Oops!Zencastr was unable to start because Javascript is disabled
To fix this problem, check your browser's settings and enable Javascript

Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!

00:00:00

00:00:01

Episode 6

S1 E6 · Detroit Gamesters

6 Plays1 month ago

Death Stranding 2, Mickey 17, Switch 2 Predictions and Pokemon, Xbox Handheld in 2025, Astro Bot, Severance

Transcript

Introduction and Podcast Direction

00:00:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

hey everyone, how's it This is episode 6 of the podcast. This is Arjun and I got my partner here, Shamir, returning for another maybe exciting week. It's been a slow week of news, but ready to talk about some things that we've seen and watched and played for weeks. so Yeah, I guess we shouldn't be selfish because of just how much crazy news there was at the beginning of the year.

00:00:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

and You know, I guess that happens, right? Because January and February is going to be pretty stacked, right? So I think things are kind of settling in as we have kind of gotten a sense of what to expect um for the rest of the year. I mean, there's still ah plenty of surprises. We still have to figure out when the hell Grand Theft Auto 6 is going to be released. Yeah. But, you know, things are, you know... ah Coming into coming into view. So I know one of the things that we talked about before we started this podcast is because we knew that there would be some sessions where there wouldn't be as much fascinating stuff for us to talk about. So that's why we wanted to kind of diversify just so we're not talking only about video games because I know I feel i feel like I've seen some podcasts where it's just they're really video game focused and when there's no video games, I just try and find like a random topic to like make it a thing, you know?

00:01:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, mean, think we've got some... And it really, really buys into the whole inciting of console wars and whatever. I just... Yeah, fan the flames. You know, that's always something to keep things going. Yeah, and rather, you know, we want to take this opportunity to talk about some things we've just been enjoying, rather, regardless of how slow the Newsweek has been. So our goal has never always been to talk about everything up-to-date and current. It's more of what are we enjoying and what makes us happy, so...

00:01:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, yeah, like what do we think is cool? Yeah. What do we think

Death Stranding Discussion

00:01:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

is cool? Stuff like that. So I think ah what I wanted to start off with, and I think this is probably what you want to start off with too, did not expect to be talking about this now, but ah the new Death Stranding 2 trailer. you know And we yeah we just actually watched it again, and Arjun couldn't stop talking about how much he loved a freaking song in the background. That was a good song.

00:02:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, it's funny because I think Kojima just presented, what it, SWSX or whatever it's called. He had his own panel. He had a 10-minute trailer, ah really well produced. He's really always involved in that process. He does it himself, all the editing for his trailers.

00:02:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

He announced a collector's edition, a deluxe edition, and a standard edition. Collector's edition comes with this. really big statue it's 230 but of course the biggest complaint i have is that the collector's edition comes with a digital version of the game which has been pissing me off why is that such a thing nowadays i don't know collectors the people who are gonna want to get like physical copies of stuff right yeah Why are you making it all digital? And like, I get it. You know, you get the biggest cut or biggest piece of the pie by giving a digital version, but it also means I can never then sell a game. Like if I play it and I really just want the statue and all the goodies, but I don't like the game, let me ah sell the game or trade it to someone. Like don't just have stuck in this weird, you know,

00:02:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, and I feel like that kind of makes it like a higher barrier to entry for some games too because like if you're spending $50 to $70 on the game and you haven't really tried it, you're just going off of someone

Game Pre-orders and Digital Editions

00:03:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

else's opinion of it. Yeah.

00:03:07

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then you get it and you hate it. Like A, you're going be pissed off. So I feel like they're no wonder gamers are so angry. Yeah. And two, like what are you to You just get screwed. Like $70, $80, right? Like at least like – With the resale market, you know, oh you take a $30 loss, $20 loss. It's not the worst thing, you know?

00:03:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

Well, that's the thing. So they're doing pre-orders for this only on the PlayStation store direct place Direct Store. And it's on March 17th. So again, you're locking me into a pre-order where I might not actually enjoy the game. It might be utter crap.

00:03:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

Don't forget, the first game that came out was very divisive. And so it's like, what am i what am i getting out of this by pre-ordering early? I want the statue, but don't know about Also, what can we pre-order today?

00:03:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, like, it's very weird the way they're doing this, you know what I'm saying? It's a suzy, but not to get married and all of that, but, and, you know, I just think it's so funny that we're talking about this because, you know, I think we could speak for both of us, but, you know, our impressions off that trailer were, man, that was hype. Like, that was an amazing trailer. Let's actually talk about the substance of this trailer.

00:04:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

um Interesting stuff, only because, like, the music, I think, went really well, like, in the background with, like, what they were trying to portray. Like, this dire, like, person. Again, I haven't really played and beat the first game. I just know very small aspects of it.

00:04:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

But I do believe, like, in the first game, it is about Sam Bridges' father, correct? if ah Maybe I'm... I don't think so. i thought Mad Mickelson plays his father. i Actually, I think you're right. Yeah, yeah. I think you're right, yeah. It's kind of complicated. yeah had to think about it. okay So, I haven't actually beat the game. I got, like, halfway through, and I think I got to the maybe it was Yemen halfway. i got to the part where it was really snowy. And, uh, I think then I read somewhere online that like, after I made it across America, i had to make it back across America again.

00:05:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

and then I was like, and like like for I think at a certain point, like you get like, like real, like real tracks and stuff like that. But like, you have to like kind of build stuff. And if I remember you correctly, I think, yeah, bridges. I think there might've been like a,

00:05:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

online feature that lets you use yeah other people's stuff but regardless like you know my whole thing is like i don't really like really like video games where it feels like I'm doing a second job when I'm off of work you know speaking of this is totally random but I was looking for a new game to play and I was really close to getting Kingdom Come 2 because everyone's raving about

Personal Gaming Preferences

00:05:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

it. And then I was like watching a review online, and they said, you know, it some days you're to play this game, and all you're going to do really is like you know move some dirt around. Move some bridges.

00:05:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

Move some potatoes around. And then at that point, I was like, no, I can't do this. I just... And that was kind of one of the problems I had with Hogwarts Legacy 2. Like, you know, I had to, like, do classes. I was like, I don't want to go to class. I don't want to build bridges, bro. I don't want to build bridges. This is the problem with Death Stranding. So here's how I first got introduced to Death Stranding, by the way. Just a small antidote.

00:06:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

um i was I was going up north in where we live, the state we live in, for this like little outing with my buddies. Someone decided to buy Dust Stranding and said, hey, let's fuck it. Let's play it. It looks like a really dumb game, but what else are we going to do? And I watched this man deliver Amazon and UPS packages for a full week, and I'm like, I cannot...

00:06:34

Shameer Mehdikhan

in my right mind, play this game coming home. Maybe on a vacation like this, but I would never play this. So I hope, like, based on the trailer and what I saw, there's some moments of action that I don't think were in the original game, and I could be wrong. I saw some more shooting, saw some sliding. You can crowd. So if i'm remember, there was shooting in the first game, and I think after they released, like, a director's cut, or they did an update or something like that, you were able to play the game in a more aggressive way. So they're there was combat, you know? There was some shooting, and it was... it was Decent shooting was okay, but yeah, I mean... Like, could you start the director's cut with a gun then?

00:07:11

Shameer Mehdikhan

I don't know. i don't think so. So the thing is, with that game, you know, I think some games are all about, like, hey, you have a lot of options open to you, right? And, like, if you want to do stealth, you can. If you want to do shooting, you can, you know, et cetera.

00:07:26

Shameer Mehdikhan

And what I remember in that game, like, even if combat was an option, wasn't... it really wasn't the most viable option, you know? um and so a lot of times, even if I wanted to like go guns blazing, like I couldn't, if I remember like there was kind of like a nerf on like how powerful the gun was, or it was like a taser at first and later it took you a while to finally get like a machine gun. So I got, I spent like five years since I played this. But, uh,

00:07:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, yeah, I mean, i am all for more combat as well, because my thing is, I will say, you know, delivering those packages was a lot more fun than I expected. That's weird. But it was still work, you know, so even in its best moments, was like, oh, this is kind of cool. Like, you have to strategize and know where to put what and, like, be careful about it. How you're walking. It affects your balance.

00:08:12

Shameer Mehdikhan

yeah have to be a little smart about how you're stacking things up. And there's some like risk and, ah you know, benefits and stuff like that. But then after I saw Sam Reedus like fall over again and again to his side. And I was just getting so frustrated. i was like, okay, the solution for this is just to go slower and be more thoughtful.

00:08:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I was just like, I just want to get to the cool part so I can understand why there's these freaking BTs. Like, what is going on? You just want to understand the story. Exactly. And then for me, like, that's, like, one of the things that, like, turns me off of games. Like, if I am kind of playing for the story and it's like, I want to get to the interesting beats of the story, but like, I have to slog through stuff that I don't find that engaging in the moment, then it's like... yeah kind of And so for me, like I was having, overall, it was a pretty good experience. But then as soon as for whatever reason, like, I think I like struggling with this mountain or something. And then I found out I had to, you know, go through, you know, the, play you know, the country twice. And I was like, no, I'm done. I'm done. I feel like, and I'm curious to know your thoughts here, but here's what I think it's like.

00:09:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think this game is going to be very well received. I am a little surprised it's coming June. I will say again, the game was very divisive when it came out, but was it a commercial success? Maybe. It's sold, I think, 3 to 4 million units, I think, within its first couple of years. So it's not bad by any stretch for a new IP, for a new studio, you know, coming right off the gate.

00:09:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it looks beautiful. Like, again, the Decima engine, we already know it's great with Horizon. But to kind of expand this game, like the... the landscapes though it's very scenic it looks i was just telling you i was like this is probably the best kissing animations i've seen in a video game like i can see you can see where their budget went but but i do think that there's going to be some weird revisionist history here where they're going to be like oh yeah the first game was so good of course the second one was going to be good too and i feel like ijin and all these media oh i see that so much like you're to be like even with cyberpunk like i played cyberpunk like day one and it wasn't day one like i

00:10:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

I had like a, I remember getting this, this gaming laptop so I could play it. And on PC it was good. i mean, it was, it was good, but there was challenges. There was issues. Yeah. It was there challenges even from the beginning, but I, I had a good experience, you know, it was like, it's eight out of 10 experience for me. Like I had a blast, but I was like yeah, this is like,

00:10:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

undercooked, you know, but it was still good. and then all of a sudden, like all I saw was just massive hate. And i was like, right, people are hating on this game way more than it definitely deserves. Like this is solid eight for me.

00:10:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then everyone's saying it's like a four. And then suddenly like Phantom Liberty comes out. everyone's like, oh my Phantom Liberty is good to me. And was like an eight a half, like maybe 8.8. Like, you know, it wasn't like super high up on my list of 2023 games, but it was really good. It was definitely a lot better than the original. And I feel like finally they delivered.

00:10:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

But again, I was like, wow, everyone's talking about this like this is a 10. And okay, fine. I can understand. We get caught up in the moment. But like, this is so random. But just now I was listening to like that cyberpunk like YouTube ending video. I don't know if you know what I'm i'm talking about.

00:11:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

forgive me for letting you down. or And I was like, man, it's not so good. oh it's such a good vibe. was like reading the comments and everyone was like, Oh man, CD project. Never read. Never misses like cyberpunks. Amazing.

00:11:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

What, what, you know, you know, it's going to be like amazing storytelling. And I'm just like, Guys, like did we all forget about how this the anime saved this video game? Yeah, it was just so weird. because and and i And I want to compare the two now because you bring up a good point here.

