy Skyward Sword. I know you get dragged on by a lot of people for your

Hick: 11:55

Skyward Sword. So but but

Red: 11:56

I love Skyward Sword, that part of it can strike Fuck off.

Hick: 11:59

Yeah, I agree. I do agree. I love it. But I agree with you on that part.

Red: 12:03

But you know, so, you know, we've been talking about final bosses and the builds to final bosses and everything. And, you know, the more you play a game, the more it really does tend to like build up to that climactic fight. You know, I know, you know, games that obviously you play the most open world games and the time that we put into them. I know, we've talked a little bit about, you know, hours and things like that. And gameplay in open world games. Let's be honest, open world games are huge right now. So we're going to talk about them a little bit in just about every episode, it seems like

Hick: 12:31

but you know,

Red: 12:32

how do you play the game and most specifically, kind of how you travel around the game world can really have an impact and an effect on kind of how long you put into an open world game. And that really got us thinking about and I think about this, honestly, every open world game I play is how I get around that world. Am I doing it on foot? Am I doing it on horseback? Am I fast traveling all around it? So I kind of want to kick to you, you know, when it comes to getting around an open world game? What and this is probably the longest transition of all time. I swear I eventually was going to connect all my dad's

Hick: 13:10

like, Damn, he's going on about this one took me a minute.

Red: 13:13

But so when it comes to open world games, how do you prefer to kind of get around in them? And what do you think drives you towards one method or another,

Hick: 13:21

it really varies by game to like, depending on what type? Well, they're all similar types of game, but how the mechanics are in the game. Now, one thing I don't do is fast travel at the beginning, like I get later on the game, like there's certain parts like I know, it's Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which I will get back to one day, there were certain parts where I was like, you know what I'm probably, I would say a little bit, maybe like 75% through the game, but like, I'm not gonna go all the way over there, because it's gonna take me 20 minutes to sell. So like, you mean, certain parts, like, you know, I will fast travel earlier in the game. But for the most part, I like to leave that to the end. Like, I'm just trying to go places real quick just to maybe get a collection item or something like that. But ever since my mistakes and Skyrim, which I've kind of talked about in this podcast, were really like, it wasn't my first open world game, but it was one of the really first ones that maybe weren't like, you know, like a bad example. Because really, Breath of the Wild is only the first one that was really open world but right Skyrim was one of my first open world games, I just fast traveled everywhere. And it really killed the experience. Like I did not enjoy the game at all. Like I beat Skyrim at 40 hours in a day. And that's my opinion after playing more open world games, that should never happen. So ever since that game like I've really tried my hardest to travel on foot. That's the way that I like to travel because you see everything and you can really do items along the way. And one thing that I hate with Rhino horse now, we will talk about this I will ride a horse in some game. Some games, the mechanics do matter, but like you can't I find myself riding on trail a lot when I ride a horse. Yeah, and I really hate it because you don't see Like the rest of the world, you don't see all the nooks and cranny like when you're when you're also a little bit higher off of the ground. When you're walking, you're closer to the ground. You can go everywhere you can go off cliffs, everything you know you could do that goes to Tsushima. But your horse would you know, bite it? Yeah, exactly. You know, there's a glitch in that game where you should be able to jump off certain cliffs. So a sucker punch, I messed up, you messed up a little bit right there. But, you know, I can't do it to you. But um, for me, it does very well kind of continue on with this. But if I can, and if the world is not too big, I do prefer to travel by foot. How about you?

