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Growth, Gatekeeping, and a Messy Night at The Game Awards + 007 First Light Interview
77 Plays19 days ago
In episode 128 of Unqualified Game Chat, Spencer and I start in a reflective place, talking about personal growth, burnout, confidence, and learning how to stop catastrophizing your own success. From there, the episode shifts into a long, unfiltered breakdown of attending The Game Awards—what worked, what didn’t, and why the show continues to miss opportunities to support the developers who need it most. The episode closes with an on-site interview I conducted with IO Interactive during The Game Awards, focused on 007 First Light.
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Origin
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, and welcome to the best postured podcast on the internet, Unqualified Game Chat. Oh, that feels kind of good. I've been sitting down too long. I am your host, Azara Lopez, and with me today is my brother,
00:00:41
Speaker
from multiple mothers. Spencer. I'm a test tube baby. The legacy. Hello, everybody. In a couple weeks, we've been we've been some busy fellas.
00:00:53
Speaker
o Ooh, talk about busy. You know what's my problem about being busy is that I prefer it because the moment you let me be lazy, who I'll yeah fucking take it, dude. That would be falling off that wagon feels good. Oh my God. Yes. I'll just watch TV all day.
00:01:14
Speaker
You know what?
Wrestling Talk and John Cena
00:01:15
Speaker
There's something at the top of the show that I need to talk about. John Cena's retirement. I don't know anything about wrestling, so I don't, I don't know what, is that, is that big?
00:01:28
Speaker
Uh, it's history. It's, uh, you know, I've just recently got back into wrestling after a little bit because they put it on Netflix. So Ross on Netflix now, uh, that's it's, uh, it was fun to see, uh, John Cena's final arc after like only really watching him early in his career.
00:01:52
Speaker
But just his respect for the the show, you know? And just like him like being kind of older and putting his full like effort out there. You know, round of applause. Mm-hmm.
00:02:06
Speaker
Round of applause. He's also a good actor. He's a pretty good actor. Yeah. As far as wrestler-gone actor's gone, it's pretty good. He's very transparent and about like how how he's entered the industry and the mistakes he's made so that others don't follow suit. And I i appreciate that.
00:02:23
Speaker
Yeah.
Gatekeeping in Gaming Industry
00:02:25
Speaker
Even in our industry, there's a lot of people that won't... um share knowledge or like give you give you the time of the day even if they think like the truest definition of gatekeeping right where like nobody passes that's right who's that help who does it that doesn't help anybody Yeah, but I mean, because you could see it a couple ways. You could see us all as competitors, which we kind of are, you know, or you can take that competitive spirit and spread it amongst your colleagues to uplift them. Be like, hey,
00:03:03
Speaker
I did this really cool thing. And then you have someone else say, dude, that is a cool thing. I can't wait to do a cooler thing. And you know, it's just like, yeah, that's showing in rivalry.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah. Like rivalry better than competition. I think, I think so too. I think, I think we need more of that because the moment that you show any type of disdain or like competitive spirit,
00:03:27
Speaker
online, everyone just like thinks you're hating on the person. And it's like, no, like you've modeed you've got me excited to do more. Like, like I, I don't know. I, that's, and had I say that I understand that not a lot of people work that way. Like in terms of like,
00:03:46
Speaker
When I'm giving feedback to so people, I give it to them pretty hard. And I expect them to be like, no, fuck Azario. I'm going to show him. Prove him wrong. Yeah. Prove him wrong.
00:03:58
Speaker
And over the years, i have found out that's how I work and not necessarily how others yeah work. Yeah, there's a balance. and Some people like, them look for like hey,
00:04:09
Speaker
Just do do your thing, do your best. like We're cheering for you, and they're like, yeah. And some people love to like prove them wrong. It really is like dependent on... a And some people love just being like, hey, I'm not even going to like interfere. I know you can do just go do your thing, and I won't bug you. And they love that too. so there yeah It's all people dependent.
ADHD and Time Management
00:04:28
Speaker
I've been ah reading some managerial books. I'm not a good manager. i'm not i'm don' i'm not a good I'm not good at time management. I'm not good at triaging. You are absolutely good at time management. What are you talking about? You full-time job. You have noisy training. You run 40 miles every day.
00:04:48
Speaker
Oh my god. but But that's like things that I've worked on over. That's like me now. But like those are things those are things that I've implemented into my life. but once i've Once I found out I struggle with ADHD kind of, you know, and it's like they start you the first things like you got to keep on schedule. But the problem is at the moment I break that schedule, dude, like my like whole world kind of crashes. I'm physically and like you can see it on my face like what's wrong with you is are you and in and what's on my mind is fuck i forgot to run yesterday like i need to run today if i don't then the whole world you know like yeah i'm the same way so so yeah so it's like now i'm at a point in my life where i've even i'm even able to forgive myself
00:05:34
Speaker
For that, like, oh, you only wanted to run three miles instead of six miles today. That's fine. Like, don't, don't worry about it. It's like it's life moves on. And that's something that really like this year alone, maybe in the last six months, I've really gotten good at. And I'm, and I'm, I'm, I'm impressing myself with the amount of work that I've been able to get done.
00:05:59
Speaker
while getting better at creating a schedule and oh yeah and b and making it loose. Like if it if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm so fucking like, ah yeah for years, even with Noisy Pixel, even with like everything in my job, it's like, if it breaks what it looks like in my mind, if if something else happens, I like kind of freak out, man. I like i like get angry. I get a little frustrated. It's like, so this is how- Right, right. It's like, okay, a good a good example so for the listeners to anybody who wants some behind the scenes.
NoisyPixel's Strategic Moves
00:06:33
Speaker
There was a time when NoisyPixel launched.
00:06:36
Speaker
I put on, okay, so NoisyPixel launched in 2018. Before COVID, the the game industry was still located in LA, San Francisco, and New York. nope The game industry was nowhere else at at this point.
00:06:51
Speaker
um You might find some remote workers or game informers in whatever they're in. They're in some ah place. But um anyway... So, I was living in Oakland at the time, which is basically the Bay Area in San Francisco. And so on noisy non- noisy pixels like Twitter, it shows that we're from Oakland. Well, by design, it is it was to tell publishers like Ubisoft and Nintendo and the publishers that are there in San Francisco, like, hey, we don't have to pay for these people to come to our press events. We don't have to buy their theyre lodging. We don't to pay for their...
00:07:28
Speaker
airfare, they're already here. Like, they're just free coverage at this point. So yeah that's how, that's how, what we used to kind of get into these events. So Brad and I and Brian Lee would just, we'd just separate them. We'd all go to these, um, Bay Area events. Um, and, uh, two years after that, I moved back because COVID hit in 2020 and I moved back to Fresno.
00:07:54
Speaker
Well, when, When PAX, there was like a final, there was, when the PAX was coming back, um, like in 2022 or something or 23, I forgot what that first PAX was after COVID. yeah Um, the PAX, uh, in Seattle, PAX West was completely empty. We saw everything in like 30 minutes. I remember that. Yeah. You sent me videos and shoot and it was like,
00:08:18
Speaker
A ghost town. yeah Empty. And so we decided to like film like a Noisy Pixel like fourth anniversary or something video. And I remember Mark like showing a lot of Seattle, like B-roll and stuff.
00:08:31
Speaker
And I had almost like the strangest meltdown where I was... so scared about people figuring out that we weren't from Oakland. And in my head, I was creating these scenarios where, no, if they think we're from anywhere else, they're not going to invite us to anything. They're not going to like reach out to us. We have to create, we have to, um, we have to
Overcoming False Confidence
00:09:00
Speaker
retain the sense of disbelief, the sense like Noisy Pixel is in Oakland, they're they're centrally located, but
00:09:08
Speaker
what What I needed to understand is that I had created all that in my head. Yeah, just catastrophizing. and Yeah. Nobody put those boundaries on me. and i it like That's like the best example I can give of like me of something not going my way and me just completely... like straight panic mode yeah trying to like justify it to trying to like explain my my um intentions to mark and he's just like and mark is totally timid guy which is how we work like i'm very excitable very almost impulsive mark is very quiet very uh uh planned um
00:09:50
Speaker
We're both down to do shit, but but like we're we're different personalities. And he just kind of looked at me and was just like, dude, ah i I don't think it matters. And I'm just like, what the fuck? It does matter what are he taught. And i i heard myself like getting and I took a breath.