Kojima's Storytelling Complexity

00:11:38

Shameer Mehdikhan

So again, Death Stranding didn't sell like amazing bonker numbers. And it was probably a success for that studio because it was very small and they worked in collaboration with Guerrilla Games. right With Cyberpunk, as much shit as they got, because let's let's just put it up like face front here, the Current-gen consoles at the time, which were Xbox One and PS4, were trash. They definitely were. Oh, my God. but But the game... They to give a refund, didn't they? Yes. Because they were so trash. It was so trash.

00:12:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

But the game itself, they just announced this this past year, sold 30 million units. Oh, my God. Compared to 4 million. And the expansion, the Phantom the expansion, sold 3 to 4 million. You know, i'm I'd be really curious, but I wonder if it sold better than Witcher 3.

00:12:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

It's very close. So Witcher sold 50 million. Oh my God. Yes. I mean, it deserved that. but to But to be that close for a game that was that troubled. So you're right. People say when it came out like, oh my God, you know many YouTube videos remember saying about like Halo Infinite sucks, cyberpronks sucks, like, you know, modern gaming has been destroyed. And now it's like that hindsight bias where like,

00:12:38

Shameer Mehdikhan

Everyone forgot about this. Yeah, everyone forgot about it. So for Death Stranding, I think, like like, kind of my opinion, and maybe I just lurked on different, you know, parts of the internet, like, I feel like overall people think of that game pretty positively. Like, I feel like when it first came out for, like, the six first six months, i mean everyone was just making fun of it for being, like, you know, Amazon, you know, in a video game. But I feel like the centipede really turned when it came out on the PS...

00:13:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

ah So on the PC, because I feel like PC gamers really did like it. like a lot of people said good things about it. Um, I feel like the update that they released, like the director's cut, like that also like won a lot of people over. So I think most people probably remember it like pretty fondly and positively.

00:13:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

Um, For me, i mean, I'm kind of on the fence, you know. I remember getting really hyped for that game and I was disappointed. And I kind of feel the same way about the Death Stranding 2 trailer. Like, ah man, after I saw that, I was like, man, this is one of the best trailers I've seen in a very long time. I mean...

00:13:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

This is like, you know, this is that bleeding edge between like video games and movies and where you see like video games even surpassing movies and television. Like it just seems so interactive. It seems so engaging. Like the characters seem like really fleshed out, like multifaceted, you know? And then there's like, you know, really strange things that make you curious, but just enough that like, you know, make you want to know more and then like crazy actions. i was like, man, this looks freaking epic.

00:14:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

But then I remembered, a man, when I was playing the game, I had no idea what was going on. And so that was annoying. And I feel like sometimes with Kojima games, as much as he's just, ah you know, revolutionary and he just, you know, really has just crazy ideas.

00:14:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like, it can be difficult to get through those games when you have no idea what's going on. Think about Metal Gear Solid. It took him, like, seven games to, like, And you still, it's hard to tie the story all together, but it took him so many games just to make sense of a plot that came up with.

00:14:32

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it's like, it shouldn't have to take me that many games to make sense of a story, you know? Yeah. That's when I start to not enjoy. I think like for a certain population, like that's the appeal. Like for instance, like people who love Elden Ring lore, like when you feel like you have to digest the lore yourself, like you feel like more involved. Sure.

00:14:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

in it and then you're like, oh no, like I have like an understanding or a mastery of this because I'm like really involved and I try to like think it out and and things like that. i feel like people really get into that stuff and like kudos for you. But for me, like at least the motto and I was just sharing this with you before, like with my writing, like I remember I used to be super flowery, like, you know, and I, whenever i was writing my prose and I used to try and like win people over just by like how smooth everything sounded.

00:15:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then I realized like that was coming from an insecurity because I didn't, I felt like fraud, you know? And if people read what I was reading and I'm doing, like, oh man, this sounds awesome, you know, then, you know, I'm a good writer.

00:15:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then I remember reading a book from Stephen King called You Are a Writer, and, you know, he's so successful, and he was talking about, like, how the how how do you edit, like, how you know, what's good writing, he was like, just write it in the simplest way, you know, you don't have to big and complicated it complicated, just the simplest way, know.

00:15:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so, you know, of course, there's not a one-for-one there, because, like, obviously, i'm talking about, like, story writing, and, you know, this is, like, a grand, you know, video game, and there's so many moving elements, right, like, um But, it you know, the thing is, like, if I feel like if your story is too obtuse, you know, then that can kind of be a deficit. And at least to me, like that normally doesn't jive with me the most. Like, I'd rather have something that's a little easier to digest.

00:16:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

I will say, though, the actual story of Death Stranding and the concepts of it are really freaking cool. life Yeah, and again, I definitely want to catch up to the the story. I don't think I'm going to play the first one. i don't think I'm to back and beat it.

00:16:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

It just doesn't look as appealing, even with the director's cut. Do you mind if I, like, ruin a little bit for you? No, you go ahead I mean, I don't mind. I'll still play it regardless one day in the future, just not now. but So, you know, probably for people who have played Death Stranding, maybe they'll make fun of me because...

00:16:38

Shameer Mehdikhan

I'm getting this off of a YouTube video that I saw like a few days ago and it was like a quick summary. But what I thought was really fascinating is it was talking about like the like idea of like, like an extinction event and like the like five little things that you see floating in the image. Like those are beings that represent like the five extinction events that have already happened.

00:16:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

And now like the sixth one is happening. And like the sixth one is like his mother, who's also kind of his sister. It's like this like, weird, complicated thing. I just can't explain it. you know it's It's like, it's not this like weird, like thing or anything. It's like this like weird metaphysical, like the soul is splitting into like different beings. So like she, what once existed when he was born, but then like, what do you mean? Like, dude, I can't even explain it. I think it was literally like a soul splitting type of thing. Okay.

00:17:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

Um, But anyways, well, how did, how did she exist when he was born? Then how did she now exist? Well, to be a sister. like yeah don't go out But I thought that was fascinating. Like the concept of like, you know, an extinction event actually like being physically materialized. I'm like an extinction being, I thought that was super cool idea.

00:17:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then the whole idea of like the BTs are beach things. And so like the beach represents, I guess, the afterlife. So really what's happening is ah things from the afterlife are encroaching on the real world.

00:18:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

And that's what's causing the disastrous events and things like that. And so like the whole idea is like babies, you know, because they're on the cusp of, you know, coming into life from death, right? This is at least how I understand it.

00:18:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like that's why they're so heavily featured in the game. And that's why they're, they're used, right? Because they're kind of on that cusp So they're able to like grant abilities and things like that. And I guess like the main character's like uniqueness is like, you can like, okay, there's like different levels to like this stuff.

00:18:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

And like, if you're a high enough level, you can like go to the beach, but then leave the beach. so you can like go to the afterlife and leave the afterlife. So it's like really complicated stuff. But like the stuff I thought was really fascinating was like the idea of like an extension event being, and then also just the concept of,

00:18:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

the beach being like the afterlife, but you know, how things from the afterlife are, you know, encroaching on the world. Right. And usually like, I think of it like from my Western lens of like,

00:19:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

evil spirits and demons and things like that and supernatural and like I think of like purgatory and fiery hell and those are the images. But I was like man, that's like such a unique and interesting twist that like it's a beach. Yeah. You know? Well, so that's funny you say this now because I didn't realize BT stood for beach things.

00:19:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

So this title makes a little more sense. on the beach. So it's still about the afterlife. Yeah, I i guess. I guess. Like, interest. So I like the title. Maybe, like, the Death Stranding, like, lore heads are, like, laughing at us right now. But, you know, I was thinking the same thing. When I saw, like, Death Stranding, too, on the beach, I was like, what is this, like, Final Fantasy 7? Yeah, like, yeah. And they're, like, going to the beach. And they're being, like, cookies. Yeah.

00:19:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, it didn't make sense to me, you know, so I'll be honest with you, I feel stupid now, but... i think I thought it was the dumbest title ever, and now, in hindsight, I'm like,

Kojima's Influences and Hollywood Aspirations

00:20:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

oh. Yeah. Okay. So maybe they're playing more off of that. And then in that way, like, I really have to hand it to Kojima. Like, you know, I always said, like, you know, if anyone can, like, have these, like, unique ideas, I'm like, man, how did you come up with that? And that inspires me to look at things differently. Like, that's, like, the highest level of art. Yeah, because it gets your brain engaged. Yeah, gets me engaged and, like, you know, makes me wonder why. And, like, if any form of media can do that, like, top praise. So, like, I got to give it up to Kojima. Like, man, how did you even come up with these ideas? And then like rain that ages you like that. That was such an interesting idea. That was interesting.

00:20:34

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I do remember seeing that from the original trailers. but See, he had to find a find ah a fine balance because... he that game came out three to four years after the studio was created, and he probably spent a majority of the time creating the story.

00:20:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

At the same time, he needed help to create actual gameplay, and they didn't have enough developers. So I can't give him so much shit in the first game because something was going to fall, one or the other, and it was the story that rose probably in the game, and it's the gameplay that faltered, right?

00:21:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

Hopefully they can find the balance now, and and both of them are good at this time. Yeah, i mean, I would say, like, if I played the original game, probably had, like, 30% more action, would have really liked it. Yeah, I would have given it a shot myself. I think it's like, it's probably really like a 6 or a 7 and it probably would elevate for me to like an 8 or a 9 if it had more action. Well, those are fighting words, aren't you? Yeah, I know. So that's why want to talk about another thing, fighting specifically, is that There's a lot of heavy inspiration from Metal Gear in this trailer, ah if a lot of people haven't noticed already, is that you basically got um you got a Solid Snake lookalike.

00:21:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

I saw some comments that were hilarious that said, quote watch Kojima call him Hard Viper. Hilarious. Just crying. But the fact that yeah know Kojima had mentioned five years ago that there's a specific Italian actor that he really liked from specific movies he watches, if he had donned the bandana, he would look exactly like um Solid Snake.

00:21:56

Shameer Mehdikhan

There you go He's got him in for a role that's kind of like that. They got Rex, essentially, in this. they got the It was called the... What is called? MBH or MDH Magellan Integrate, and it's on a BT, I think. Oh, so crazy. Which is funny, but it looks exactly like Rex from Metal Gear. And then they got the Red Samurai, which is exact clone or copy of Gray Fox, the the Cyborg Ninja from Metal Gear. So it's just funny that... I'm surprised, like, how can you put this all the game using the likeliness of characters you once created? Like, can you get sued for that? Like, I'm... I don't think so. i mean...

00:22:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

you can have a decent amount of creative liberty, right? And so I think he's he's good from that. And I guess, like, kind of the thought I had when he was saying that, mean, at least we know Kojima doesn't have ghostwriters who came up with everything. That's true. Obviously, it's him.

00:22:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

Because, like, even in my own writing, and I noticed this, like, i listen, I read a lot of Brandon Sanderson, right? And, like, you'll notice, like, after you, like, write a certain amount, like, you really have similar trends. And I'm like,

00:22:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

writing some other stories, I'm like, man, like, I'm really kind of obsessed with, like, the same kind of concepts, right? And then, like, my characters are different, right? But sometimes they're, like, similar shades of each other, right? Yeah.

00:23:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

maybe 20% different, or you know. And a lot of times it ends up being like the environment is like what makes my character unique because like, you know, for some reason I gravitate to certain archetypes, you know. I gravitate to certain like, you know, um character arcs and things like that. So I feel like for Kojima, he just friggin' loves robots. He friggin' loves like, yeah you know, war that never ends. Yeah, never ends.

00:23:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that's another interesting thing here because There's this interesting connection to the first game. So again, if you look at the trailer at the very end, this guy that looks like Solid Snake, I think his name is Neil in the game.