Red: 15:34

In general, I do. And yet, the more I sat here, and I prefer to travel by foot as well, is what I mean. But the more I've sat here and thought about it, I find myself doing the horseback riding a lot more often than then I really realized and I think part of it is, and we're going to mention breath the wild probably quite a bit in this because that's when we both explored on foot last exclusively like

Hick: 15:56

I did not different though,

Red: 15:58

I did not ride a horse and Breath of the Wild unless the game required me to. So that is the one that I probably did on foot more than any other one. And I think kind of what drives that for me is when you don't have question marks and waypoints and quests, like all over your map from the get go. Like with Breath of the Wild. Yeah, you've kind of got just the general like, okay, at the beginning, yes, go see Impa then yes, go do the four divine geese. But other than that there are no waypoints on your map, unless you put them there yourself. And I think that really encourages you to travel by foot, just because you can walk in every different direction. You can like go through the woods, you can go around, up and down cliffs, you know, things like, again, the climbing is a big factor. You know, I liked climbing and Zelda we both loved climbing and Breath of the Wild. So for me, a big factor is not having a map that's just so cluttered by all these question marks that show you where every single thing in the game is, it takes away the incentive to explore when you open up like an assassin's creed map, and you've already got 50 question marks on there of stuff like points of interest stuff to go do. And you lose that incentive to incentive to just go and explore and find stuff on your own. I feel like I've already got the question marks. I'm like, Oh, I don't need to explore. I'll just jump on the horse and and drive and go to the next one and go to the next one and go to the next one. So for me that really is a huge driver, you know, when the game doesn't hold my hand and tell me exactly where to go. I'm more likely to walk and travel by foot or run, as opposed to Sorry, excuse me, as opposed to riding on horseback. But another big factor, though. I mean, because time is a factor in our lives is the ability to sprint, you know? Yeah, it's a good do you have a stamina bar? Do you eventually slow down? Or can you just sprint on forever? Or is the game world just in general too big? Yeah, for you to be able to travel just by foot. So I do think that all that really plays into it. I like I said, so I prefer traveling by foot. But the horseback riding I feel like just for a time factor is really something I've probably like it depends on the game

Hick: 18:11

I like that's my opinion, because there's two games why I really use the horse a lot, The Witcher three now why using the Witcher three, I don't know, I just remembered that I really liked Ryan on the horse in the Witcher three, but I really use it a lot and ghost Ashima now goes to Tsushima the game world even though it doesn't look big on the map, like that game world feels humongous. But here's the other reason that used the horse so much is because the mechanic of how you are guided in the game by the wind, like that made me go off the path usually like you know what, though, like, you know, there's a you can see the question mark or there's like a non objective by a waypoint, there's a waypoint that you kind of see on the map and you go towards that, and you're more likely to stay on the trail. Whereas like with the wind, like it would just go a certain direction. And I found myself going on the path so much and I just Rhino goshima is one time, the time that rode a horse the most in open world game. So I, I think it depends, honestly depends on how much fun it is to ride a horse. That's also what you can do when you're on the horse in ghost Ashima you can actually pick up items when you roll past them. There's been other games where if you're on a horse, you cannot get items. And if you cannot get items on a horse and you can you don't want to fast travel. Your only other option is to go by foot right? Those mechanics right there, they do matter and so I think it just me I don't really I guess it depends on the horse and like what you can do on it. For me that's what depends on like, there's no game like there's really no set factor like oh, I always do this. I always do that. It really depends on the games and the mechanics but you know, whatever traveling around open world funds no matter how you do it, well let's fast travel. People don't fast travel. The game is not about being a game as quick as you can trust me I learned with Skyrim center get lost in the Experience get lost in the world go explore do not bash travel, you're gonna waste your damn time with it. But anyways,

Red: 20:06

I do agree with you on on the fast travel point like I do think that it kind of breaks the immersion in again, you can just pull up the map and instantly travel to you know whether it's a waypoint, a village or every point of interest or maybe it's just a specific tower like Breath of the Wild something like that. But it still takes you out of the game world a little bit when you do that because you're almost always taken to a loading screen that's got like tips or whatever. That's not bad, but it like it really does break the immersion for me and no loading times are becoming better. We

Hick: 20:40

have to worry about that. The Xbox series x

Red: 20:41

Yeah, exactly. So just like, but you can't not have it in a game though. Because it's just it is a quality of life thing. Yeah. And people do you know, these games are so massive now. And especially like I said, when you're getting close to the end of the game, you've already seen the vast majority of the world you know, at that point, you're kind of ready to just wrap it up hit those last few points of interest you get to your next mission and was in

Hick: 21:08

Vegas game world that you've ever played.