00:10:09
Speaker
And we talked about it, but I don't like the way that I handled that situation. And I can, I can say like, I think a week or something passed and I brought it back up to Mark and I was like, Hey man I don't like how I handled that.
00:10:21
Speaker
Let's I'm never going to do that again. And I haven't acted like that again, that bad, but it's taken me, that was like in 2022, but it has taken me like multiple years to improve that, that type of, of business owning and thinking and,
00:10:39
Speaker
And like, I don't know, this fake it till you make it attitude really consumed me to where I felt so required to lie to every to the industry, to to create this false ego.
00:10:56
Speaker
And looking back and even saying it out loud, that is a lot of what I did in my early 20s, where i had I was poor, I had nothing, i I was riding a bike, you know, but to all of these people around me that I would meet,
00:11:09
Speaker
I was a Zario. I was just this loud, bolsterous, like, I have everything. Nothing can hurt me. like yeah But it really fucked up my brain. So I have an ego, but I have nothing to back that ego. You know? like yeah. Now you're in a healthy spot where you have like an equal... yeah Yes.
00:11:29
Speaker
yeah It's taken years, though. So I did not need to do that with NoisyPixel, and i'm I'm very much happier where I am now. sorry That's why we we get along so well as I'm I've always been the opposite. We're like I'm I'm capable of doing things and I'm like very persistent in doing things like like make sure I get them done. But I have like no confidence whatsoever. So I'd be like, I can't do I can't do it. My friends would be like, you can 100% like you can do that very well. I'd be like, no, it's not going to work out. It's going to fail. It's going to go horribly and that's going really embarrassing. It's goingnna be disaster. It's going to suck. So it's yeah. So we we balance each other out. Yeah.
00:12:04
Speaker
Because if I put something out back then and only 30 people saw it, I would get, I got pretty mad. i got pretty like upset. And and now i'm I'm definitely in a much
Self-Improvement and Social Skills
00:12:18
Speaker
better place. Maybe it's because of the success that we've had, but I think even how I,
00:12:25
Speaker
how you're never going to have control over how everybody perceives you. You're never going, you're never go. And it's taken me so long to realize that if, if you have a meltdown in front of someone and someone, you know, and they judge you based on that little, um, melt, that little meltdown. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:49
Speaker
that moment, I don't think that people should be judged at their by their worst moments if they're if they're frustrated or something. Because most of the time, they're just projecting. Most of the time, so it's something else that happened and they're putting it on this situation. So I've gotten really good at forgiving, but I do want to put out there, like,
00:13:06
Speaker
other people should be good at forgiving as well. Um, be open to, to, if your friends, if your friends make like a, say something out of pocket or something, just talk to them. Like they're still the same people that, that they were, but like, maybe they didn't know that that joke wasn't fly around you. Maybe they didn't know X, Y, Z, but, to but you know, when to cut off people, but also like,
00:13:30
Speaker
knowing to be like don't look immediately unless it's a pattern don't i mean because that's also how people grow like right being told like hey that wasn't great or like i wouldn't have done that because of this then people like okay i will i mean a lot of people will be like okay i'm going to think about that and then change how they're thinking or whatever obviously some people like no fuck you i'll do what i want and then and maybe yeah be like okay but you know yeah at least then you know Yeah, it's it's ah it's a growing process with me, but like a good example of like me me being a little more confident and in like social situations where I went to a store and like I was buying some used games and the girl like was talking about one of the games and I was like talking about the game, the girl that was um the girl that was selling me the game, um the cashier person. and I started talking about it.
00:14:23
Speaker
And she just started, while I was talking, she like picked up her phone and started like texting. And I was like, oh, okay, so I should just shut the fuck up. Then I get it. Or something like that. like oh yeah yeah i I was like, oh, okay, you're done listening. And like she looked up.
00:14:35
Speaker
And like I didn't care that I created that situation. you know I didn't care that... like I was outspoken in that. I think I'm very much glad I did. like Because before, I would just keep talking and just like let it go. that I'm so much more confident in like my words and like my presence and like respect and mutual respect and like making jokes and So so that how that conversation ended was she just laughed and said, oh, sorry, I i just get distracted easily. And I was like, yeah, that's fine. And like we just kept talking after that. yeah But like the way I delivered it and stuff, it's like, okay, so I have a skill where I can like at least let people know how I'm feeling when I feel it. Lesson pulled and spread out. Yeah.
00:15:25
Speaker
yeah Yeah. It's, I mean, guys, podcast listeners, I'm 36. So don't push yourself to have it all figured out, but always be open to learn and get better and improve yourself.
00:15:42
Speaker
i I can't explain. um You might lose some friends because of it. you might You might change groups are altogether, but I will say that like um figuring yourself out and who you are, getting out of like circles that you're that you've been in since you were 20, 16, whatever, like push yourself. Always push yourself.
00:16:09
Speaker
I think striving for self-improvement and growth is like the most human, the most satisfying thing you can do about being alive is like just consistently trying to grow and be better at stuff and like whether it's being like stronger or being smarter or or like kinder or whatever. Right. I think that pursuing personal growth is a very exciting part of being alive. I think it's, there's no, bill Spencer and I are in like this, like workout mode, but and I was explaining to him that, um, I've been stretching a lot lately and I love finding stretches that I can't do so that I can work towards them and like do the stretches to get to those stretches. So that's, that's like a good example of like, okay, I'm not, I'm not nice.
00:16:52
Speaker
I'm not good at saying hi to people. Well, I'll practice saying hi to people all the time. Like just, oh you're nodding to them in public at Walmart and smiling and, you know like stuff like that. Like, like push yourself, make yourself uncomfortable. Like everything, every, yeah, everything, and everything you do for yourself will always be a skill that you can pull out from later.
00:17:13
Speaker
you And like, don't be especially with like socializing is never be like oh that's i can't succeed in that so there's no point but like i was a i was a socially anxious wreck for like most of teenage years to like a couple years ago and like truly the only thing that improved it it was like doing it even though it sucked it was being like talking to people like going out of your way to be around people and talk to them and like basically
00:17:44
Speaker
No matter like how excruciating it is, that the exposure therapy aspect, yeah, being like making friends, talking to people that you wouldn't necessarily talk to like and in public or whatever. or like just Even as simple as like you said, like saying hello, doing the nod, doing whatever.
00:17:58
Speaker
is like that's how you That's how you get out of that 100%. So I totally know what you mean. Anyway, this podcast is recorded every week, hopefully, posted to podcast services on Thursdays.
Game Awards Experience
00:18:12
Speaker
we have if you subscribe to our Patreon, you get it a week early before everyone else does, so please check that out. We also have a digital magazine on our Patreon that's for free for all Patreon subscribers, so you don't even have to ah pay for that. Just just subscribe. um
00:18:30
Speaker
I went to the Game Awards, which what is which is relatable to what we opened the show with, ah because I had to use a lot of those social skills at this fucking jerk-off vest of a fuck fucking...
00:18:45
Speaker
Have you ever seen that Connor O'Malley YouTube skit called Slugs? Where he's like, he's standing in a mall, he's like filming, everyone walking like, they're all fucking slugs. They all fucking, they'd pay to eat fucking toys and I wouldn't touch. I'm so fucking smart. They're all goddamn slugs. that's you should have done that there have been fun my god yeah i feel like we i feel like mark and i went to santa monica mark came with me to the game awards and we went to like the pier and there's like these bathrooms and this pier that look like uh they're like they look like a pig farm almost like like the doors of this like a long aisle of doors you know and like multiple rows of just doors and bathrooms and like they're really they're almost like
00:19:30
Speaker
permanent porta potty looking kind of things weird and i was like i was like dude all those people lined up to go to the bathroom look like little fucking pigs well piggies going to the dance floor ready to go fucking eat like look at them all lined up outside of the like So maybe I'm, maybe I'm too O'Malley in you.