00:23:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

Can't remember. he also has the ability, just like Mad Mickelson's had, he had the ability to use the strands to control multiple people that have these weird skeleton faces. So the question is, is he a younger version of Cliff yeah in this game? So weird.

00:23:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I think Hideo already mentioned that like Cliff's story in the first game ends there. So it's like, if if that's not a younger version of Cliff, who is he and how is he related to all them? Is he like a brother or an uncle?

00:24:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

Crazy, wacky stuff. No, I'm just thinking about this. Like, What would it be like if Hideo Kojima made a movie for Hollywood? So he was. he was he They were in, I think, plans for him to make and direct the Metal Gear Solid movie at the time. but then it kind of i mean, that's kind of something but like ah original story.

00:24:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh, I think he could easily knock it out of the park. What would that even be like, dude? That is so interesting. How does that not happen? You would think every corporate Hollywood executive... who is literally just rehashing the same nonsense again and again would be like, look at this guy! We gotta get this guy! So I'm glad you brought this up because I follow Hideo on Twitter and the one thing he does is he watches a ton of films. He's really into cinematography, directing films, actors. he He really loves that medium and he's always talking about every film, no matter whether it's Marvel, anything.

00:24:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

And he talks about all these succinct points about like, here's the reason why I love this movie and here's the reason why I don't. And on top of loving films... He also loves working with different actors. So you can tell again, in this game specifically, he hired a bunch of famous actors because he loved the movies and shows that they've been in.

00:25:11

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then similarly, like, what's his name? You know, Key and Peele. What's the one guy that's... Yeah, yeah. um I thought it was Kiel. Kiel, sorry. Yeah, he is working now with Hideo on a new project, and it's I don't know if it's a show or a movie, but it's going to be coming us sometime in the future. They're on some project together. is that OD? That's not OD. No, i don't think they're doing OD together. They're doing something new,

00:25:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it's like, it's interesting. he He really is in the industry a little bit, but like he's starting to become more popular. And I don't, I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually makes his own. So, so just curious, right? So you've taken, you've seen a lot of his takes on like different movies and TV shows. and yeah so Do you find yourself agreeing with him a lot or not so much? i I, would say I find myself.

00:25:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

not realizing that like he the points that he brings up is stuff that I wouldn't think about. And it's like, he kind of thinks of it at a higher level than I'm like, wow, I just would have not gone that deep on a movie that I... like Sometimes he'll make up... He's an intellectual. He's a very... Yeah, he's he's an ah intellectual for sure. It's like, that's why like I'm not surprised that the way he writes the stories in games, they are complex.

00:26:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

He thinks a lot about it. Yeah, he thinks a lot about it. They might not the best. He kind of makes... He kind of like... It reminds me of Chris Rinaldin in some ways. yeah like He's really thoughtful about those things. i mean...

00:26:27

Shameer Mehdikhan

This is just my personal take. Like, I just feel like there's a lot going on the original Death Stranding. And maybe if, like, you use 70% of those ideas instead of 100% of those ideas, it might have been easier to digest. Yeah, i sure. Because there's, like, a lot. You know, like, the idea of both, like, rain that ages you and also, like, beach things. Like, that's, like, that can be totally two different, like, stories. Yeah, exactly. Totally different movies, but...

00:26:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

He found a way to blend them in together. He makes it work. He really does. And that's kind of amazing. But like it can be a lot. you know You look back at Metal Gear and all the cutscenes are so long that they equate to multiple films. right And i feel I don't know how many hours worth of cutscenes were in Death Stranding 1. But I can only assume there's going to be like 10 plus hours in this.

00:27:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

Most games barely have four hours of cutscene. yeah you can That's like the average time. I remember looking this up. his game will probably have 10 or 15 hours just of cut scenes. long Remember there was a cut scene Metal Gear Solid 4 that went on for an hour and a half.

00:27:26

Shameer Mehdikhan

Straight. I remember we were talking about that. straight. I'm like, bro, I can't watch this. I mean, for me, like, I actually haven't really hated that. Like, I've actually been okay with that. Like, um I just think it's also kind of fascinating that people crucified, like, My Darling Order 1886 because had too many cutscenes and QTEs. I feel like that game was 80% cutscenes. Metal Gear Solid gets a pass for an hour and a half. Well, let's be honest. That game was only six hours. You had 80% it cutscenes. Okay, I'll give you that. It was probably also, like, you know, if you have, like, 50-hour game and you have two hours or 20 hours, that's still, you know...

00:28:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

But then again, if the gameplay is then padded to only do one single action, then you have a problem there too. So I agree. It's just, I liked 1886 because the story was so fascinating. It should have been a movie. But instead, you know what Sony does? They make a movie on Tel Aviv.

00:28:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like, what are you doing? and rob i know. Actually, I never even thought about that. But for some of the IP that Sony seems like they canceled, they're not really doing anything with. If they own the IP, why don't they make a movie? yeah Days Gone. Days Gone. You know, Order 1886. Resistance. Yeah. lake Kills them. you Yeah, I mean, if you're not doing anything with with games, why don't you? And then, you know, if people love the movie, maybe they're more likely to...

00:28:42

Shameer Mehdikhan

playing it. Want to buy a game. and Yeah. I mean, look look at Uncharted. The reason why people watch that movie is because they like playing the game. So it actually, yes, there was synergy there they that benefited them, even though the movie was ass, but Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, don't get me wrong, it was ass, but like there was synergy. They made a lot of money. And look,

00:28:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

You now come with an Until Dawn remastered. Did horrible. They just closed the studio down, and now they're still releasing it. Yeah, and basically, as of last week, most of the people were let go. They didn't officially announce the closure, but they let go of most of the developers. Oh, my God. And the movie comes out in a couple weeks. It looks interesting, by the way. that I've seen the trailer. looks fascinating because they're changing up the story in the gi in the movie. I didn't realize it was right around the corner.

00:29:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, it's coming out. And so they added a new twist to the movie that isn't in the game. So I don't want to ruin it. Some people should just go out and watch it. support I wonder, you know, I wonder if Sony's also just kind of cashing in on the huge switch to horror in like Hollywood. Like I feel like,

00:29:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

People have realized that you can make horror movies for lower budgets. Yeah, for sure. And they're actually making pretty good profits. I mean, like, look at Five Nights at Freddy's. Yeah. i mean Insane profits, you know? fact, they keep making games and shows and movies off of Five Nights at Freddy's.

00:29:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it's always horrible. Like, dude, the games are coming ass reviews but you know it sells so well I don't argue I don't know if you could call it a bad game then I don't understand i love like my i literally had a co-worker that just watched the latest movie had horrible reviews horribleus and he goes you know what that wasn't a bad film That's actually what I read online a lot, actually. People were saying like the reviews were bad, but they were like, actually, give it a shot. It's not as bad as you would think. It's shocking. oh Maybe one of these days I'll watch it. you know ah yeah The wife hates anything scary, so if I'm going to watch something, I watch it on my own. Or you can watch it with me.

00:30:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, yeah. We could do that. But ah okay, well, I guess ah with Death Stranding 2, you know, I am curious, you know, I am going to wait to see more about it when it comes out. yeah I guess another thing I'm um'm wondering about, why didn't they show this at the showcase? Like, was it a good or a bad move?

00:30:42

Shameer Mehdikhan

I can understand why they wanted to dedicate like 10 minutes, like just to it. But at the same time, like they could have just closed with it or they could have done like what Xbox does where it's like, you know, you have your main showcase and then another one right afterwards.

00:30:56

Shameer Mehdikhan

So I feel like this was most likely Kojima thing. Like, ah hey, I don't want to... not It's not about him wanting to steal a spotlight from other games. I think he wanted to be on its own. I haven't seen how this conference is. Again, it was SWSX whatever.

00:31:12

Shameer Mehdikhan

I don't know how popular it is amongst the... filmmaking community and the video game community but maybe it was a specific form for him to be like I want to meet people and see my product and get my name out there a little more.

00:31:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

So there's a possibility that he was just like I want it done this way specifically. Yeah I can see that you know he he doesn't want to like feel like he's confined you know to like I'm just a PlayStation exclusive you know.

00:31:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

He feels I hate to say this but his ego says this is a higher form of art in my I can see that yeah I can see that. um Because I was just thinking like they could have sold it close with this and had like Saros like somewhere in the middle. And, you know, I guess doing it this way, like Saros got more attention. Yeah. You know, but at the same time, like it feels back to back, you know, it really does. So, but whatever, you know, is what it is.

00:32:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

I am a little surprised again June. And it's so funny that we're getting in in the same year, we're getting a Metal Gear remake and a new Death Stranding. How

Sci-Fi in Film and TV

00:32:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

hilarious. Two IPs at one point now yeah i'm known to Hideo. So interesting year.

00:32:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, you know, this is is kind of random, but I was thinking about it while we were talking about Hideo. You know, I was thinking about revolutionary, you know, Asian creatives, like kind of entering Hollywood. And so I had to, of course, think of Mickey 17, which we just watched.

00:32:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, right? Oh, I got you. We made Barrett at this. So yeah, we just saw Mickey 17 and it was the two of us and our buddy. And i feel like me and you liked the movie a lot more than him. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, he was on his phone. like it was Legit, at the end of the movie, this movie was ass.

00:32:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

I was kind of surprised. I actually thought it was hilarious. Yeah, I did too. and I'll say this. so I've been looking at some of the numbers. I don't want to say it's flop. It has flopped. It's, it's kind of flopping. It hasn't made a whole lot of money. The budget was about 120 million.

00:33:00

Shameer Mehdikhan

mean, that's the thing. Like Hollywood needs to learn. Like it's really hard to make a profit on a hundred million plus movies when streaming is an option, yeah you know, like people are only going to the biggest tentpole movies nowadays.

00:33:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

And, you know, um, you know actor recognition and director recognition is directorctor recognition is is usually not enough. Like people really want to see good word of mouth and good review scores. Right. yeah And if they're not seeing that, then they're just going to wait until it comes out on streaming, you know,

00:33:30

Shameer Mehdikhan

And when you have movies that are like $100, $200 million, dollars like it's just super hard to make that work, especially if you're spending double that, you essentially the same amount on marketing. Now you need to make at least $200 something yeah to make this, you know, work.

00:33:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, I will say, I think like the internet gets a little, you know, too zealous about, oh, this is a failure. Cause like, okay, Apple TV and Netflix are spending like two, $300 million dollars on these And they're definitely not making their money. Yeah, i like Argyle, like I think they spent two or three hundred million dollars on that and that made like pennies comparatively. Well, so that's the funny part. I think with their model, they so they're started to realize that it's okay to spend a lot of front because as long as we keep bringing subscribers in, over time, and they'll make up for it. And then they'll watch multiple movies, which then grows numbers for all of the shit that they

00:34:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

But with a single independent film release by a director that had been created, what was Parasite? Yeah. He might not get the same chance in Hollywood. He did help with, okay, not only Parasite, I think Snowpiercer and what was the other one? No, no, that was, so that's what I actually wanted to talk to you about. Because to me, like, I was happy with Mickey 17 because I thought it was good. Not amazing, but good. Yeah, good. Give it an 8 out of 10. And,

00:34:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

and um I can see why people would argue it's a seven. Maybe I just thought the political commentary was so funny. i yeah and But, you know, the guy who made old boy, you know, he made snow pierce.

00:34:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

I freaking loved old boy, but I felt like that didn't translate over to snow piercer. Right. And so, uh, so I'm just happy. We didn't see that happen, you know, um, with Mickey 17. Like, you know, some people really love snow piercer. It just wasn't for I still haven't seen it.