Red: 21:10

I honestly I don't know. Like, what the actual official

Hick: 21:15

Yeah, I mean, who knows the scale technically, but

Red: 21:17

right. But I mean, I would have to say I mean, Grand Theft Auto five would be up there. Yeah, cuz that game world is absolutely just insanely large. That would be the one that I would think would probably like take the cake in terms of if I ran from one corner of the map to the other corner of the map it takes it would take the law of course you'd be driving in this Yeah. But you know, so to me, that's probably the biggest one that I've played Do you do kind of start fast traveling You know, when you when you realize you've you've driven or ridden or walk the same road so many times so what about you? What do you think the biggest game world you've played? Assassin's Creed Odyssey it's not even close.

Hick: 21:51

Okay, all those islands and get it and then you get the ocean. That game is freakin humongous. And it's taken me forever. Like I need to get back to that but 85 hours and I really need to get back to that game. But I'm struggling. I'm playing high road warriors. I play a new super Lucky's tale. I'm trying to play Tomb Raider on PC and I keep on getting these damn parts where like you got do something really quick if you die like it loads. And so you know, I suck. So check the load screen load screen load screen. I'm I got tired of this shit. But anyways, I try to get to my transition earlier than read cut me off. I get you know, I was making your transition or whatever. But

Red: 22:26

I had more to say I'm sorry.

Hick: 22:28

That's all right. That's all right. Always do that. Because if I ever have more say I also speak up but don't Breath of the Wild and traveling. And one thing that Breath of the Wild did was wouldn't introduce voice introduced voice acting to Zelda games. Which kind of brings us to this whole topic of celebrities in video games, or people being voice actors in games, and then becoming celebrities. It happens both ways. But I kinda just wanted to have a little conversation on this. First of all, how do you feel about celebrities? What's that do? Well, usually they're gonna be voice acting overall. Yeah. What's your opinion of celebrities and video games? Do you like it? or Do not

Red: 23:02

you know I'm really hit or miss on celebrities appearing in video games. And I do feel we kind of mentioned this in the intro, that it is becoming more and more common. I think as video games have become a much more prominent and popular, you know, form of entertainment. It's no longer just kids and teenagers anymore. Yeah, it seems like a worldwide a

Hick: 23:21

billion dollar industry to

Red: 23:22

exactly like so more and more celebrities like they like getting the cameos or even like actual famous actors and actresses appearing in these games. So if it's done well, and they pair up a celebrity with a with a role that fits them like whether it's their appearance, their voice, whatever it is, then I think it could be really good because like one example I absolutely love is Martin Sheen in Mass Effect two and three. He plays the character he plays is just perfect. Like he has got that like kind of sinister sounding smoky raspy voice Yeah, it matches his character just absolutely perfectly. I thought so

Hick: 24:04

I think that there's a character look like Martin Sheen or is it just the voice

Red: 24:07

kind of it does have a decent resemblance to him with you know, some liberties taken. So that doesn't bother me too much,

Hick: 24:14

especially once again,

Red: 24:15

if the person's kind of appearance fits it. Hey, I thought he really did. So I thought it was a I thought that was a really good example. You know, one game that I think kind of took it to an extreme is with Death Stranding, which of course, that game took a lot of stuff to

Hick: 24:32

see. Yeah, yes, it does. I

Red: 24:33

mean, you had the main the main character is Norman ritas, who's a very famous actor, you know, going back to boondock saying, Yeah, that's

Hick: 24:42

a good one. Yeah.

Red: 24:42

And then the walking dead, of course, and the the villain or, you know, the guy that you're always seeing is Mads Mikkelsen, who's a very famous actor, you know, he's been in Hannibal, he was one of the guys in Casino Royale, you know, the Daniel Craig Bond film So, and then you had cameos from like, Conan O'Brien. Jeff Kyle. And I'm probably

Hick: 25:00

butchered that. I love the Conan O'Brien spot in that game.