00:19:52
Speaker
Yeah. ah Uh, but, uh, yeah. So game awards, uh, it was okay. So we had meetings. I, we did not go to the game awards proper. We did not go to the actual awards. I did go to a watch party with, um, all your favorite industry writers that you might know.
00:20:14
Speaker
And, um, It was um a little demoralizing. There was open bar, but Mark and I were like the only people watching the award show. Everyone else was there for the open bar.
00:20:29
Speaker
i don't know, but I turn around and I have pictures too. I'll show you, um, of just me and Mark watching and everyone else just talking in like their little groups behind us in this like bar that was, uh, rented out for it' like part of the bar that was rented out by a PR agency. Um, We were going to watch it in the hotel and then we got invited to this because we were at an IO interactive event. And with that said, um I'm just going to stitch on the end of this podcast, this interview that I did with an IO interactive um product um producer for the 007 game. And I'm only going to put it here because they're not really saying shit about that game, but it is an interesting conversation about the game. So please stick around to the end if you want to hear it for the YouTube version. I'll put a little chapter that you can skip to the end there. Hell yeah.
00:21:17
Speaker
But, uh, oh, dude. Okay. Now that I'm talking about that, sorry, of my ADHD fucking brain. So let's start with, let's instead start the first day we go to an event and play some games and, um, we, there's like a dinner, um,
00:21:33
Speaker
You will know what game we played
Investigative Piece Recognition
00:21:35
Speaker
after like January 5th or something. ah Also, Mark and I are going to put up a vlog so you can kind of, so things I'm talking to right now, go in the future in a couple of weeks, check out that video to like see what we did all the time. We tried to, we tried to vlog as much as possible to give you a good idea of what was going down over there. um So the first night we go to an embargoed press event and it was nice. It was like four hours long.
00:22:02
Speaker
um It was fun to see everyone. um Again, though, like it's a lot of like ego stroking. It's a lot of like you can see people I don't know.
00:22:20
Speaker
Mark and I mostly talked together. Like we sat at a really cool table with some people and um ah the editor, ah Guides Editor, I think ah Wes from PC Gamer. um I talked to him for a while about um this feature that I had put out earlier this week, Monday on long, for long games, uh, their game convaleria and Sony.
00:22:45
Speaker
It is a huge investigative piece that I put out. It took about a month of like inner back and forth interviews with this, uh, with the Chinese developer who's working on so Sony here project, our China hero project. Sorry. Um,
00:23:01
Speaker
Uh, it got picked up by a few media people, but i was kind of, uh, I was kind of disappointed by the lack of, um, aware. Again, readers and, and listeners, I don't think noisy pixel gets the ups that we should from like other industry. Like we got like, mon like teams like monster vine and, uh, fuck ah teams like, um,
00:23:29
Speaker
anyway There's some people at Siliconera that I like. ah there's There's some people all over like sporadic that I like, but I think the core team, as for a core team of everyone I like, I think us and MonsterVine are like the only like, I like everyone at this. yeah Like, I think they're all good.
00:23:44
Speaker
um Yeah. A lot of those leather people don't like us. I don't know why. I don't know why. It might just be me. might, uh...
00:23:57
Speaker
I don't know, but I see them all like, I see them all on blue sky and Twitter. Like anytime, like they'll write something and stuff and they'll all, the' and I'm talking about like other writers and freelancers, they'll all boost the other writer up and like, oh, you have to read this person, hire this person, blah, bla blah, blah. It's like guys.
00:24:17
Speaker
Yeah, guys, I did like this really cool, like piece, you know, like no one shared it. If I, the emails I got were not from other writers. They're from gamers and developers. yeah content Some content creators picked it up and like made some stories on it and and even asked me some follow-up questions.
00:24:35
Speaker
Insider Gamer put out ah an article on it and they didn't email me or anything. they didn't like like I wish that they did. to be honest, that would be the real reporter thing to do. is like Okay, so...
00:24:49
Speaker
Like they have, I know the guys there, like all they kind of did was just report what I reported on. And if that's the idea, sure. But like, you're not doing any checks to verify that the source is true. You're just accepting my, no my article. Like you didn't come to me to be like, Hey, what are your, like, even behind the scenes, even through email, like,
00:25:13
Speaker
um off the table stuff no one came up to me to verify the sources they just kind of ran the articles which already tells you like no one really fucking cares you know like it's all like mill like you they're like oh there's no time to do that just run it yeah well that also means that you're trustworthy enough source that some websites don't yeah Right. And also, also the way that they're reported, I will say was perfect in terms of just reporting what I reported on. Like they didn't add anything or do anything, but, and they're not necessarily the website, the couple of websites that covered it, aren't the type of websites that should, but I would have expected like,
00:25:53
Speaker
I don't know, like some of the bigger, the inverses and most people, the polygons to like, Hey, who's your source for this? Because we want to cover it. Like, are we want to, yeah um, dig a little deeper? Like no one cared and whatever. It's not my place to care. I did the, I did the purport because I saw a developer was not getting paid for months. They showed me, i got to see their ins, I got to see their chat logs, their emails.
00:26:19
Speaker
It was fine. It was like, okay, like I can't deny that, um, that this is, this is a valid. It was fun to put together too. I will say it was different for me.
00:26:32
Speaker
Um,
Meeting Mila Jovovich
00:26:34
Speaker
but so, okay. I talked to Wes about that. So, so the next day we go the game awards day, um, we go to an IO interactive event and no other, but Mila Jovovich is there.
00:26:51
Speaker
So she goes on stage. Yeah. And I'm freaking out. And this is just, this is just like a little, like there's like 20, 30 people here. Oh, and they, they won't let us talk to them or anything, but, um, she goes on stage during this IO interactive, like event that I didn't know I was being a part of, but I guess I was by being there.
00:27:09
Speaker
well Um, she, uh,
00:27:16
Speaker
ah So she was telling some jokes and no one was fucking laughing. I've been there. Oh So I laughed. I was laughing. You know, I was laughing at the jokes because they were funny. Um, no pity laughs, nothing like that.
00:27:29
Speaker
But after a while, she started looking to Mark and i every time she told the joke to make sure yeah we landed. And then I whispered to Mark and I was like, she doesn't know that I masturbated to her when I was 12. Oh my God.
00:27:43
Speaker
Oh, heavens. Can't be saying that. I had the VHS of Resident Evil, the movie, and I put it in my VHS and I paused it right when she got out of the shower and I would like still still ah fast forward. So frame by frame, little 12 year old little 12 year old Zowie.
00:28:05
Speaker
yeah Oh, heavens. I got that oh like the the the lines, the the tracking lines of the VHS. Oh, my God. CRT TV dude.
00:28:17
Speaker
Oh, it was rough back then. oh It was rough back then. Desperate times back then in guys. Desperate times. I didn't have internet. It was no, no, no computer.
00:28:28
Speaker
Um, my dad had some playboys, but to get them, you would have to like go into his closet and like move the clothes perfectly, you know? And I didn't have time probably for this, but yeah. Time man.
00:28:41
Speaker
That's my Mila Jovovich story. and I'm sure then let her team's going to love hearing that. you know They're big fans. and lot kravitz And then Lenny Kravitz came out and I whispered to Mark, I masturbated to him when I was 13. That's a good follow-up. American woman, stay away from me. he that's a good That's a good cover. you've been you yeah i can see why you thrive at karaoke. Look at that. Yeah, yeah, dude. Yeah. ah I don't know any other living Lenny Kravitz songs off the top of my head.