00:35:07

Shameer Mehdikhan

I started watching a little bit of the movie. just couldn't finish it. Yeah. and But was that also an adaptation of a book? Yeah, it was a book that became a movie that then became a TV show. Oh, yeah, yeah. Then it became a TV show, which we didn't know. I didn't realize that Mickey 17 is a book, too. Yeah. the actual It's called Mickey 7.

00:35:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh, Mickey 7. So there's only seven in there. This movie changes as it a bit. So there was 18 clones. Ah, I see, I see. And I won't spoil it, but, you know, I kind of looked at... I was reading that... I think it was an IGN article, actually, that was talking about the differences. And he actually changed quite a lot. Did Yeah, yeah. i would say, like, easy, like...

00:35:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

It sounds like it's 60 or 70%. Yeah, they released an article that said that, like I guess in the book, the clone... Spoilers! I mean, I think it's like the front page title of the IGN article, so it's not the biggest spoiler. Something about controlling the entire planet. or like Yeah, what it like the clone basically takes over the planet.

00:35:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah. So, me, think i mean for me i think it did drag a little bit in the end. Like, you know, the political commentary and the satire was funny, but at a certain point I was like, okay, like I i get the satire. Like you're just like kind of being a dead horse. and Yeah. like i agree with that. You know, the pacing got really slow, like in the second half of the movie where I was like, okay, like there was a lot of tension. Cause you were like, oh my God, like what's going happen? What if they're seen together? Yeah. You know, and then they kind of dropped the ball. i then after Yeah. And then yeah again, little bit of spoilers, not too much, but you know, that's like the tension that keeps the movie going. But then after that tension dissipates,

00:36:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

then you know you're just left with a lot of satire, which you've been getting the whole movie. So that's why I felt like it kind of lost steam for a bit. Yeah, lost steam. And for me, thought the ending delivered. you know I think like they actually tied up a lot of threads in the ending. And I was surprised to see like an IGN article like explaining the ending. yeah So I was like, that ending seemed super self-explanatory. Yeah, that was very self-explanatory. was like, how did you like so how do you watch the movie and not understand like the ending? Well, because IGN thinks that's readers or not that...

00:37:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

intellectual so or something I don't know but in the only thing that that that I didn't understand it it was ah interesting again spoilers but like he has like this hallucination at the end yeah yeah that was weird I was thinking the same thing but then I mean at the end like he I mean you saw that it was A dream. Yeah, it just dream. So it was weird, you know. But, I mean, I felt like he did a pretty good job kind of explaining those things like the director did. And, you know, kudos to him. And, you know, I felt the same way when the creator came out. Like, you know, it's it's it's nice to see new sci-fi ideas. Yeah. Because I feel like that's one genre that's really been lacking. Yeah, of course.

00:37:38

Shameer Mehdikhan

Fantasy has been getting, like, a lot when it comes to TV shows. And, like, you know, Game of Thrones is super successful. And so because of that, like, there's a lot of people who are trying to capture on that audience. But I feel like so much of the sci-fi market has been gobbled up by Star Wars, you know? yeah Especially in our generation. And Star Trek just hasn't really, like...

00:37:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

filled the niche or like connected with like Gen Z and millennials, I feel like, as opposed to like older generations. So really we don't see a lot of good epic sci-fi, you know, like on the big screen, like how many, but like you'll have like one-offs, like inner standard, gravity, aliens that just came out again. i Aliens, you know, but that's like, you know, more horror, but it's like horror, you know, sci-fi, but like, you know, you don't, you, and,

00:38:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

in a way I feel like sci-fi has actually been kind of becoming less and less popular and I'm not sure entirely why because uh I mean remember when we were growing up we had like Mass Effect you know that was a banger like we had so many like huge like sci-fi things like it felt like you know there was always a big sci-fi like in Resistance, Killzone like yeah the sci-fi shooter was like the thing it was the thing you know Halo yeah it's very weird I don't understand why it's so sparse now and Again, I think from a filmmaking perspective, it's harder.

00:38:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

The budget kind of blows up because need to do a lot of CGI. mean As soon as you go to the sci-fi, like if you want to make it look realistic, you're spending a lot of money in that. I think that's also, ah yeah, yeah like you really have to kind of... Yeah, but if you ground it, especially on planet Earth or some similar planet, you go, hey, this is a comedy. you You're spending a fifth of the budget and you don't really...

00:39:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

and i also feel like sci-fi can get really dense sometimes like you know fantasy has like it's like genre tropes you know and like i feel like now that's been like hammered into like like a formula and like you know you can you know kind of invert the formula and toy with the formula but like you know i feel like toking really set things up for people you know and for sci-fi like some of the people who write hard sci-fi like it's so freaking dense what's you're a good point there because because it's so dense is it really feasible to get a story out in two hours because like they know the average like person's like um span to sit down and watch something yeah and and that's why uh it works better with tv shows because you look at si ah silo and foundation you go hey i'm so happy about a foundation yeah because like no one was able to make foundation a thing for so long yeah and you do that over a course of eight or ten episodes in one or two or three seasons and you go

00:40:07

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, I can build this overarching thing and take time to take that dense material and just disperse it across multiple seasons. So I think that's why you're seeing more. And this is why my theory is we're getting more Star Wars shows than movies because it just acclimates better that way. oh And the thing is, like, you also have to kind of create the technology and create the rules of the technology. Yeah. have the viewer, the reader understand that, you know, without overwhelming them, right? Like we kind of have to understand how the force and lightsabers and stuff. That takes a while. But if you like sit there and like explain it to us for like 30 minutes, you know, we're going to get really bored. And we're not going to want to watch. And we'll say it doesn't make sense. Even though it could, we'll just say,

00:40:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

we're jumping from we're taking a leap of faith in 30 minutes rather than a whole season yeah as opposed to like fantasy i feel like sometimes you get away with like you get away with lot yeah it's magic yeah literally it's magic there are some like systems where like the magic explained like feel like brian sanderson like spends a lot of time trying to explain the rules of his magic but even in stories where like the magic isn't entirely explained and it's just a matter of like willpower like you're kind of okay with it you know just like Dragon Ball and Ki, like, okay, you know, just scream a lot, you power up, you know? but that But for, like, sci-fi, like, people really, maybe it's just, like, Western audiences, because I feel like people really want to understand, like, the rules and how it works, but, like, I feel like anime does sci-fi all the time, like, Gundam and all this stuff, and, like, I don't even know how half the stuff works in Gundam, and then I still enjoy the heck out of it. you're You're right, that's a good point. I feel like maybe that's more an exception, though, right? Yeah.

00:41:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

Because, like, the fascination with anime, especially of the sci-fi genre, is the action. So then when they don't explain it, it's okay because you're if you're getting good action and good peak fights, you go, I can put that aside. But with something Brandon Sanderson, his stuff, because of the way he explains it, it fits well towards a book because it's a thousand page book and you go, okay, I'm spending time to read a thousand to understand.

Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland's Acting Journey

00:42:00

Shameer Mehdikhan

how the rules of or the laws work within his story right so or his world um so yeah it all things fit in different mediums for different reasons i guess like i know we got a little sidetracked because we were talking about micky 17 yeah the first place but i want to say is like i just wanted to quickly talk about robert pantson's acting just in general like he is starting to get better over the last several years especially when i saw him in batman i was like twilight i was like hate this actor i know horrible

00:42:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

scene now Batman and then this he has good range have to give Christopher Nolan props because I think he you know and I feel like a lot of times this doesn't work out for actors but it really worked out for him like after Twilight he decided to do that like one really niche black and white video yeah the indie film oh I forgot what it was called yeah um and he really got to just focus on his acting chops and in a way like that kind of like reset the narrative around him and it kind of like he was like not necessarily just a Twilight guy yeah you know and then Then we got him in all those movies from Christopher Nolan and we started seeing him in different roles and like now he just continues to evolve, you know?

00:42:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

and yeah ten and And I know we've like talked about like people getting pigeonholed like and sometimes like like Tom Holland, like a Spider-Man. He's pigeonholed as Spider-Man. Yeah. And then ah the one I was thinking about is like Harry Potter.

00:43:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

i feel like all the people from me, Daniel Radcliffe, he's tried to do other stuff. It's like hard to see him as like anything else or like Luke Skywalker, hard to see him as anything else, you know? um But you know, I would argue Lucas more he was only succeeded because he became the voice of Joker and true true just silence that still it's like the voice as opposed to you know in a movie, but But Robert Pattinson, I mean, he really, man, like his acting was amazing. And i don't know if you felt the same way, but again, kind of spoilers, but even when you look at the clones and how the clones were different, you know, and like you see, see it through his acting, how he's able to portray that, you know, even in his voice. And I was just like, it's like two different distinct people. How did you keep that going? But they're like the same, but they're not the same. And I was like,

00:43:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

wow Like, you really need to have a good actor to pull that off. If not, it would have just... It wouldn't resonate as well. yeah Because the key to that movie is, like, we as an audience, we just get it. We just, like, understand the rules of how this cloning works and how, like, it works. But it doesn't also completely work, you know?

00:44:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I feel like it's part... It's because of how good his acting is, right? Like, if he wasn't that good of an actor with that much range, he just had two people who were, like, just saying lines in a monotone way, like... Yeah, and that's why I feel like, you know, for a third friend that joined us with that watching I feel like sometimes we take these movies for granted because when you see someone like this, again, don't want to say up and coming rising budding star because he's now been doing films for all but when you look at Rob Branson, you go, wow you did those two roles.

00:44:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

I can at least appreciate that. if i don't like the film, I don't like the film. but the fact that he could pull that off and he's side by side, he's playing two roles on the same screen. Yeah. I mean, if he isn't already there, I think he really is starting to be considered like an A-list actor for Hollywood because he has like, he has like so much range. Yeah. know And like, if you need a character that can be like,

00:44:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

kind of deranged at times, like, you know, he can be like a really good fit for that. Well, so it's so much, it's interesting now because I saw a, or I watched an interview or a, yeah, an interview podcast episode with Tom Holland and he talks about his insecurities with acting specifically, how it's been so hard to break out of the Spider-Man role and he goes, I'm trying, and I've seen some films with him and there's one other film I liked with him, I forgot what it's called, but he's like, in the South,

00:45:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh yeah, that was on Netflix. That was on Netflix, we watched it, right? I like that, but besides that, he's been struggling so hard. trying to remember what else he's done. He's done quite a few other films. like he was like a There's a film where he's like in the army, and there's another film with, I forgot what, but basically, what I look at, from what I've heard from him, he wants to continue doing Spider-Man, but he he thinks it's hurting his legacy to to a certain degree. He's also signed on for a ton of films, and he has to now, because it has to be part of Avengers.

00:45:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

and all this stuff, but at the same time, I can understand why he's trying to be selective. You want to pick role, like Robert Pantz and Leonardo DiCaprio did the same thing. They go, we're very selective with the films we take, because every film we do, we want to be recognized as someone great. So Leonardo specifically, everyone thinks he's amazing, but imagine if he kept taking the bag of money, and he did half film shit, and half film shit. I feel like plays the essential character in each story, you know?

00:46:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, okay, I'm exaggerating, you know? like, he always has, like, ah charisma to it. Like, his character always has to be charismatic to some degree. Yes, and and I was just re-watching a scene from Django the other day where Leonardo DiCaprio's character is, like, talking about the skull. Oh, yeah, know he improvised that. Yeah, he improvised, he was bleeding on his hand by accident when he pounded.