Red: 25:04

So to me like I look at that as like, maybe that's a little overboard, but with how cinematic, that game is, yeah, they were able to pull it off because your character is Norman redist looked amazing. Mads looked amazing, like so, even though that game did kind of take it to an extreme like those guys, like that is a cinematic enough game, that having these really famous actors seem to really fit in there. So I know, there's plenty of other examples. I'm sure we're gonna get to but just overall, kind of what are How do you feel about celebrities appearing in video games?

Hick: 25:38

Yeah, man, this dream it's a weird ass game. For me, like, hey, with it, like you said, if it's done right now, like he says, they become more cinematic. And also the industry becomes bigger. You're seeing the celebrities like you know, want to game video games more exactly what you said. So while I'm repeating, I don't know. We seen this on something that's like, yeah, we've seen this since way back in the day, like we had check and check food. Like Becca, they were checking everything. Like younger kids. Like Shaq used to be in movies like kazaaam Oh, yeah. No, just that guy used to do everything. And then you had mike tyson Mike Tyson's punch out which, with all his trouble, I think they later took him out and renamed it Oh, yeah. Ciao without Mike Tyson. I think he fought somebody else. I'm not really sure. But I believe that's what happened. They but um, you know, that was mostly sports games back in the day. But we've seen this go on for a long time. But, you know, then there's some examples like where I don't think it fits very well. And I'm actually going to mention a non video game for this like when Ed Sheeran showed up in Game of Thrones, like that is, you know, that just was a place that that just didn't work out. And in AC Valhalla. Now I'm not saying this. But I've heard that Cody Bellinger. The Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player is in it and see, that's one of those things right there where that sounds like this is a baseball player in a Viking game, like, you know, that teaches, like, that's an example where I don't really like you like you got Keanu Reeves and cyberpunk 2077. But he's an actor, like he's played different roles, like, you know, for example, the matrix which a lot of sci fi

Red: 27:09

roles, yeah,

Hick: 27:10

I need to really watch those movies. I don't know, I have no reason for watching those movies. I just have not done it. But that fits in very well with cyberpunk 2077. So it makes sense also, Kiefer Sutherland in metal Metal Gear Solid five, also kind of similar roles to once he has, you know, in the past. So right examples like that, like, you know, I do really like it, but we just do a celebrity in there to do it with you know what I'm saying that, but I love Conan O'Brien training. So you know, and that literally was just a throw in right there like, right, he does not fit in that game whatsoever. It's probably because he does that up. He does that little skit with the boy doesn't reuse for the games or whatever like that. It's I probably got in there. So you know, I guess there are examples where if they are just don't in they look did i do like it, but thank the majority of the time, I do not like that I like the celebrities to actually, you know, either played some kind of row or have some kind of personality that fits the person that they're playing actually, like, you know, in the game. And here's the thing, like, you know, yeah, it's nice to throw in here there. But then you say like, you know, Norman reid is dish training, they kind of overdid it a little while. And that's how like my celebrities and video games is actually in the middle. Neither one of those in the middle. I just slept it to be in there a decent amount, but not be the main character. And I'm not sure how much Keanu Reeves plays in cyberpunk 2077. But I do know that he's not the main character, but he's a pretty big role in it. And I think that I am going to like that. So um, you know,

Red: 28:44

all over the place.