00:29:13
Speaker
I want to get away. know that one. know that one. That's going to work. Fly away! it was a fun event. And then after that was the watch party. um Again, Mark and I were the only fucking people watching. And sometimes I would yell stuff.
00:29:31
Speaker
Sometimes I would yell stuff out and be like, Ace combat, you know, and like everyone kind of look. Yeah. i was a little, was drinking too. Um, but trying to get the crowd into it. Yeah. I was, I was there because i was told, Hey, come watch it. There's a lot of energy in the room and it's good to watch it with people and and be in the crowd. Cause usually I'll just go back to the hotel and not really hang out with these people. But, um, um I was invited. I didn't crash it. And, um,
00:30:00
Speaker
Uh, yeah, it was different. Well, here, okay, so I own NoisyPixel. Like, I don't need to make, I'm not a freelancer, I don't need to make these connections and stuff and like,
00:30:12
Speaker
Like I get the grind, you know, they're just always grinding. And so I'm not going to write them off for that. You know, oh I don't need to pitch to people. Yeah. I don't. And so they're using their time probably very wisely where as of I, I'm just enjoying a show and, um, clapping when, um, something fun happens. Yeah. like Cody Cody Rhodes going on stage. like I thought that was cool. And like they got the the whole cast of Street Fighter up there. Like i I thought that was all that was all pretty cool.
00:30:41
Speaker
or no The event itself sucked. The game awards. How did you feel about it? They weren't sure. nothing like like the new Night Sealed Republic is like, cool, but that's not anytime soon. And also, where's the remake that was happening? Like, right it's very yeah, and like, there was there was the occasional small thing where I'd be like, oh, nice. But like, there was no...
00:31:05
Speaker
There was no like, holy shit, crazy. There was no nothing like that. There was no like, you know, you know, we're eating words really needs to do. um i am 8 bit and um double fine have an initiative.
00:31:19
Speaker
I think they bring it to PAX and I know they bring it to like GDSC and Summer Games Fest. where the indie developers that appear there don't pay anything.
00:31:29
Speaker
room Like, I think the Game Awards should be better at highlighting projects that are maybe going under the radar and Yes, maybe they'll go through a submission process and only 10 or 15 or something will be chosen. Yeah. But um the developer doesn't pay. And sure, Jeff, maybe that'll cut into a million dollars that you might otherwise sell to Hoyoverse. But
00:31:58
Speaker
you've got to help the game industry. You like, you got to like give. You have a lot of power, so you have to have a lot of responsibility. Because those, that whole show was just so sponsored, man. Yeah.
00:32:14
Speaker
Oh, 100%. A lot of Bandai announcements, a lot of Capcom, like nothing like, I don't know. I don't know. It's gone called a sellout.
00:32:26
Speaker
They sold out. Well, that's, i mean, implying that that didn't happen since the, yes, the chi hydro man. Yeah. The hydro man. I think we've all known what this every year. I look for him again. Every year.
00:32:39
Speaker
I would bring them back. Really? i need the camping. i need the campiness back. Like, yeah. All we got to the Muppets and that's not enough. We need more. Even the Muppets dude, like you're taking so much screen time. Like,
00:32:54
Speaker
that's ah That's also an issue. it's you got You got to remember the the length of it. But why not make the pre-show dedicated to just indies or something? Then you're not cutting into your actual event. don't know. like i don't know you Again, you have to invest in the game industry. You can't just take from it.
00:33:13
Speaker
You got to invest in it too. And if, and I get what Jeff is trying to do and he's probably changing something on the corporate end, but I don't think this is affecting the industry much. I say that knowing that Claire Obscure sold the shit ton of copies after game awards. So yeah, it helps people out.
00:33:37
Speaker
But I don't think it's going to help the next set of games.
RPG Genre and Cultural Biases
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I don't think Resident Evil Requiem needs another trailer, to be honest with you. Yeah.
00:33:50
Speaker
At the Game Awards. Yeah. that's is that goingnna What is that going to do? Like, remind us? like i don't know. oh I don't know. I think the lack of E3 is where it's like right. E3 is just kind of been spread into game awards, Fiji or summer games. Everything's become a kind of little bit E3 ish instead of having the one thing where it's like, okay, this is where all the announcements happened and then everything else can be anything else. It's like now now everything has to be a little E3 ish. So it's it's weird. Yeah.
00:34:23
Speaker
Did you, did you enjoy the game of the year and the do you think it's clear obscure? I, yeah, I love clear obscure. I, um, game of the year. It's not my, game of the year is Digimon probably cause cause I'm me, but like I love, I loved clear obscure. I think it's a great game.
00:34:44
Speaker
I think the performances were excellent. Uh, I think they did a lot with a little, ah none of my issues with Claire Obscura or with the game or the developers. It's entirely with the the fans who are like, RPGs are back.
00:34:56
Speaker
And it's like, we're literally back. We're so back. Yeah, it's like, literally, this is like, but that's very, like, a lot of annoying people use the term now, but that is very, like, touristy of, like,
00:35:10
Speaker
Oh, it's that meme where someone, I forget who said it, but they were like, oh, there was Mario and then The Last of Us, where it's like jumping on turtles. Now there's huge stuff. It's like, no, there's a lot of games came between. It's the same where were like, yeah, RPGs have been dead forever. Now it's back. It's like, what fucking, what are talking about? Even if you're like only going by huge shit, there's been like multiple Persona 5s.
00:35:33
Speaker
There's like, There's all sorts of shit every year. It's yeah. So the people who are like, this is how RPG should be. It's annoying because I get a weird vibe from those people where it's like they're the people who any like Japanese RPG, they're like, oh, that's weird and anime. And it's like, that's an insane thing to say in 2025. Like what? What? Like,
00:35:54
Speaker
Just because you're embarrassed that, like, that character wears a bikini, that that doesn't mean that entire game is fucking not a valid RPG experience. Like, yeah, so I think the people who are ah too embarrassed to, like, enjoy things that aren't, like...
00:36:13
Speaker
Sony-esque like over the top anime. over the top short Yeah. think People who are too embarrassed to enjoy like over the top, like more anime, Japanese sort of aesthetics and writing.
00:36:23
Speaker
that They they're like, no, that's this is prestige. It's like people who are like, I only like prestige elevated horror, like hereditary stuff. It's like, no, those are good. But like also like dumb horror rocks, like it's great to watch slashes and shit. So it it feels like that where they're like, oh, I I don't like Xenoblade and I don't like Final Fantasy anymore. I only like Claire Obscure. And it's like, fuck all off, dude. like there's a lot of it There's a lot of people out there. all right now So at this at this watch party when Claire Obscure, maybe a little drunkenly to the table next to me, I said, you guys, Claire Obscure, not Game of the Year. i was like, with that menu design,
00:37:06
Speaker
that menu design gets you game of the year. Fuck you. Fuck you. I do like the idea of like drunk Azario complaining about menu design. oh dude I was like, I was like, it took me 13 hours to realize that Picross was even a thing or Picross, whatever that was, because you have to. So when you pull up the menu, you have to press right like three times to get to this weird ass little button that they just JPEG'd onto this fucking shitty ass menu with this black screen in the background.
00:37:36
Speaker
And then you're in this like pit cross thing. You're like, what the fuck is this? Fuck that game. I don't know. Okay. I'm not. Let's simmer down bit. This is a great game. I got a little excited.
00:37:48
Speaker
got a little excited. yeah Don't fuck the game. Don't fuck the game. Fuck the annoying people. I will say not game of the year.
00:37:59
Speaker
I will say will say I will say game of the year. Okay, game of the year. If you're talking about the biggest surprise of the year, Claire obscure was a great surprise. But in that same breath, so was stellar blade.