00:46:30

Shameer Mehdikhan

But it's just, like, the way his voice is, like, crackling, and it's just, like... he you could tell he was in it, you know, you don't, you don't really see that often. So and for some actors, it's difficult. So I'll give, give Robert Pattinson his like flowers because now with Batman yeah this and something in that lighthouse film or whatever it was called. Yeah.

00:46:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, personally I want to see more. Personally, I think Tom Holland has the acting chops. Like I really do think they've had different roles like, and, he found roles that were for him. Like, I think really he could make it happen.

00:47:00

Shameer Mehdikhan

I look at like Timothee Chalamet and like he did like, dude, and then he did Wonka. You know, it was so different. And he, he executed both really well. And, You know, I personally kind of like Tom Holland more as an actor than Timothy. I do too. think Timothy has a lot more range, but like, I don't know. Like, I feel like Tom Holland, like the the character he fills, that niche, like that's kind of like the niche I normally see in movies. You just don't like Timothy Schellings dating, what what's her name, Kylie Jenner or who?

00:47:26

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh, I actually didn't even know that. I just know that there's like a weird triangle people talk about between like him and Zagaya and whatever. Well, he's dating Kylie now, so he's getting... I think maybe I'm just a little biased because like even though I like Dune, like I actually kind of liked him more in Wonka than I liked him in Really? do I haven't seen Wonka yet, so... Yeah, I didn't think that would like be my kind of movie, but I watched it because and like I never saw Willy Wonka growing up. was like, I want to try this out. You know, i want see what it's like. And I was ah actually like pleasantly surprised.

00:47:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I remember like it's... I remember thinking, how did this movie review so poorly? Because I think it was getting like sixes and sevens. Maybe I'm wrong. Might have been better. And I watched it and I was like, man, this deserves much better reviews. Well, I just remember seeing the trailer and when they first unveiled it, I'm like, him is Willy Wonka? And I'm like, wow. But then the trailer itself was like decent. I thought it was fantastic.

00:48:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

was like, okay. Yeah, so it's a conundrum, but I liked Mickey 17. Would I rewatch it? Maybe not, but i just think watch I think it's worth watching once just to see the acting of Robert Hansen.

Nostalgia and Collecting Vintage Games

00:48:31

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh, definitely. yeah So um catching up on some other stuff, um if it's cool with you. So in terms of games we've been playing, anything you've been playing?

00:48:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

So I'm still playing Ninja Gaiden Black 2. How far are you now? I'm on chapter 6. I got to the city with the werewolves or whatever they are. Oh, that's pretty epic. That's pretty epic. You haven't gotten to the end of it, right? No, I just started it. Oh, man. Wait until you get to the boss fight for that. I think that boss fight was probably favorite. Yeah, they introduced the boss in the beginning cutscene. He looks crazy. You get to fight him. Okay. It's a pretty epic battle. Okay. So you got that look forward to.

00:49:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then I haven't been playing anything other than that. Like, I've been going really so on in the game. know it's a very short game, and i just it's taking me a while to slog through. It's weird. I have this, like, not a love-hate relationship with it. It's just that i I enjoy the game, but I'm not addicted to it.

00:49:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

Which weapon are you using? I'm just Honestly, I've been using the spear. It's so broken. The is really It's so broken. You're talking about the lunar staff, right? Yeah, that's the Lunar Staff. The one that like he kind of twirls around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's broken. yeah It's the best weapon by far.

00:49:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

It's amazing that like you get it so early on. I think I primarily use that, and I use the Greatsword, which you get. Yeah, I just got that. And I like that one. And when I first played it way back in the day, actually used the Scythe a lot, which you're going to get pretty soon.

00:49:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

But yeah, i don't know. I really just love the Staff. It's a Greatsword. What ninjutsu are you using? I didn't really use him that much. I felt like the aiming was kind of crappy, so so I used a fire and then void one.

00:50:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

Okay, so the one I'm using is really broken. It's the one where he summons all the firebirds around him. Oh yeah, and then no one can touch you? one can touch you. You upgrade that bitch, literally invincible for like 15 seconds. Okay, you're smarter than me because I didn't realize you could, how to upgrade the magic until like 80% of the waste of the game. Oh my god, no wonder. And then I was like, oh no wonder this magic sucks.

00:50:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

While I keep getting these scrolls, I didn't know where they were going. I didn't check my internet. Oh god, of course. And then it's like you have to click on it to like yeah activate. I didn't put two and two together. Yeah, I hate the original ninja art you get with just the fires the fireballs. You have like, try and get it. can yeah so But with the bird, dude, literally any demon that comes at me, I just activate it.

00:50:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

literally just stand there and it kills them. So that's about it. That's all I'm playing right now. I have bought some really old-school Pokemon games for the DS that were really expensive on eBay, but I wanted to have them. I got Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky.

00:51:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that's, like, one of the more rare ones. And then I got Pokemon Conquest for the DS as well. Wait, so you still have your DS? I still my DS. I found it. found it in one of my... How much is that worth now? Oh my god, hundreds of dollars. Dude, a used DS, 3DS on eBay is more than the Nintendo Switch. Man, what is life right now?

00:51:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

So you're telling me that me holding on to my Wii U may one day actually work out in my favor? Keep that. Because I'm still keeping that. Dude, I literally bought this used Pokemon. These two used Pokemon games.

00:51:32

Shameer Mehdikhan

Both were like $170 each. Use it. Archon, there's something wrong with you. There is something wrong with you. But yeah I'm like, dude, like, I'm just like, okay, I'm going to keep these forever now. You're true collector. I mean, I guess I can't hate too much because of how much I spent on my anime Blu-rays, but man.

00:51:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

I just like, i had I caved in because as years go on, the prices just keep going up. They're inflated. And I'm like... Especially with Pokemon, man, I feel like that, it's it's almost become its own currency, like Pokemon cards forever, right? Like, it it's crazy. Like, it is kind of becoming an investment because I think for other franchises, you're not sure if they're always going to be popular, but I feel like Pokemon has achieved the status where it's like evergreen. Like, you know that Charizard is still going to be a thing 10 or 20 or 30 years from now. Well, so speaking of this, two things. One is...

00:52:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

on And i want to talk about a little bit of Pokemon Day, but during the video, or I think afterwards, there was an interview that came out from the Pokemon CEO. And he goes, we think this brand is so popular that we think 50 to 100 years from now, it'll still be relevant.

00:52:32

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I thought so found that, yeah, very interesting. he said that because I agree. Yeah. And then the second thing is that the TCG market is so messed up right now that you cannot find a literal pack of cards at any store now.

00:52:42

Shameer Mehdikhan

This has been worse than COVID. And I'm so shocked that so many people continue to buy this shit. And I love it. But the pull rates are so bad. i can buy 100 plus packs and not get one good card.

00:52:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I could spend $400 and not get anything. And because of that, so because the pull rates in America are so bad, so in Japan, you're guaranteed to get a hit when you buy a pack. So it's not as bad, but in America, it's like true gambling. Like you were literally gambling hundreds of dollars, hoping to get something good and you might not get anything. Oh my God, that's crazy. On top of this, to add to all of it,

00:53:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

I feel like, and I hate to say this because I'm probably saying something really stupid. I think the Pokemon Company and Game Freak is very selfish because they have not released any of the old games through virtual console. And because of that, I have to buy a used DS game that's 10 to 15 years old.

00:53:26

Shameer Mehdikhan

That's three times markup. Oh, they're probably totally doing that on purpose. They're doing it purpose. Because they know scarcity drives up demand and then that makes it like... you know, drives up the momentum and everything, they're cashing in on it. Yeah, nostalgia, all this stuff. And I'm like, if I'm going to be willing to buy these old DS games, yes, of course I'm going to buy your new games too, because now I feel like i want to collect them all.

00:53:45

Shameer Mehdikhan

So... no You know, sometimes I think about it and I really do feel like Pokemon is the most successful, like, pop culture phenomenon of

Pokemon's Cultural Impact

00:53:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

all time. yeah Because the only thing else I can think that's reached that level of saturation is Disney. yeah You know, like, of course, like, Mickey Mouse is, like, so beloved. But the thing is, you don't feel that same continuum between all the...

00:54:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

the like the disney stores right because they're all kind of self-contained right moana versus like frozen versus like mickey mouse you know like they all kind of seem like they're separate entities but like every generation of pokemon builds upon itself right and also like pokemon is kind addictive you know it is and and disney is not necessarily addictive in the same way like you know disney is more like ah familiar hug that teaches you some lessons and makes you think about the past, you know, in your childhood. Yeah. And Pokemon, like, when you're young, like, it's friendly and cuddly and, you know, happy and stuff. And then it's when you're older, you're like, oh, man, like, this is thoughtful and epic as well because there's more strategy involved. Yeah, you're right. Like, when you look at

00:54:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

mickey mouse right you might be someone that's not well versed with disney at all but when i see like mickey mouse it's recognizable but when i see pokemon there's a different level of affection for it that i get and i think a lot of people are getting i just feel like they've hit like so many different like points with it like you have your brand recognition with like pikachu you know so if like if people are just like on a very fundamental level like just looking at that like that pop culture image right pikachu is enough and like pikachu alone can just be a phenomenon like yeah like i remember when i was in japan like we really tried to get into this like pokemon cafe and it wasn't actually a pokemon cafe it was just like a tea shop that was doing like a pokemon day and we didn't realize how crazy busy it is and we could not get in but we saw like the decor from the outside and like some of the drinks and stuff you know and it was like all pikachu themed yeah pretty much like 90 and people were like loving it and i was like these like

00:55:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

Families of all ages, you know, it was like yeah grown women coming for tea time, you know, and they're just like drinking some Pikachu. Yeah, it's funny. It's because you're not like ridiculed. Like if I was an adult and I said I like making someone would make fun of me. Yeah, they'd be like, well what's going on there? Yeah, but then you could go out in the public and now someone could be wearing like really like modern clothing that has Pokemon on it. Like you it's a Pikachu. It's cute. Yeah, like, that's cool. That's cute. like and said oh It's hipster. Yeah, it's hipster.

00:56:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

Bro, that's legit. So it's it's crazy, man. i do Let me tell you this story. My senior manager at work brought in a copy of Pokemon Gold, the original but and for GBA or Game Boy Color,

00:56:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

She had some engineer fix it because the battery within the cartridge was like gone. He fixed it. He resoldered the whole thing and she brought it home and gave it to her child. And she's like, yeah, my child wants to play this Game Boy version of Pokemon rather than new. Oh my gosh. The fact that it blew my mind that first of my senior manager even knew what Pokemon was. And I was like, I feel like the creators of Pokemon, they just have like a swimming pool of money or yen and they're just they're just enjoying it. you know And the thing is, like if I can't even really be critical about Pokemon because like they're just so friggin successful. you know like

00:56:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

How can you you know criticize what they're doing? Because clearly it's working and the fan base is i feel like the fan basese is overall pretty happy. Yeah, they're overall happy. that People will always complain about the games and yes, we want different things.

00:57:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

At the end of the day, everyone will pay any Pokemon game. So so is with that said, what did you think about Pokemon Day? I mean, I found it interesting. like They announced Pokemon Champions, which is being developed for iOS and Android, as well as the Switch and and Switch 2, which is basically like the battle sim.

00:57:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it's kind of like Pokemon Revolution, Pokemon Battle Stadium from the old days. Yeah, but it seems like it's kind of more multiplayer. It's just a multiplayer-only type of thing. Yeah, so I don't know if this is their answer to the battle sims that have been released by fans, because there's a battle sim that's currently out there online for free.