Hick: 28:45

Yeah. I don't really know where to go next with this one. But it's,

Red: 28:48

well, here's here's the thought you did kind of mention how voice actors voice actresses actually kind of, Oh, yeah, I'm famous from their voice acting. There's a couple of examples of ones that just popped into my head immediately when I think of video game. Voice capture voice characters, Nolan North and Jennifer Hale are two characters that have primarily become famous, at least in gamers, at least in my mind, from doing roles in video games. And I think like as the voice acting becomes more prominent games, get more famous games get more popular. You know, this is a good niche for people who you and I'm not saying this about nolan north or Jennifer Hale at all, but like maybe if you're not a great actor,

Hick: 29:31

but if you've got a good vision that gets you where you want to get to in the bay,

Red: 29:34

that's a much better way to put exactly no clue if nolan north or Jennifer Hale are actually good actors and actresses or not, I don't know. But you know, if you have a talent for the voiceovers, and you've got a great voice for whether it's action games, adventure games, whatever it is, you know, it's another great avenue for people to like becomes you know, become get a break industry

Hick: 29:55

and I think voice acting is becoming more and more important because we're getting more and more lost with the The games like back in the day, like it mattered, but I don't think it really mattered that much like go back to like Grand Theft Auto three and by city like the voice acting in those games it's not really that memorable at all but he really had days if you had bad voice acting, you are going to get killed like you know, a good I don't think a good example but Patricia Somerset that played Zelda and Breath of the Wild, I didn't mind her at all. I thought it was nice that we have voice acting is still a game. But you know, she did become a little bit of a celebrity but at the same time, she also got bats a little bit.

Red: 30:34

She knows she became infamous instead of famous I

Hick: 30:37

yeah, so I mean acting I mean, so can go that way too and everything but um, I just think like you said, like, as we go forward, I don't think so much celebrities, like you know, I think we need like you said the people with the right voices no matter where they are. They're celebrities. That's cool. But they're just random people. Obviously they try to get into voice acting most likely, like the God of War guy. Oh my God. That voice was lucky. Perfect man like

Red: 31:02

to get his voice in the witchers

Hick: 31:04

doesn't try to say like, these voice like voice acting is becoming so huge because it immerses you so much in the game. And there's so many cinematics that when you get something like a god award, whoever he said that was, I mean, it can make a game spectacular.

Red: 31:21

Plus, like when you look back on these games that we're really fond of, especially you know, in the last game generation or two, you're not going back to games that didn't have voice acting that you associate that voice with the character when you see the character that voice immediately is one of the things that pops in your head like I mentioned Witcher you mentioned the God of War person. Like I know my female Cassie, my winters

Hick: 31:41

all screwed up because of the damn Netflix show. I don't remember how the videogame characters sounded.

Red: 31:45

Now you've got Henry Cavill Yeah, yeah, but no, so it's like it does become synonymous with that character. And of course unless it changes then it can just throw you way off.

Hick: 31:53

Yeah, you know,

Red: 31:54

so I do like that it's a good Avenue. And you know, it's just it for these people to kind of break through and they become that video game character. That's who you think of when you see that character? You know you I won't think about Death Stranding and not think about Norman ritas I mean, well without also think about how fucked up the producer and integrator that game

Hick: 32:13

Yeah, yep. You gotta have a really messed up man to create something like that

Red: 32:17

right. Now one interesting kind of example or a couple of examples. I'm really going to pick on Marvel here for a minute for two specific examples of where they really fucked up with the celebrity likenesses. When you have an existing IP like Marvel, when the Marvel Cinematic Universe is as massive as it is in the characters, you know, Robert Downey Jr. Chris Evans, you know, Chris Hemsworth, like, you know, those are Iron Man Thor, Captain America like that is and Mark Ruffalo for the Hulk. That, you know, that is who that character should be. Because for the last, what, 1015 years, they have dominated pop culture. They've been in our face for 10 or 15 years. And then you make a game based on the it's called the fucking Avengers, and it has Captain America, Thor, Iron Man hook, and they don't look anything like the characters. Yeah, and I get okay. The licensing and all that shit may have been prohibitively expensive to get their likenesses their voices, whatever maybe to pay the actors would have been way too much like you've got Marvel Disney fuck you money. Like Yeah, there's a spider

Hick: 33:31

man they use the actor's face and they did okay, which it didn't change it to look like the first place in a new one. So you can't go back and forth on that one. But yeah, I get what you're saying. I do agree with you. But same time in the original spider man. I don't believe that use that actors. Like there's been a couple different actors, right? I don't believe that you really use that actors face and then what they tried and we bashed that one but so i think i think it comes down to Yes, I agree. I would love to see the Marvel actors as their characters, right? You can still make a great like you should make a great game from it if you don't have that.