00:38:14
Speaker
You know? Like, if you're judging, if that's why, how you're judging games about their surprise and like their sales and how they came out of nowhere and like, Stellarplay did the same thing ah the year before, you know? Like, it shocked the industry with sales and so did Claire Obscure, you know? And it's like,
00:38:32
Speaker
Well, how are we doing? It's funny because these polar opposite games. Like, the people love Claire Obscure would hate Stellar Blade. So that is, like, a funny conversion. Well, and that's the thing. Like, I played Claire Obscure and I'm like, these guys are just as horny as Stellar Blade. They just have a better way of hiding it. Yeah, they're more French about it.
00:38:49
Speaker
They're more French about it, but the same level of horny. You're staring at a girl's ass for the 40 hours. If you're playing as a girl, even the guys you're staring at there are several off screen sex moments. So it's like this is also a very horny game, but it's more like Yeah, it's literally, it's more like like Western horny than Japanese horny. Yeah, like it's truly a culture thing, I think. When everyone was celebrating Baldur's Gate 3 and like the dick slapping on the lay on the thighs, the cave was like, you guys are the people who hate sexualization. What are you talking about?
00:39:24
Speaker
Pyra and Mithra on Xenoblade 2 get like this shitty... It's too far? Yeah. What are you talking about? I truly think it is like... i might get flack for saying that. I think it's very strange.
00:39:37
Speaker
i'm a I'm a very like progressive. for like i I don't hate anybody or or inflict. But like the the people who are very outwardly and outspokenly also very progressive, there's like a weird there's still a weird kind of, I see a lot of them online. like I'm on social media much anymore, but I would see a lot of them be like, have this weird bias and aversion to like, they did not like like Japanese games and because it was too anime and it was too, which is again, i like that's crazy. You get, that seems crazy to be like every game from this part of the world is too anime or too that like, all right. That seems to clash with, with you being like, no, I want to be nice to all people and accepting of all things. And like ah in different cultures is that seems like a, it doesn't seem to, to mesh to be like,
00:40:28
Speaker
yeah, I like I believe that all all cultures are valid and should be appreciated and blah, blah, blah, because I like I do. But then to be like, except this one, because they're wearing like bikinis, it's kind of fucked. Yeah, it's too. and It's like what? That doesn't. mesh To back your argument, that's the problem with Final Fantasy and Square Enix right now is they did push to make it more Western to align with those criticisms.
00:40:51
Speaker
Like they received those criticisms with Final Fantasy 13 and they're still trying to fight back against that whole, uh, that whole, I mean, guys, I'm not the issue.
00:41:02
Speaker
Lightning is fucking God. Lightning is God. And like, yeah, I know. Like, so what if you didn't get to lighting returns? Like, so what if they changed it? I thought, I thought it was fine. I, ah I don't know.
00:41:16
Speaker
The music was really good. was really good. The the supporting cast was Snow Sucks. Hope is cool. Yeah, I like Hope. I like Hope. Saws is great. I love Saws. Saws is great. Man, now we're just talking about 5 minutes of 13. Now we're just talking about 5 minutes of 13.
00:41:33
Speaker
It's like... I came on when I was at the gym today. I was like... Paradise. the Yeah. um shift Fucking elephant fucking fucking enemy on this. the yeah Yeah. Falling over. carbackgger fucking rocks i really need to play 13 2 and lightning returns because i never did even though i got them as they came out and i really want to um there's this third there's a scene at 13 2 where uh where snow um meets up with ashley and in one of like the story seats and it is the fucking strangest they're supposed to be they got married in the first one or whatever
00:42:13
Speaker
But ah it's the strangest fucking like romance scene ever. written i'd excited so fuck cause I love it. It's weird. Yeah, it's so cringy. It's so like like 2012 high five or something. i think they give like They haven't seen each other in fucking years. and high Time traveling everywhere and and they finally fight snow and he gives her a high five or some shit. That's incredible. I can't wait for that.
00:42:41
Speaker
That just sold me so much on the game that there's like a weird high five moment. That's great. yeah Yeah. Yeah. I believe it's that. I believe it's that. But it's something of that effect. I do want to say before we move on, i have seen the inverse now with Clarabscur.
00:42:57
Speaker
where I'm seeing insane people being like, actually the game's fucking garbage. It was never good. It shouldn't have won any of the awards. All the people who like it are fucking freaks. And I'm like, that is an insane shift within a week. now To go from like, me being like the most annoying people are the people who love this game, even though i also love this game, to being like, the people who hate this game are way worse now. like Yeah, so I know, you know, all sides can be annoying, but I thought I think it's an amazing game. And I do think that they they deserve all the recognition that they received. um
00:43:29
Speaker
i I love their punk rock approach to game development. and they're pull yourself up by the bootstraps like, Hey, we don't have this person, but the Internet's big like where didn't they find the musician on SoundCloud?
00:43:43
Speaker
Yeah, stuff like that. That's crazy. That's amazing. It's it's an amazing it's an amazing ah video game. um
00:43:53
Speaker
I just think we need to be critical of it and telling them that that menu design is terrible. Their bonding events are terrible. They're- Meeting them up with the Persona UI people.
00:44:06
Speaker
Well, which they definitely tried that with the battle system. The battle system is just P5. That's just... um That was just... ah those good Like like the side view and everything. yeah But now it's Claire Obscure. So now anybody that does that, they're going to say, oh, it's Claire Obscure. It's true. i I really like about Claire Obscure the stacking. I love their approach to... like uh damage stacking and stuff i thought that was the because was sick you're not only in the rhythm of combat but you're also strategically planning your next four moves and hoping that everything goes your way to make sure you have enough like ap to pull off that trick or like um have those specific characters gauge built so so such a smart game and say i don't know it's
00:44:57
Speaker
If you ask me what game of the year is, I would have to choose something more up along the lines of like a Digimon or a Pipestrello.
00:45:09
Speaker
And only because for me, like those are adventures. Those were adventures. And I think like video games, in terms of like why I enjoy them, is they send me on an adventure. and And while Clare Obscure did that, I found too many criticisms in its design where it's like,
00:45:31
Speaker
This is just, I mean, you're just wasting my time. I think their next game is going to be fucking insane. Yeah. I think everything they learned from Claire, like the first one is going to lead, it's going to be like an Empire Strikes Back level, like sequel where it's going to be like their next game is going fucking rock. It's going to insane. Or it's going to suck. Or it's going to be terrible. That would be such a bummer.
00:45:50
Speaker
Yeah. I would be so upset. So they all get Bugatti's and stuff. They all buy like $1,300 work chairs and stuff with their yeah with their funding. And then they make the worst. You guys can do all that as long as you still make a fucking great game.
00:46:07
Speaker
Yeah, but i think I think developers, put constraints on yourselves. Tell yourselves, hey, we're not going to use XYZ. Struggle's how you grow. that is yeah that yeah That's how Animal Well is developed. That's how ah Blueprints was developed. yeah know like a Final Fantasy 1 was developed. sure st stroke Struggle's how you grow. like Difficulty and strife is a how you evolve as a person.
00:46:35
Speaker
um But yeah, yeah i think I think Game of the Year is so
Reviewing Hentai Games
00:46:40
Speaker
subjective. If I had to choose one that I think is really deserving, um fuck.
00:46:47
Speaker
What even came out this year, man? Dragon Quest 1, 2 is up there. Because what they did with 2 is insane. like yeah Every time I tried to play 2, I was like, this is not working for me. And with 2HD, I couldn't stop. I was like, this is incredible what they've done with this.
00:47:01
Speaker
No, I agree. i agree. It's a dude. Octopath Traveler zero is actually really catching on to me. I've never played one. um yeah I got her it. It's the story is stupid. Good.
00:47:15
Speaker
Um, what else but, but I will say that the story is ripped from the mobile game. So it's like, I think mobile game stories are always like, cause they have more time.