00:57:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

But at the end of the day, they're now separating and segmenting their products. now you're going to get this core experience of purely battles with Pokemon champions. you're going to have your RPGs that continues every generation every three or four years, which is you know now Gen 10 coming out next year.

00:57:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then they're experimenting with the Legends line, Pokemon Legends, and saying, hey, we want to do experiment a little differently with our games to give something to our core audiences that they haven't been getting. So, you know, I love that they were able to do it somehow because I remember, like, ah you know, maybe it's...

00:58:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

a bad topic to talk about, you know, way back in the day when everyone actually used to love Halo and not hate on it, you know? The game's success. You know, people, thanks, Arjun. People were talking about, like, all the different, like, you know, ways that could swivel out, right? And, like, expand and, like, they were oh, you can have ODSD things. Oh, you can have a horror thing with the flood. Oh, you can have your main shooter.

00:58:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I feel like Microsoft kind of tried. you know They did like Halo Wars. They did like that yeah stick shooter on the phone. you know I played that. yeah the one on the boy David Buster's david buster thing. I played that too. that was actually fine yeah I'm a huge you know so i feel like they try with that and i don't who else has really tried that hard to kind of like branch out into like Gears tried with the Funko Pop thing. Funko Pop and Tactics. You know, i don't know if Sony has really tried in that in that same way because they kind of just like stick with like what's working, you know, with like one franchise. But it's interesting, like Pokemon has really evolved like one franchise into like

00:59:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

10 franchises that are all hitting like separate niches yeah and i because they have like that legal it is legal legends right oh yeah the pokemon unite yeah yeah so they have that version of that happened so it's yeah you're right and and it i don't know they find so much success so i so back to you they had like they had that uh Was it Pokken Tournament? Yeah, made by the people who made Tekken. that was successful. It's actually very expensive right now. it's hard to find.

00:59:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that's so funny you say that. And like when I go back to what they an announced at Pokemon Day, so I was okay happy with it. I don't know how much I'm going to really play a Pokemon Champion. then they announced Pokemon Legends ZA again, and they showed off a four six minute trailer of gameplay.

00:59:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

and the one thing I found interesting is they're actually changing a lot of the gameplay from Pokemon Legends Arceus. So now it's real time action. So when you're attacking, you can dodge moves, you can move around your Pokemon, you can then attack. So it's very strategic in that sense. I don't know how well it's going to work, but it's interesting I was like surprised.

01:00:07

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that gameplay... Was it on the Switch or Switch 2? We don't know. And that's the weird thing. If that was the... So here's my conundrum. Okay, if that was the Switch, then how is it running as smoothly as it is? Because I expect way more frame rate drops.

01:00:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

And if that's the Switch 2, how does it not look better? So you're right. It's somewhere in the middle. It's somewhere in the middle. It feels like Generation 1.5. It's it's like The original Switch, but a working original Switch. Yeah, yeah. like That's what I would have thought it would have looked like years ago. ago yeah But now, you're right. So it's like, is this the Switch or Switch 2? Hard to say because they announced a late 2020, which was shocking to me because we've now gone a full year and a half of no Pokemon game, right?

01:00:49

Shameer Mehdikhan

And on top of this, the the weird thing is, again, they didn't say, hey, this is launching on the family of Nintendo Switch systems. So we have a Direct coming up in two weeks. Yeah, guess we we'll get more answers. Like, what if it's just like a Switch 2 exclusive? Yeah, and wouldn't be shocked. But they would lose so much money on They would, they would. But maybe this goes the breath of the wild route, and they say it's cross-gen, potentially. Yeah. Which is what they do. But, like, it just doesn't run well on the old-gen, so I've done upgrades, you know?

01:01:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

But the thing is, I felt like, and I don't know if this is hindsight bias, but Breath of the Wild looked pretty good. You know, like Tears of the Kingdom looked better, you know, but the jump between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom wasn't that massive. And it was almost like the beginning and the end of the Switch generation, you know?

01:01:32

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it seemed like the people who made Breath of the Wild... kind of had the switch hardware figured out from the start yeah i mean heck it was looked pretty decent on the switch the wii u too right because it was cross-gen so so then that just makes me wonder like you know i don't know maybe maybe i expect too much you know no i don't think you do i think the complaint the main complaint a lot of people had is like if nintendo's core development team that makes mario and zelda can figure that out with games that also again mario odyssey came out in 2017 looked great oh yeah and game freak i think is just doesn't have good development capabilities like like when it comes to like graphics yeah they just can't figure it out they've tried it so many times and they're like something is just missing from that company well i mean like also i feel like there hasn't been as much of a ah push to make sure you're like a graphical powerhouse you know because if you think about it like

01:02:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know Pokemon was just turn-based. It's concept, yeah. And it was the fun was not in the graphics, right? And so maybe like they just didn't have as much need to really make it like a graphical powerhouse. you know um So, or or maybe it's just really attacks, you know, with, like, all of, you know, the the different Pokemon and all the animations and the models, like, you know, that's a crazy amount. Because if you think about, like, even Zelda, like, they lot i mean they they have different lizards of different colors and different elemental attacks, but it gives you a lot of variety, right? yeah

01:02:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

um So, so i don't know. I mean, for me, like, I'm definitely not as big of a Pokemon fan as you. You know, i do like Pokemon, but, you know, I think that's your niche and Halo's my niche. Yeah, fair enough. ah But for me, like, I was, I'm actually kind of looking forward to ZNA. You know, I feel like I got a little Pokemon burned out because I was like, man, I really played a lot of games back to back because I think I played like, was it Scarlet?

01:03:18

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then I played the Diamond remake and then I played Arceus back to back to back and I was like, alright, that's a lot pokemon i'm good for now surprised you beat all them i beat all them yeah it was a lot and i never even played diamond to begin with so like that was a whole new experience for me so so i'm okay with waiting you know and for zeta like you know i'm interested in the fact that it's in a city yeah i know this is a unpopular opinion but i did i'm probably getting crucified for this i like scarlet more than i liked arceus you know

01:03:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

Um, and so because of that, like, I don't know if I'm entirely jiving with like the new style of Pokemon, you know, like, uh, I think I just liked like the old turn base stuff, you know, but you know, I'm,

01:04:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know I'm really curious to see how Z and A turn out. I think for me, I thought RCS was a little too easy. So if Z to A is a little harder, then that I think automatically make me lot more interested. I agree with that too. it was a little too easy. It was fun in a lot of regards, and it was a fresh take on it. But I hope there's all some difficulty spike or ramp up in this game in some sense. Even Scarlet and Violet went that hard. They were not. were just capturing high-level Pokemon,

New Pokemon Game Speculations

01:04:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know?

01:04:30

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I think the only concern I have, and you already brought it up, was if this all takes place in one city, like with Legends Arceus, there was four maps, I believe. And they were pretty big, pretty large, but they were barren. Like there wasn't a lot, but it looked great when you saw the Pokemon.

01:04:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

If this is all taking place in one city, it's how big is this game? unless Unless they have catacombs or underwater, underground stuff. I think they're going to find the variety. You know, they'll probably have you like explore some jungle next to the city for some side quests or something like that. hope so I feel like...

01:04:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

I don't think anyone's ever complained about there not being as much biome diversity in a Pokemon game. I think normally we get like a good amount. We normally do. But if they are, then they're holding it close to their chest because I'm like, wow, they didn't show anything else besides the city. So that and then...

01:05:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

um You know, next year is the 30th anniversary of Pokemon, so you know they're going balls out. They go balls out every five years. And Pokemon 30th anniversary with the new gen. I also wouldn't be surprised if they announced another new spinoff game next year just for the 30th anniversary. I mean, I'm sure there has to be a remake on the way. Yeah. How would you not make a remake for that?

01:05:31

Shameer Mehdikhan

Gen 5 is up and coming, so it should be hopefully announced soon. um So yeah, and then the last thing about Pokemon Day is they released that special anime special, which I still haven't seen yet, but made by the people that made Your Name and Suzume.

01:05:45

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it looks interesting. I, for some reason, can't find the English dub on the YouTube channel. Really weird. It's only like the Japanese version. So like there's like, it's all in Japanese and I can't find it. You would think that they would like make that a thing, right? Because of how internationally successful that is. Yeah, it's weird. So I'm going to watch it in Japanese. I'll just watch it. Oh, you're going have to some Yeah, I'll have to figure that out.

01:06:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

IGN did review. I think they gave it 8 out of 10. They said it was really good. Oh, really? Okay. I can trust the IGN reviews, so I'm going to check it out. Yeah, a little too much water over there. So,

Astro Bot Game Analysis

01:06:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

okay. Well, some other stuff I wanted to talk about. I know you haven't been gaming as much in the last couple of weeks.

01:06:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

I did a decent amount of gaming. I finally got around to... playing astrobot and i beat it and i guess i have to go back on my word a little bit because i feel like i was kind of an astrobot hater for a bit and if i'm remembering on one of the other podcasts i was like yeah astrobot is just not the type of game i would ever ever consider for a game of the year and after beating it uh yeah i think it definitely is like in game of the year conversation for me like you know like i don't know if it's just kind of a slow year you know but uh

01:06:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, I still mean, it definitely won Game the Year last year, so... Yeah. I think objectively, I can say that Astro Bot was a Game of the Year for last year. um You know, I'm still the odd one out, maybe one in a million who...

01:07:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know, Dragon Age was my game of the year, but, you know, whatever. But, you know, regardless of that, like, I would probably put Astro Bot at number two. And, you know, at times I consider if it's a number one or not. So, but yeah, I mean, i was i was really blown away. And I think what I really liked about the game is when I first started playing it, I was like, ah, this is...

01:07:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

kind of like Mario, but not as good as Mario, you know? And there were some things that I was a little disappointed in. Like, i remember watching a lot of YouTube videos, and they're talking about, like, oh, yeah, you're going have, like, all these different abilities, and, like, sometimes going ability, and you only use it for, like, one level.

01:07:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

But actually, like, you repeat a lot of the same abilities again and again, and, like, some of the abilities I thought were the coolest were, like, time freeze, but then you ended up using time freeze, like, a bunch, so... Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I just feel like that was an instance of a review making me...

01:07:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

feel like I was going to get something in a game and that's not how it turned out for me. um But the reason I really liked it is they had like individual levels that were just dedicated to certain PlayStation games and the structure of the game, you only got one of those after you beat a boss. So there's only like five of them.

01:08:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

um And some of them I really didn't care for, but i know other people really liked them. Like I think one was like LocoRoco. But I really enjoyed the one that was based off of Uncharted. There was one that was God of War. That was pretty epic. Horizon was pretty epic.

01:08:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it just got me like thinking, like man, this could be so cool. dedicated thing. ah dedicated You know, like that's such a great idea. and you make like a dedicated level to like any of the Sony IPs. Like you have one where it's like resistance. so Yeah, I know. Even like, you know, things we consider, you know, old Sony, you know, IPs, you know, like Final Fantasy VII or like, you know, Metal Gear Solid or like all the games that used to really, you know, come out and were really considered like Sony games, you know?

01:08:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

It's funny you say that because they just released... and it didn't really do well, but that's the type of game I would want see old IP come back in that form because if you know they're not going to sell well as a core game, take a chance to take some risk and say, let's make a Lego game out of it or make an Astro version of it. And it was just amazing to see how much respect they were giving to all of the different Sony franchises.