Red: 34:05

And it sounds like they didn't make a great game out of Avengers I heard it bombed.

Hick: 34:08

I didn't look into it all I'm sick of Avengers and everything like just I'm not really against it but just I'm not able to check out the thousands of movies they made in the last 15 years so you know, right?

Red: 34:18

And then I do like I'm glad you brought up the spider man and like okay, you've already got the video game character The game is already out and you're doing an update or remake whatever and you totally change the way the guy looks to make it

Hick: 34:30

look closer. Dad was terrible. You heard his pitch about that.

Red: 34:33

Oh my god.

Hick: 34:34

I wish everyone episode that was go back. It's called Spider Man face transplant. That's the title. Go back and check that out because I went off.

Red: 34:41

Oh, yeah. So So to me, I feel like Marvel has kind of fucked up twice. And they did it in two very different ways with their games, but man overall, in general, if the celebrity fits the game and fits within the game, whether it's their likeness, their voice, whatever, I'm all for it. You know, I still would be bashed over the head with like cameo popping up everywhere. But you know, like I said, Norman arenas did a great job. You know, Kiefer Sutherland, Martin Sheen. They all fit you know, Shaq and Shaq foo whatever. Yeah. So it's it I it doesn't bother me at the end of the day and you know if people are getting famous by being voice actors, more power to them. Yeah. But you know, we kind of sit here we talk about hearing celebrity voices and advances in like audio voiceover all that stuff. audio and video games is becoming more and more important as our audio technology. Yes continues to advance. I mean, 3d audio, the soundtracks are getting frickin symphonies going on. audio and video gaming in has always been a little important because soundtracks really stick to our mind. But man, is it ever even more important now with the technology for audio that is in our hands? So we wanted to take a few minutes and talk a little bit about your preference when you're playing a video games, headphones, or TV speakers or sound system? Go? Which one do you prefer? Well, my

Hick: 36:00

preference would be sound system, the bass booming speakers loud, but I don't have that option, because I have three young kids. So that's what I would love to do, but I can't do which brings me to my next point, what I love to do now I love to do now but the way I play the most now is with headphones, right guys, you know, a lot of times my kids are asleep or whatever or I'm just you know, I can Okay, they're either asleep or they're making a lot of noise. So if I don't have headphones in I can't hear or I gotta have headphones in to be quiet but to me like if you can't do on a sound system and I really actually really liked this conversation because like you say it's becoming more and more important and I just really think the way you hear games you know, kind of go along with that is definitely becoming important a lot of 3d audio, and this is why I think headphones are going to be bigger, better like bigger, more people are gonna get to say okay, want to get that more people are going to want to use headphones in the future, I think a lot of has to do is 3d audio, where you're hitting sounds like that are coming from different directions with headphones, you can hear that better on a left and a right ear versus a speaker where they might have a left and a right speaker but it's still coming towards you from like, you know, a central position so me I love playing video games with headphones nowadays. I hate the wires but

Red: 37:23

yeah,

Hick: 37:23

this is next year I guess she does this next gen he might not have looked into it. Is there Bluetooth capability with the systems

Red: 37:30

I mean there's obviously Bluetooth support for the controllers and stuff well

Hick: 37:34

yeah,

Red: 37:35

yeah But no, I do not know in terms of headphones I have not tried I don't have the key I don't have the situation you know I'm not living with a wife and kids I do have an apartment complex so I tried to blast my audio to yeah but man if I'm gaming during you know wait waking hours and not you know after you know nine or 10 o'clock at night when people are going to bed man I'm old school I love having the speakers but yeah, unfortunately a lot of games I play our action games so you know I love the shooters and stuff like that so you know I'm a big fan of just the booming sound the bass you know and yeah, maybe you don't get the best 3d audio because I don't I don't have a surround sound setup so I don't really get that 3d audio or hell there's even sound bars now that do 3d audio somehow yeah that technology makes no fucking sense to me whatsoever but anyway, but I love having I've got two tower speakers that I've had since college basic yeah hooked up to an old nose. Oh and yeah, I used to put them in my window to blast music out into the village

Hick: 38:36

that one that one time member that that girl that night

Red: 38:42

Oh sometimes try to drink with us is the down

Hick: 38:46

my wife about that one.