00:47:26
Speaker
Yeah. To, to put get these events out. a little more fleshed out a little more um it's like a tv show compared to a movie right you got a lot more time like 140 hours or something like that the game um but the story is just really making me excited don't know don't know i don't i haven't as you can tell i have not read my top five yet yeah i haven't either donkey kong was this year that was excellent uh
00:47:55
Speaker
ed for I couldn't put it better. Couldn't have put it better. Did you hear my ah Noisy Newsweek intro? i wentt ah first first news ah First news on the on the on the prompter here. ah Horses. Yeah, this is the rule of it. Classic rule. Nobody said anything in the comments, but I know they heard it.
00:48:20
Speaker
I got it. Oh, 100 line. That's a good one this year. Yeah, but so niche, dude. The problem with the Game Awards is the people that they have as judges don't play those games. None of them play those games. So they only go by what they see in their algorithm and their little echo chamber Twitter. Oh, yeah, this game pretty good. I mean, I saw some people. I saw like five people talking about it. So I'll vote yes on this one.
00:48:46
Speaker
Which is crazy because like Hanganronpa was fucking huge for a while. It it jason blew up. So I'm surprised that. Yeah. ah Play some games. Play the Hanganronpa. That's crazy.
00:48:57
Speaker
And then for for, I'll say, I'll just to cap off the Game Awards, Mark and I, we spent there until a couple more days, and um it was fun. We we we have planned ah new animations, new overlays for the website, um new stuff coming in 2026, and we're just going to use the next two weeks to really, like...
00:49:16
Speaker
to find some cool workflows and then some better content that we have planned for for next year and we're excited yeah it's gonna be fun good time it's gonna be a big year come Big year. this is the I think this is the biggest episode we've ever had.
00:49:34
Speaker
It's a long one. That's a long one. You know what? Anyone who said, oh, you guys weren't here last week. you guys were here. There you go. There you go. That's one's for you. There go, Lossie. There you go. That's one's for you. yeah see yeah Let me scan and look for your little Vivi picture. See what you say. Did you see that? I reviewed a hentai game the other day.
00:49:51
Speaker
No, I didn't. I haven't in a while, but hebad I thought it's time it's time to give the nerds what they what they want. And as usual, it's the it's the worst it's the worst performing video, best performing article.
00:50:08
Speaker
the the it want They don't want their parents to follow. They don't want anyone to walk in on that. Here's the here talking about ejaculate. you know i love I love visual novels. so i I mean, they're easy to play for me because I'm just reading. So I love that they do that for me. And I love dissecting hentai games because they're just...
00:50:29
Speaker
They're like reviews you don't have to take seriously because they don't take themselves seriously. You know, you're you're just fucking. and But the nuances that go into that are so fun to dissect. and so i And I'll say this as someone who I feel like I play it like
00:50:50
Speaker
I don't masturbate to them, but maybe that, but I know that that's like the idea, right? Time is the masturbation. Right. That's why i that's why I hesitated before I, before I brought it up, yeah but to bring it back to masturbation,
00:51:04
Speaker
Some would assume that the idea is to masturbate to these. Yeah, some would think that's the utility of it. The more that I play them, and the more that I've played them over the years, yes, you have your games that are for that, but there are these games like this Amato Chocolate 3 that, like, really, you got 10 good hours of relationship building, you know? You know what that means?
00:51:29
Speaker
This is reading Playboy for the Articles. That's what this is right here. Yep. That's what this is. what i And you know what? I did that too. Interesting. I did that too. You went to all the work to see from your dad's closet because you really wanted to see the comic strips. Yeah. You wanted to see the written write-ups of like Broadway shows. You were like, got Right, right, right.
00:51:52
Speaker
ah How to make the perfect cocktail for Friday night. Yeah, nine-year-old Zario was like, that could come in handy. If I replace this with milk and I replace this with orange juice, then I should, yeah.
00:52:05
Speaker
That's my move. That's the move. Hell yeah. ah Well, and and there's also the other hand that there's nobody reviewing these games in a in almost a semi-serious matter that that like, someone's got to do it.
00:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. If I was a Japanese developer in like a little circle, a little, uh, age circle. Yeah. And I got a Western review for my game.
00:52:35
Speaker
be pretty cool yeah i mean i think that i think that's just just like anything you do like if someone in japan was like uh i love ace bonanza i'd be like that's fucking weird but cool like i think any international recognition would have like for anything people would just be like wow whatever i did got that far that's a that's a benchmark kind of thing i think Well, everyone, next week is Christmas.
Christmas and Relationship Dynamics
00:53:02
Speaker
Spencer, yeah what do you want for Christmas? ah okay my ah I have a quick story about that. My dad accidentally... ah So I spend a lot of time um while I'm saving up to move out again. i spend a lot of time watching our little nine-month-old puppy because ah my parents will have to go do stuff and he cannot really be by himself too long.
00:53:21
Speaker
And I don't want to fucking move my PlayStation from here up there every time. But I got games to review shit. So I was like, I would really like a PlayStation portal because then I can just play it up there and I can get my work done for reviewing shit.
00:53:35
Speaker
I don't have to move all that shit. um But i I wanted money towards it because I wasn't going to be like, buy me this $250 thing because that's crazy. um My dad, I got home from the gym one day and he was like,
00:53:46
Speaker
I have to go to an appointment. i was like, okay, I'm going to go shower. And he was like, well, first, um, I we're going to get an Amazon delivery and you have to give them a password. And I was like, that sounds made up.
00:53:57
Speaker
Like, what are you talking about? He's like, no, it's like a high value delivery or whatever. So you have to do that. I was like, okay, just copy and and paste it and text me the the number and I'll, I'll do that. Uh, and he re had Android phones his whole life and now he has an apple and he hates it cause he's not used to it.
00:54:14
Speaker
So he was like, I can't get this fucking thing. I copy. Come take a photo of my screen. And I was like, that's me. Okay, I'll come take a photo of your screen. Um, I went up and he held his phone. It was just the order page, um, ah including what was in the order. And it was like PlayStation portal. And I was like, think he just showed me, uh, Santa's fake.
00:54:35
Speaker
Um, what's with that? Fuck you, dude. that or you're buying like the dog the PlayStation 4 it's kind of fucked up because that's what want but so i was like I think he just showed me by my gift he's like well shouldn't have looked and I was like what the fuck? Wait a while. Now I know what mom has to go through every day. Yeah. i was like, well, i mean, several outs for me to not look like, okay. So I'm getting what I want and I didn't expect that. So that's very nice. That's nice um That's really nice.
00:55:11
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm pretty content. I like anything else is just neat bonus stuff. My sister got me Mario Wonder. She came up early for Christmas because she lives far away and she and her husband got me Mario Wonder because I never played it and I'm excited to that soon. nice. Yeah, so that'll be nice.
00:55:29
Speaker
What about you? What I want? what do i want I don't know. no, I want to play. We want world peace. We want like no world hunger. and We wanted like racism to be gone forever.
00:55:42
Speaker
Well, anything I want, like I buy myself, which suck is the adult crisis. Yeah, she she really struggles with um buying me things like couple weeks ago. i was like, man, I really need some a dumbbell set. And then I just bought myself a dumbbell set. And she was like, I'm glad you told me you're going to buy that because that's what I would have gotten you for Christmas. And I was like, yeah, see, like But I wouldn't want her to give me a dumbbell set.
00:56:05
Speaker
I tell her things like, no, I want you to get me like, I want you to write me a letter. Like I'm, Oh, what a sweet. But I will say that like, I have to be really aware of my, uh, gift giving because I think I'm so much like my dad to where I use gifts as a way to supplement like, uh, like, yeah, like, like i this is how i This is how I show I love you, you know? But I don't necessarily need to do that. He that. Isn't that one of the the love languages people talk about? is that one of them? Gift giving? Yeah, gift giving. and Maybe that's just your thing.
00:56:45
Speaker
Yeah, but it... I can get a little too... can get a little... I get little too excited in it. I like, okay. So say if I'm dating and this has happened before, like I'm just dating like a girl for like four months and then I get a phone upgrade, you know, and I don't like selling things.