01:09:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

um And it kind of like reinvigorated me as like a Sony fanboy. I'm definitely like, the biggest champion of an Xbox like you know Xbox in general because I feel like i played that the most growing up but man like this game feels like a celebration of all the amazing things Sony has done and like when you really just look at it you're like wow Sony has made so many great memorable games and experiences and there's like ah level where also kind of spoilers but I feel like this game has been out long enough like you should have played it by now if you wanted to

01:09:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like you have like um all of the different consoles and every single device that Sony's ever made. And they're basically like spaceships and fighters and they're all like battling together. And you see like the PlayStation Move controllers like pop up and like the Vita and like all these things.

01:10:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

And was just like, oh man, there's so much nostalgia. So many plans for the past. Like I love this. so So that was well done. um i also felt like that game was kind of really easy.

01:10:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I guess to Astro Bot's credit like if you want more of a challenge you can do kind of the optional levels and like some of the option uh levels that and open up at the end but at least for me like um i kind of wanted more challenge in the last couple of levels because i feel like mario does a good job of that where it starts off really easy but then by the end you're like oh my god these bowser levels are freaking hard you know um but i didn't necessarily get the same thing for master bob because some of the last bosses i was like It's a joke. This is like as easy as the first like few levels, you know?

01:10:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, that's ah that's an interesting take or point because, you know, when they won game of the year, on the studio, they basically said like they were trying to imitate Mario in some sense. And if this is their first crack at it,

01:11:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think they did it right by making it easier. And I think any subsequent or s sequels can add on to it. also, I think the the developers said they only took three and a half years to make this game. So that props to them.

01:11:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

i mean and It looks friggin' amazing. It really does. and Well, Sony also said they're basically they're open to making more types of games like this, which is nice. I would actually love to see an Astro Bot 2. And I mean, the thing is, like, you don't necessarily have to copy the same difficulty formula as, like, Mario. Because, like, you can carve out your own identity and that can be your thing. But...

01:11:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

um For me, like I know I'm not going to do a bunch of optional levels. yeah That's not for me. you know And so I would have appreciated it if it was in the main story. But again... the content is there yeah know so like you can't really knock them and like call it a criticism it's just like i have a different preference yeah um but yeah i was i was surprised i uh yeah i was like really impressed by it overall so solid nine out of ten yeah it's like you said it probably stirs up a lot of nostalgia because it brings back all these consoles in a way that like said not only celebrates it but it reminds you of like what

01:12:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

it used to what used to be part of this um fan base and like this whole lineage of uh consoles so i like that they did that and again just seeing i've seen snippets of gameplay of the uncharted level and the god of war level i haven't seen at the horizon just makes me want them to make a full game just based on astrobot with that ip just but give me a full 10 hour game that'd be crazy but uh I don't know if they'd want to do that because I think they they just love like the creativity to like just do everything. you know But yeah, so that was pretty cool. So you know I played that for a while.

Gaming Preferences and Experiences

01:12:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

that

01:12:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

it really wasn't a long game. like I feel like I finished it pretty quickly. And then after that, I feel like I've just been kind of lost in the ether, looking for my my next new game. I try to get back into Stellar Blade.

01:12:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

it's just not for me i just don't think i'm going to get into c celebrate i just don't like lover design like the the combat just isn't really clicking for me like just feel like it's a kind of an unusual combination of like guarding and speedy attacks but also like defending and getting your like special meter up and attacking like i just can't get into like a good cadence um so i don't think i'm gonna be able to beat seller blade um And then I played Prince of Persia for a little bit.

01:13:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

You know, it's a good game. Like, it's it's not a bad game at all. But I just guess, again, it just it just didn't hit the niche for me, you know? Like, ah i feel like I really enjoyed Metroid Dread and I don't play a lot of, you know, Metroidvanias.

01:13:31

Shameer Mehdikhan

And... you know Maybe I'll get back into Prince of Persia. It's like an objectively good game, but I just i wasn't like getting that into it. I even tried Pillars of Eternity 2, and I don't like CRPGs at all, but you know i just really I really enjoyed about and I love the setting and the story and stuff.

01:13:49

Shameer Mehdikhan

So was like, okay, i like let me get into like the real nitty-gritty of this. And then I loaded up Pillars of Eternity 2, and it's just way too slow. okay And I feel like Baldur's Gate wasn't my type of game because it's CRPG, but like you know, the production quality on Baldur's Gate 3 is so high. yeah and you know, i just feel like other CRPGs, like, they really just, you know, they can't really compare to the same extent.

01:14:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so I couldn't really get into that. So finally, i was debating between Kingdom Come. And metaphor. And I decided to go to metaphor route. sure And I'm actually sticking with it. You know, I hit a point in the game where I kind of didn't want to keep playing. So I stopped.

01:14:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it was mainly because I felt like the combat was just way too easy. And I was like, okay, like, this is like kind of a joke. But I think that's like the way they kind of on ramp you. Like they leave it really easy at first.

01:14:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I'm three hours in and it's still seeming pretty easy, but now it's starting to get a little bit harder. Like i actually died in one of the boss fights. Yeah. And then I was like, oh. It's not surprising because that's what I heard is that it does the difficulty. It's not like a huge spike, but it will ramp up to the point where you will find it more complex.

01:15:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah. As time goes on. And for me, like that's kind of what I like about turn-based RPGs. Like i actually want to, I don't want like think like crazy hard, like, you know, like a CRPG, but like a little bit of strategy. Yeah, exactly. Um,

01:15:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

So there's that. you know The story is actually really fascinating. um I think the characters are kind of one-dimensional, um and they like follow your generic like hero and villain archetypes, but it's well-written enough, and I think the just a concept is really fascinating. like you know It's the difference between fantasy and reality, and like I'm totally into that stuff.

01:15:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

That's something I write about a lot. So I think I'll probably stick with the game. I'm not looking... forward to how long it is because it's like absurdly long like 60 to 80 hours so i don't think don't want to be able to put that much time into it um and i am kind of disappointed by the graphics like i just oh yeah it looks like a ps3 game i really don't understand how the graphics look like that i'll be disappointed if persona 6 looks like a ps3 game And it's, and like indie developers, like nowadays have like pretty good looking games. Like the only thing I'm attributing this towards, and I'm going to give them a slight pass is if this was like their B team or something, if they had, cause they're making multiple games in concurrent, right.

01:16:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

In concurrency. So if your A team is doing persona six, you have no excuse for this game to look the same way. But, but you know what the oddest thing about this game is? The anime cutscenes are so well done. Really? Like, they're better than, like, a lot of animes. Really? And and then, it for me, it's so jarring because, like, the cutscenes are so amazing and then it transitions into the game and I'm just like, um what am I looking at But then character models for all the main characters look pretty good.

01:16:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, the main characters. The environment detail is like... Flat and like... And it's like, it's such a small thing to notice. This is me pinpointing, okay? But back in the day, when we were playing old games, when you had a wall and the floor connecting, it was always one line and another line, and they're just connecting, all right? And it's like a 90-degree angle.

01:17:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

But since then, like, we've come to realize that there is like, you know... there's different textures and you know stuff like that. So you can like kind of you know make that like not look as look obvious. But in that game, like I'm walking around the city, it's literally like,

01:17:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

Floor, wall, floor, wall. like It's like a really thing, it's just like little like it's like well advances that you've seen and you're just like, whoa. And it's like, obviously that's not the focus you know for the game. And you know obviously it's sold amazing and it's reviewed well and I'm having a good time with it. And the parts where they're really you know you know focused on and they want you to judge you, they want us to judge them on their gameplay, their story, their characters, their delivering.

01:17:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

But, well, floor ball, like the fight. he said I'm like, it's just little drawing for me. You know

Monster Hunter and Gaming Expectations

01:17:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

what? I'm going to probably do this later, but I'm going to find a comparison video of metaphor graphics to Persona 5, and if it's an actual downgrade, yeah, i am goingnna be kind of surprised, and i maybe I won't give them a pass, because it's like, bro, like... I mean, I might have to look it up too. I played very little of Persona, and it might have just been the art style and the environments, because it was more like ah like a dark city from what I remember.

01:18:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

kind feel like Persona looked better. Yeah, I can see that. So... That's kind of weird, man. I i think the cutscenes look better in in this one. cutscenes look freaking amazing in metaphor.

01:18:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, but it's probably harder to develop the stuff in-game, right? So, yeah, that's that's interesting. No, I've been wanting to... Again, the the problem with these types of games and my child inside me says I want to play Metaphor, but a 68-hour game, I just can't. It's hard. I mean, for me, I feel like the perfect length of a game is 20 to 30 hours. If it's a game that has enough gameplay to sustain you for like 50 hours, but you can get it done in like 20, 30 hours... like I find that like kind of the ideal. i yeah So for me, like Indiana Jones, like avowed, they really clocked in, you know, a good amount, like Astro Bot was kind of on the shorter end, but you know, overall, like I felt like that clocked in at a good amount, you know, I think that stranding also clocks in usually at like 20, 25 hours. So I feel like that's,

01:19:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

And the thing, like, back in the day, like, an eight-hour campaign was enough, right? Because it a lot more linear, and we would just replay them. But now, like, most people are looking for, like, 15 to 20 hours. That's a little bit more expanded. But it's really hard for me to do those 50, 100, 150-hour games.

01:19:32

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, I can't do that anymore. Which is why Kingdom Come 2 Deliverance is, like, 100-hour game. Yeah, yeah. It's like, I just, even if I wanted to play it, I would choose do the Steam trial for two hours, and then I would do a refund just because I'm, like,

01:19:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

and don't see a point. ah yeah Speaking of of games, you know one game that just came out in particular, Monster Hunter, was it Wilds? Yeah, yeah. yeah so The next generation Monster Hunter game which sold and same insanely. like This honestly crazy and I have a hard time understanding this because it sold 8 million copies within three days.

01:20:12

Shameer Mehdikhan

The majority of it's on PC, but it has mixed reviews for PC because it's not well optimized. The thing is, Capcom has been ah recommending frame generation for all their different modes, which is utterly strange. They're using it more as a crutch for their game, and it's like that's not an excuse for poor optimization. But I don't know how well the game runs on console. i have I'll be honest with you, have not looked up any videos yet, so maybe it runs better on console.

01:20:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

I highly doubt it. but People with like thirty ninety s and stuff are complaining that like Monster Hunter still doesn't look good. It's just weird. like I don't understand that. But overall, because it sold well, I think someone internally on the Monster Hunter team just got promoted to like a very high up executive level of Capcom now.

01:20:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that was also interesting to hear too. so I don't know. I felt like getting into this game because what I heard about it specifically, it's a 15-hour story. It's a lot smaller than Monster Hunter, the the one prior worlds before, which was a 40-hour story game.

01:21:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

And the story itself is very, not only linear, but it's easier. But then there's a difficulty spike and ramp up as soon as you finish the story in this game. So the real game begins after you Afterwards?

01:21:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

um Then I was like, well, is there a point for me to get this game just to play 15 hours to say this game was too easy? It's like, no, I don't really want to do that. Yeah. So for me, i tried Monster Hunter. I think it was World, right? The one that came out on Game Pass, and I just couldn't get into that.

01:21:30

Shameer Mehdikhan

um ah For while, I feel like I could play if i look I got a squad. I don't know if like two people is enough. like Isn't it up to like three or four people? Three or four, yeah.

01:21:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, so I feel like if have a good squad, like then it's a totally different experience and it's really fun. One of the things I i was just thinking about, you know and I think it's kind of ironic. like I'm not saying I side with this sentiment, but Dragon Age got crucified, right? It did terrible. I mean, God, like really, the sales are bad, right?

01:21:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

And the and the EA guy was like, oh, it's because we don't put multiplayer in our games. And everyone gave him so much crap. And I gave him crap. I was like, this is so stupid. Like, dude, like your game failed because, you know, audiences expected a certain thing and they felt like they were promised a certain thing and you didn't deliver on that, you know?