Red: 38:49

Anyway anyway before we get ourselves in trouble

Hick: 38:53

Absolutely. I didn't continue on notice that

Red: 38:55

Yeah, I do absolutely love having the big tower speakers in my living room setup. I've got the speakers far enough away from the TV like on almost an opposite corners of the living room that you still kind of get that 3d effect if you have it set up for stereo sound and it's not as good as obviously is the perfect 3d audio and all that but at least it helps a little bit in getting that okay, it's coming from the left or it's coming from the right so and another reason I still prefer the tower speakers is I've never invested in good headphones like I've never showed a good pair of headphones and I know these days you can get absolutely amazing whether it's both beats or even like the same second Apple like the air buds things like that are all amazing headphones. Now the technology in them is so far beyond what it has been you know when we were growing up I've just never in put the time and money into a good pair of headphones. So that's a big reason for me. Why I still do prefer to game with with the big tower speakers. Now. If If I had a good pair that I put a couple hundred bucks into it. Noise Cancellation,

Hick: 40:01

boss, you got to put more than 100 bucks a couple down you like you need to get some I don't know, I keep on trying to talk you into things He just won't listen to me. I guess you spend all your money on next gen console system. So whatever.

Red: 40:13

Yeah. Taught me into that Nintendo Entertainment online. Yeah,

Hick: 40:16

yeah, but um, you know, one thing that makes me upset is that my sound system is on the TV that my kids get to watch. So say, Man, you are out there. I mean, it's nice to have a family. I love my wife. I love my kids. But there's shit like this man. Where are you just, you know, and then I'm like, well, maybe I'll just move it into my you know, my I call it my lounge, where my computer, my TV on everything. But my TV is turned in that you don't have the room for all the speakers. And so my kids set here, they get the damn sound system. They don't use the subwoofer. So that that's, you know, I don't want to turn it off, you know, but Well, yeah. So they taken, I love them. But man, they take my sound system. And that's really that's really taking a lot of the knife going on that, like you kind of talked about soundbar and 3d audio. I've actually thought about getting a good soundbar but you see on my TV in the lounge, like, yeah, it has to be turned because of where my desk is at. Yeah. And like if you have a soundbar like it would be streaming the wall versus versus the TV. It's turned in. So I don't think the sound project the way I wanted it to. And then if I put it on my desk, I think it would be too low where the TV was hired. And so, you know, I'm just kind of position right now where, you know, yeah, do you use my headphones a lot? I do. I would like a sound system, especially, you know, while working from home, I have a couple of hours after work or I can do whatever I want to. Yeah, yeah, it would be cool to play like, you know, a video game on a great sound system, but you know, kind of get away from that I won't get to the headphones. Here's something I gotta tell you all, I'd recommend the read like he did $100 on headphones. Get out here.

Red: 41:50

I said a couple hundred. A couple.

Hick: 41:53

Hundred $350 is what you should be spending but I'm gonna talk about that price point, you're

Red: 41:57

two thirds of the way to a fucking PlayStation five.