00:57:04
Speaker
So I give her my old phone yeah because I got the upgrade, you know? um
00:57:12
Speaker
And then like two weeks later, she stops talking, you know, stuff like that. yeah It's like, It's like go too hard to go too hard. Yeah, i've i've I've had to dial it back.
00:57:23
Speaker
I've and again always learning. But yeah, I can't win people over with gifts. You got it. You got to show up in other ways. So in this relationship, I show up in other ways, but I'm still given the fucking gifts and I need to get the best of both worlds. Dude, she's getting fucking spoiled. ah ro And ah I told her, I was like, if if we have kids, yeah, they're taking all of this from you. So you better. Yeah. Oh, this is is going to them. when So you better ah but take advantage of it while you can.
00:57:57
Speaker
um But she she deserves it. Dude, um I will say even for the the listeners, i my current relationship, ah been together for three years and just, ah very supportive for this venture, this noisy pixel venture.
00:58:11
Speaker
um And it's fun. she't She doesn't give a shit about video games, and that's even better. um It does. really don't know. I've dated girls that like video games. It's the fucking worst. is It's just though like I was talking to friend about this recently. like I'm trying to make in-person friends again because like all my friends moved away.
00:58:30
Speaker
But the common interest when it's games or anime, most people who like games to anime are a lot. they can't turn it off like we can turn it we can act cool and like yeah fit in a setting and like you know god bless if you love you like so much that you can't like that's that's fine but i will say that yeah i i will say that it it might stem from we live in video games always and so and our time to uh relax and Video games are the last thing we want to talk about when we're for eight hours almost every day. We're just looking at them.
00:59:07
Speaker
Plus we have, plus we have, plus we have strong opinions on certain things that maybe people only have surface level knowledge of. Yeah, cursory. Right. So when they start giving, when they start, when they start bringing up games, you he's i've sometimes sounded like a know-it-all or like condescending you know and that is my duploid i've yeah i've experienced that where every time they're like oh what have you been playing and it's something they've never heard of and i'm just like i swear i play like like ubisoft games too i don't it's yeah just it's always timing it's always yeah yeah so uh i i'm like
00:59:44
Speaker
With that said, it's like, sometimes I tell people don't talk about video games with me because like, yeah sure I will, you know, but can we talk about something
Work-Life Balance
00:59:52
Speaker
else? Like, yeah oh Yeah. Yeah. So really i really, I will say that dating her is like a vacation away from like what I spend almost 10 hours a day doing, you know? And it's like you have the dream where you have a game wall with like right figures and games and she doesn't care about games and she doesn't care that you have that. So it's there's no like, oh, that's weird. It's just like, yeah, that's your thing. And then, yeah, that's great. yeah That's your dream.
01:00:19
Speaker
Very supportive, very, uh, she She works in social work, so maybe that's... She's very equipped to deal with my psychotic... If I touch any of these games, he is gonna it's going to be bad. so well he was so funny It was so funny at Game Awards when Mark and I woke up one of the days Um, so I do this thing where I'll wake up at 6 a.m.
01:00:42
Speaker
and just start planning, just start fucking planning, dude. Just like, oh, okay. At eight o'clock, gonna do this, this, uh, this. Oh shit. This animation. Oh, I got references right here. Like, so when Victoria wakes up,
01:00:57
Speaker
I say, get ready, we got a Costco, we got Trader Joe's, we got we got to go get this desk, we gotta go ah clean. you know like I have all these plans already for her and she's like, dude, I just i just opened my eyes. as yeah i've been awake I've been awake for two and a half hours, let's go. you know yeah bar and bar in in our hotel room,
01:01:18
Speaker
fuck i did it I started doing it to him on the on like the second night. I was like, okay, so you know how we're talking? I was like, dude, I've been out for like two hours. You know how we're talking about the animations last night? Okay, this is what I drew up.
01:01:30
Speaker
And the lights still off in this hotel room, dude. And I'm like showing him on my phone. and i was like, you know what, dude? I'm doing this thing that I usually do to Victoria to you yeah and I'm not going to do that to you. So I look at that. Oh yeah. i got Myself.
01:01:43
Speaker
Yeah. He laughed and he went and took a, he would have took a shower and then we talked about it when what we came back. But I, I have a tendency to rise and grind dude. Like I am just like, I'm pretty, uh, say you don't have time management.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You know what, though? This year, I've really impressed myself with that. And maybe my maybe my go-to of being bad at time management is still on my brain. But looking back at this year and how much I've improved, I do agree with you that that I've definitely gotten better. even even like Even last year with this podcast and stuff, for for times like
01:02:23
Speaker
I've, I remember last year I would say no to it and I would just be laying in bed and I was like, no, I can't do it today. Even though you asked me like four or five hours beforehand, i would just be so depressed. law Yeah. Yeah. I've been there. My brain is just,
01:02:39
Speaker
i I don't know. I wouldn't be able to carry on a 10 minute conversation, let alone 2030 about video games when my reality is kind of fucking messed up. Oh, you go back to episodes earlier this year where I'm like that, like in the episode, like fucking. Yeah, the right I would say watch any episode last year of Spencer ah that we've recorded and and compare it to compare it to how he is this year. Sorry, my cat my dog are fighting right here, but I'm not like ah You can tell when I'm fucking depressed.
01:03:11
Speaker
You're a different person. A hundred percent. That's fun way to get more views is have everyone do a cool depression watch. Be like, oh, it's depressed. What's he sad about this time? What's happening this time? What chemical imbalance is causing this one?
01:03:27
Speaker
But, and, and, and, you know, and sometimes it's hard to like switch that, you switch your brain to like, oh shit, I need to be critical of this video game, but fuck, man, my life is like so shitty right now. Yeah.
01:03:39
Speaker
Like, i don't fucking care about this game right now. This doesn't fucking matter. So, so I'm really impressed with both of us this year then. Yeah. We've had a, if a lot of things happen and we've pushed through.
01:03:51
Speaker
i agree. And 2026 is just going to be so sexy. i am fucking so excited.
Future Goals for NoisyPixel
01:03:57
Speaker
It's, I think, I think, I mean, you have some cool changes coming up next month.
01:04:04
Speaker
Um, and I can't wait to share that with the readers when it starts up, but, uh, uh yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be fun it's gonna be great ah even and i know you say that every year and it gets worse but this is gonna be a good year the year this is the year we're we're not we're not manifesting it's a can it's happening and it's already happening we're gonna hit hundred way next year we're gonna hit 100k sub sixer that's it like sir yeah yeah it's gonna happen one So prepare for that because the party is going to be in New York. Anybody in the area, you're invited. It's going to be the penthouse noisy pixel pizza party.
01:04:44
Speaker
Wow. That's lot of peas. Well, dude, there'll be a lot of PPs in there, you know? Oh my God. And it's going the end of Noiser Pixel because it's going to be a lot of problems. After an hour, the jokes get a little dry, guys. We've never done this before. Give us a fucking break. You can't expect fire forever. All right.
01:05:04
Speaker
this is This is Riley. Hi, Riley. All right. Okay, I'll take you outside right now. It's okay. We'll go, boy. um He looks at me like I have the answers and I don't, man. You can imagine children having a child. and having that like At least he can't understand and I don't know. I'm as as lost as you are.
01:05:27
Speaker
yeah um But anyway, thanks everyone for for listening and and hanging out with us for this hour. um It's been fun. It's been a great year. um Any closing remarks, Spencer? um Be nice to each other.
01:05:44
Speaker
let's enter 2026 being less awful online. Yeah. We're going to paint this wagon. going to paint it green to good.
01:05:56
Speaker
I know the words we can tell from later nerds are
007 Game Interview
01:06:02
Speaker
What's up, nerds? Thank you for listening this far. I wanted to plug an interview that I'm attaching to the end of this podcast, where I interviewed Sment, senior licensing producer at IO Interactive, about their upcoming game 007 First Light.
01:06:19
Speaker
There's not a lot of gameplay out for this and they released like 30 minutes at some point, but even at this event, they didn't really show anything. It was more of just a press thing.
01:06:29
Speaker
Pretty disappointed that I didn't get to go hands-on with the game, but it was interesting to be in the room and kind of talk about the game. I'm just going to share the audio with you. The editorial version will be on WizyPixel, but at least you can listen to it and...
01:06:47
Speaker
see how, I don't know, these conversations take place. I honestly think it was a good conversation. That's why I am putting it on the end. So please enjoy. So we're moments away from the showcase here. There's some of the reveals of ah Lenny Kravitz.
01:07:03
Speaker
And I missed her name, but the other ah voice actress. Gemma Tran and Mila Joglovic for Hitman the Under. And how is... without... there being much revealed of this game, like, is it easier for you too to drip feed these big moments in the game besides revealing too much about the actual gameplay? Is that the plan here? Like, what how is it going?
01:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think with our with our previous, ah you know, showcase where we we revealed, you know, a half hour of ah of gameplay, you know,
01:07:41
Speaker
This in itself is ah is a very story driven, you know, a narrative game, you know, so at its core, it's ah it's ah it's a third person story driven action adventure game. This means that there's a real story to tell. And that story is is very important and something that we want to, you know,
01:07:57
Speaker
keep a little close to our hearts for players so that they can enjoy that the first time. um So the the gameplay that we revealed you know earlier, which was you know in my opinion quite ah quite a big chunk of showing kind of like the width and breadth of what the game can offer, um at the same time we want to make sure that we you know respect the players and fans by not spoiling too much all at once um and and and leaving enough enough excitement and mystery there for for you to you know dive into it when you put your hands on the controller yourself. yeah
01:08:30
Speaker
Is it because it's the case of it being licensed IP where IO Interactive, you will you your team is hit, man. You you can... you can you got You have control over when to announce, when to release trailers. There's no oversight above above your team because you own the brand. Is it different working with licenses like this, where there is a little more oversight of when to reveal and how to reveal and what to reveal? Is that different for both projects? um I think a a distinction you know when it comes to IO Interactive is we are developing and publishing the the game ourselves. So um in our you know like ah relationship with our Lysaurs, they trust us very much. no they They rely on our expertise. iowa Interactive brings 25 years you know of it's of experience. there's ah There's a real pedigree of of game development and pushing out you know
01:09:25
Speaker
very you know highly enjoyable games. So there is a a real collaboration and partnership where it it is up to us, ah you know, for what is the, you know, from the very beginning, what is the kind of game we want to bring to life? What is experience? What is the story you want to tell?
01:09:41
Speaker
But also, um you know, how and when we want to share things with the world. So um I don't feel like we are, you know, restricted in any way. We have a very good collaboration. and a matter of fact, we're, you know,
01:09:55
Speaker
they They trust us to to to know what we're doing. um And ah we you know share just as you as any Lysus for Rises you would, share our plans, you know share everything going into the game, these kind of things.
01:10:07
Speaker
And you know they're just excited to see it come to life just to start with us. with Hitman, and and a fans of Agent 47 will know that we've all kind of imagined Agent 47 to be a pseudo-James Bond, 007.
01:10:27
Speaker
That's always been in a player's mindset when, when as a kid, even for me growing up, that's how I took that experience. And now that experience is coming almost full circle to where you're working on this 007 brand.
01:10:40
Speaker
How do you just make these two projects distinct? Is that a challenge as a studio for you? And how do how do you approach that challenge of making these two different experiences distinct in their own way? Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. As I as i mentioned earlier, ah you know we we carry behind us 25 years of that agent fantasy experience.
01:10:59
Speaker
And when you when you really think of it, when you we go to the core of the original action spy, well, in my opinion, this has done better than James Bond. you know So when we when we had had our eyes set on you know being able to work on this IP, we really went at it wholeheartedly. and As the time is told, you know our licensor agreed that io Interactive is is the studio to bring a game to life because we know what it is to you know give you that experience of of of globetrotting, hyper-realism, places where us mere mortals really cannot go.
01:11:39
Speaker
except if you are you know within this world of espionage. So those are the strengths that we get to lean lean on. Our teams back home, our level designers, environment artists, all of them are so fantastic you know with our network team and everything of of bringing this world to life. And so I think that the the way the distinction comes in as well is on the character. you know you you You're familiar with Agent 47, but He is very much of, you know, almost more of a shell. You know, he he can be anything, anyone, but he's very stoic, just gets the job done. Bond, on the other hand, he's charismatic. He's got charm.
01:12:11
Speaker
um You know, he's he's got charisma. He's got a lot of, ah you know, personality with him, and that allows us to lean into that personality. I mean, it says. So this means, you know, that he he has to improvise. He has to think on his feet, he has to move on his feet. And you see that in the gameplay as well. So the gameplay ah with Doublelift in the first slide is much more fast-paced, much more momentum-driven, much more going from one thing to the next.
01:12:32
Speaker
In that gameplay reveal that I, you know, mentioned, I really love that action sequence where there's this big shootout and and he's just bouncing from one guy to the next, keeping on moving, ah gun on the floor, kick it up, shoot, shoot, shoot. Okay, let's run dry, to just drop the gun, use it as a weapon, close the gap, run in, grab the next guy. like you know but that is That is obviously way different from you know what you couldn't do what you expect from Hitman being slow, methodical planning, all that kind of thing.
01:12:57
Speaker
So it is ah it is a fun and exciting you know challenge for us, but also a dream come true to be able to bring Bond to life and give that experience to players so that you ultimately can be Bond your way. Because are you going to stealth? Are you going use your gadgets? you going use your brains? going to pluff? Are you going to attack?
01:13:16
Speaker
It just gives so much you know opportunity and it's so exciting. It sounds like the studio approached ah the 007 franchise as understanding that so Hitman has its its audience, but coming to the 007 series, these fans aren't necessarily Hitman fans, but to put that Hitman ego aside and understand that the 007 franchise is bigger than even Hitman, you know, and you and a team approaching that respect with oh a more approachable almost, but still sounds like to be a
01:13:53
Speaker
where challenge can be added where it needs to be, but accessible to fans who maybe are just 007 fans, but maybe not gamers. Yeah, I mean, that's ah that's a great observation. And, you know, what what i what I would say is that, you know, Bondo definitely, what is it, like 60 years of legacy? There is so much source material and inspiration, you know, to to draw from, but...
01:14:15
Speaker
What is exciting for us is that we really get to tell this reimagined origin story of a young JV Bond and that gives us such a creative vehicle for you to experience this new untold narrative and and go on this journey with him, not ah not just in a sense of narrative progression, but but player and and character progression as well, so that you're right there alongside him, you know, experiencing this this is this dark, you know, and and you know there's no real dichotomy almost. It's like, you know, just as our name with First Light that alludes to, like, you know, shadow and light and you know there's the world that he's stepping into.
01:14:47
Speaker
It's a very exciting ah space for us to explore and for players to go into. And I think, you know, you know and in in in closing, what I would say is since we are a third-person action adventure story game, it means that for the Bond fans out there, there is enough for you to sink your teeth into it, really experienced as a Bond fan.
01:15:05
Speaker
But if you are perhaps not familiar, you know, a younger audience, perhaps not that familiar with Bond, you're still at the heart of it, this action adventure, this exciting journey, this, you know, third person, ah you know, but by like just bombastic cinematic ah in our experience to go through that.
01:15:22
Speaker
Just can't wait for players to get their hands on it. ah is it Is it hard to not reveal too much? Is it hard to keep it close to the chest with all the... I mean, there's there's so much. We we are always like first things you want to share with the world.
Patience and Development
01:15:33
Speaker
But, you know, you have to you have to give it a moment, give it time, and it will come. Really, really good. Thank you
Gratitude and Appreciation
01:15:42
Speaker
for your time. Thank you so much. Thank you.
01:15:43
Speaker
Appreciate it.
01:15:55
Speaker
Why is it excellent?