Hick: 42:00

Nobody sounds good. Dammit. All right, let me get to it. But um, anyways, like a little while ago, I bought some beats over the ear headphones. They had some hard not hardware, they fell apart. Let's just put that way. The sound was good, but they fell apart. But here's the thing about it. After that happened, I went out and I bought another $350 pair of headphones. Because when you spend that much money on headphones, you can't tell the difference is one of those things that once you buy one of them, like you don't go back like you want them and so this guy like what I talked about, um, you know, I do recommend if you're going to play with headphones, I don't understand. I understand that everybody does not have the money to spend big dollars on headphones. I'm telling you that if you can make it work, it is freakin worth. It makes like I have Bose quietcomfort 35 that's the ones that I don't know. I need to repeat that. But there's actually because there's new ones out that's why I got confused. But I have those and they sound amazing now Yeah, I got connected wire and everything to the controller because you know, there's no Bluetooth in the the older models. I don't know about the newer systems,

Red: 43:03

but I mess around with to see if there's a way to do it

Hick: 43:06

now. Yeah, but it just makes it sound so much better. And then one cool thing actually about me is when I'm I can also if I don't want to go wired, my air pods connect to my TV. Now you do have to have a newer TV that has bluetooth that can't connect to headphones. But um, you know, that's also very cool to do. But if you I guess one recommended people here is if you can't have a good sound system, I would say go headphones and spend a good amount of money on headphones, because I guess it's kind of like you know, earlier like, the point about gaming nowadays is gain loss in the games, right? And those headphones will help you get lost in a game. So I'm read I had a point that I want to throw to you right? I can't remember. Exactly. Oh, you want to talk about before we end real quick. Do you want to kind of get into gaming headphones and like, you know, are those better? Are they not better? Do we know?

Red: 43:56

Well, again, like I said, I've never splurged for good headphones or gaming specific headphones. So I don't have a clue. It's never an area I've done research. I think if you know if I was in a situation like you where you had the wife and kids and the OC sometimes need to be quiet, or, or people who are traveling and doing work and blaring music

Hick: 44:15

now is with headphones, right?

Red: 44:17

Or people who were like gaming on the go and like is streaming like streaming video games becomes more and more prominent and people are actually just gaming literally on their cell phone on their tablet, whatever and still playing these those guys have a headset you have good headphones with the head. Yep. Because you're gonna get good quality audio out of a fucking cell phone or a tablet. I mean, so I think that headphones will become more popular, especially in places where people are gaming on the go a lot, you know, your bigger cities or your countries that have better you know, public transportation, better train systems, all that stuff. I can see that really becoming more popular along with virtual reality. Yeah, your VR headphones are tailor made for that because it really does totally immerse you. You've got your full vision and Audio are all totally contained, like they are made for headphones. So like, I do think that headphones will continue to become more and more popular, especially as the hopefully kind of the technology keeps getting better. And yeah, price those headphones comes down a little bit like most electronics do over time, you know, but as for specific games, I've traveled so far off your original question, but as far as specific gaming headphones, I've just never really looked into it. So I don't know if there's something better out there.

Hick: 45:27

But I don't know if it's conversation that everybody wants to hear from us, but I was really excited about it. I enjoy talking about it. I think sound really matters. But anyways, it's that time sadly is time to wrap up this podcast. All these links will know we had a blast today, man. I was even in the mood to do the podcast today. It's crazy how you get right into it. Anyways, all these links will be in the description. You can support us on Patreon or PayPal. If you can't support us financially, please read leave a review or rating it helps out with our rankings and then check out our websites. We have Bert merchandise on both of our websites tg PC gaming, and two guys playing Zelda. Those are affiliate shops so we may earn a commission on purchases through our links and ready count. We'll talk about some of the other stuff we got going on.

Red: 46:12

Yep, we were on YouTube at tg PC gaming Busted Buttons and two guys playing Zelda on YouTube. We don't have a Busted

Hick: 46:19

Buttons YouTube channel. Oh crap I

Red: 46:21

thought we didn't talk about gaming you're right sorry. Um and then we're also on discord great server great discussions on Nintendo PlayStation, Xbox PC TV shows booze sports, great discussion on Discord. Definitely check us out there and we're all over social media twitch Twitter and Instagram specifically at Busted Buttons PC so great episode, like you said coming in. I wasn't too jacked up but as soon as we got going, the juices got flowing the boom got flowing ethic. We had a really good one. So thanks, everyone for listening. Keep on gaming and we'll see you next episode.