01:22:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

Regardless of like, if you say, well, this was objectively good or or not, like really, you didn't meet your audience expectations, right? But then it's kind of ironic to me that, like, right after that, you get a game that's also struggling a bit with reviews. yeah And, oh, my God, insane sales. And it's a multiplayer, right? Because everyone kind of drops the single-player aspect says, we don't play this game for this. Exactly. Like, it's the expectations, right? Like, you know you're not going to really expect, like, a single-player narrative from, like, a Monster Hunter game. So, like, it doesn't really matter, right? And so, like, you just want to have a multiplayer game. Like, you'll have fun. So it's, like, I feel like what happens there is, like,

01:22:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

EA notices things like that and they misread the value because there's some truth in what they're saying that like, wow, like look at how fricking successful power world is. Look at how fricking successful monster hunter was is.

01:23:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

This is why our games aren't successful, but it's also because like gamers are expecting different things. Right. yeah And, and that's why they were able to compartmentalize in that way. Um, I didn't expect the game to sell 8 million. Um, personally, I'm not like,

01:23:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

a huge monster hunter fan, but I'm actually really happy for the franchise that it's doing that well, you know? And, you know, I think, you know Monster Hunter has just been building on itself and getting more and more popularity and they've really been just working at it and, you know, kudos to them, you know? yeah ah For me, i just feel like i have some other stuff on my radar right now, so it just doesn't feel like it's worth it for me to spend money on it. yeah like And, you know, if, we I don't know, if you'd want to play it with me or if we get some other people to play it, the only thing I fear is like, I feel like these games are,

01:23:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

you kind of want to get on the bandwagon when everyone's on the bandwagon. Like you don't want to hop on it too late because then it's like not the same experience. But for me, like, you know, Split Fiction just came out. I really want to play that. You know, that's high on our radar.

01:24:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

There's some bangers coming up for Game Pass next month, you know, and between Metaphor, Split Fiction and, you know, Claire Obscura is coming out, Autumn Fall is coming out. Like I feel like I'm i'm pretty tapped out, you know, like I feel like that's plenty for me.

01:24:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

and so i don't know if i want to get into monster hunter at like full price yeah i i do want to wait little bit too it's interesting because you know you kind of just said it like ah ever since monster hunter try came out on the wii like literally from the wii because there was a transition from sony consoles to nintendo consoles and it became i didn't know that yeah so it used to be popular on the psp and the vita it was that's where it was bread and butter like really was on so many systems and when they finally transitioned It still was as popular as it ever was.

01:24:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then they did Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS. And again, super popular, but I couldn't get into them. Like, a legit. And I think part of it is because I just didn't have the right people to play with. You don't only have, ah like, a Monster Hunter squad. Yeah, you really do. and And I think one day I want to give it a shot, too. I just think that, like...

01:25:07

Shameer Mehdikhan

Where that game is, it it speaks little differently to me. And you're right, you do want to play it when the hype is high. It's just like with Elder Ring and stuff, when hype was high in the first 12 months, and people still play it now, it's just it's a different experience when you play after the fact. i mean, you're like not playing for like a story, right, or like a narrative. like you're playing it so you can have good experiences like with your friends. Like, you go, oh man, that crazy thing we just did, oh my god, like, you believe know, that's epic, you know, in its own way. It's like when we played Battletoads and people were shitting on the game, but we had so much fun. Oh, we had a blast playing Battletoads, you know. I actually think like,

01:25:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, I highly recommend that game for anyone who has game pass on Xbox. Cooperatively, highly recommend it. Oh, I think if I played on my own, I'd be really annoyed. But, like, you know, split screen, like, was hilarious. Like, how long did we try to beat that stupid Galaga level or whatever? We had to, like, basically cheese it because we were like, ah, this is way too hard. That and the other level where we're on the bikes and we were, like, dodging the wall. know, of course, that purposely made us play in the hard mode. Yeah. always, like, want to play on hard mode. But when we when we finally beat those, like we finally came back and said, wow, like it's just that accomplishment, right? yeah And I just feel like when I play Monster Hunter, not that it doesn't feel fair, it' just there's something that doesn't appeal to me in the combat itself that it takes so much for me to get accustomed to that by the time I do it, I'm frustrated with the game. I'm like, I spent...

01:26:27

Shameer Mehdikhan

Too much energy. Well, I feel like also a part of what you – the satisfaction is like the power creep. Like, you know, like you're beating these monsters, you're crafting your gear, you're getting stronger and stronger, and then you're like – you know, it's kind of like feeling like large and in charge, like you're just decimating everything. You know, and it's like, oh, look at these monster massive monsters. But because I've been grinding, I can destroy them, you know?

01:26:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so I think like that has its own fulfillment. And, of course, it's like a skill-based system too. Yes. um So it's rewarding in that way as well. But I guess like I'm just old school in the way, like you know I've never really liked the idea of like grinding to get ahead. like That's one of the things I didn't like about my Destiny.

01:27:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

That's why I like like arena shooters like Halo, right? Where like everyone is like, Starts off with same stuff, level playing field. If you're better, it's because you're better, you know? Or like Battletoads. Like, if you do good in Battletoads, it's because you've memorized the patterns, you've memorized things, because anyone who picks up the controller is going to have the same chance of doing things as good as you, you know? That's always just kind of spoke to me more, but, you know, you know different strokes for different folks, right? Yeah, and there is some level of skill, right? So I don't want to like oh yeah say this in the wrong way, but like people have said that if like the previous Monster Hunter that came out, World, if you actually beat it, because it was difficult, you become so good at the game that everything else is a breeze for you in Monster Hunter. Well, it's like a combination, right? like Even with Elden Ring, like,

01:27:49

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, like, if you have really good gear, you're going to destroy it. But there's, like, people who, like, walk around naked and destroy it. Yeah, that one, that really famous player. You know, and so, yeah, there's there's definitely, like, a component of, like, skill for people who want to chase

Nintendo Direct Predictions

01:28:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

the skill. But I feel like a lot of people, it's just, like, leveling up your gear. It's the primary way you're going to get better at the game. And you'll also get better at skills along the way. But it's not like, you know, everyone's going to be running around naked. Yeah, yeah. Especially, yeah, that...

01:28:16

Shameer Mehdikhan

but exception to the game. So yeah, now it's just interesting. i' just wanted to ah point that out. So maybe one of these days I'll really give Monster Hunter a shot. But besides that, I wanted to talk about actually we'll go in this order too.

01:28:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

the There's an upcoming Nintendo Direct on April 2nd. So this is going to be the full unveiling of the Switch 2 and They'll probably talk about launch games, launch window games, they'll talk about the actual features of the Switch 2 and things that have been rumored. So I guess the one thing i want to talk about is like our expectations. like Yeah, was going say we're making predictions right now. Yeah, we might as well. We've got to start off with... well I know you are you know leaks way better than me. yeah I don't know any leaks, so tell me, have you seen any good leaks? So it's funny, there's been no leaks.

01:28:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

This is the most shocking thing. They keep their things tight lit. But I will go with the safest choice because it's already been kind of revealed. Mario Kart 9. Oh, yeah. They've basically shown it off already, right? Day 1 release?

01:29:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think Day 1 release. I think it's going to be... think they're going bundle. $59.99? I think it's going to be $69.99. Ooh, okay. I think they're going to finally raise prices of all Switch games to $70.

01:29:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

But then does that mean that if it's cross-gen, last year is $10 cheaper? I think it's not going to be cross-gen. Really? Yeah, I don't think it's going to be cross-gen. I think Nintendo's like, we need some games that will be system sellers. They understand that traditionally there has to be a game that convinces people to you, especially on a console that's already sold $150 million.

01:29:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

If you keep that cross-gen, no one will want No one's gonna buy You're right. um That's a good point. You know, I would have thought that they wouldn't do a price increase. But honestly, inflation has been pretty bad, you know. And I see them increasing prices. And I see them kind of increasing prices because if they don't increase prices, then basically it's like they're selling a game for cheaper and development costs have went up yeah because people need to be paid more. Yeah.

01:30:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so, I mean, the only way I see it is, you know, the price has to go up. And the thing is, um the prices are still already $10 cheaper than the competitor to begin with. Like, yeah a new game is $49.99 or $59.99 on Switch. ah Which Like, any game. The only game that on the Switch, there was only one game, and that was of the Ah, so maybe that was a trial run. Yeah.

01:30:35

Shameer Mehdikhan

Which is interesting. Maybe their big platform releases will end up being $69.99. And then other games will be $69.99. Maybe. Maybe like up to the developer. Yeah, maybe they leave it up. I truly believe they'll just do it across the board this time. But you're right. It could it could also be like that, too.

01:30:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

So i'll maybe we can take turns, but I think Mario Kart 9 is what we see. I think Mario Kart 9 absolutely is going to be day one release. um when When did they say Pokemon is going to come out? Late 2022. Late 2025. I mean, obviously it has to be Metroid 4. Okay.

01:31:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

and okay Do you think launch day or launch window? No, I think it's going to be launch window. I would give it like a... When do we think it's coming out? Okay, that's a good question. I think Switch 2, honestly, is coming out summer. I'm going to go with the beginning July.

01:31:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

um I was going to say July 2. Damn. July 4th, especially. like Think about that. I was thinking with July because I... Okay, all right. And so, you know, usually I feel like People want to just kind of do it like closer to the holiday season, but I feel like Nintendo wants to be seen as like active and fun.

01:31:38

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know So that's why I feel like they're going to go for Summer. Yeah, I think Summer. and I think um Summer, is gonna they're going to release Day 1 with Mario Kart. And then I'm going to say September is Metroid.

01:31:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

Okay. And then ne October or November, probably leading into November, is Pokemon. And I think Metroid might slip into 2026. Wow. Okay. wow okay Yeah. That'd be shocking. So I think that's, that's probably what's going to happen, but I think like that's what they're, they're, they're teeing up beyond that. I think those are going to be their big games. I think like for the first year, you know,

01:32:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

I feel like I'll have another Xenoblade. It's so funny you say that because that was my prediction. god damn Right? Right? Because it's been a little while since 3. It's been a while. And they also launched... They probably have another Fire Emblem.

01:32:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

I could see another Fire Emblem. They announced Xenoblade 2 on the launch window for the Switch when it came out. So that came out Winter 2017 and I was shocked that it came out Winter 2017.

01:32:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, yeah, I could see a another Zenobit or a a new entry. I feel like those games are – honestly, I kind of get the feeling that a lot these games already ready to go. Yeah. And I think they're going to pad out their – like they're going to space out their releases. Which is great. they're not dropping at once.

01:32:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

um So that's why I feel like it's kind of hard to see – tell. But i I do get the sense that it's probably going go um Mario, then Metroid, then Pokemon. Because they said Pokemon is late. Yeah.

01:33:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

Right? so Otherwise, if they didn't say that, I would have thought it would have been the opposite. um And then I think early next year, it'll be Xenoblade and Fire Emblem. And Zelda's just released, so I don't see a Zelda coming out soon. I see Zelda remasters. I see oh yeah Twilight Princess and... Oh, yeah. Twilight Princess is definitely going to be...

01:33:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

something that's coming out in 2026. I can see that in 2026, like late 2026. Yeah, like I can see that. And now I guess the question is, I personally think we'll get a remastered version of Breath of the Wild. There was rumors at GDC last year that they were prototyping and showing off the Switch 2 with a remastered version of the game. I hope not. Running faster and run and looking for k So that was the rumor last year. I think just like they did.

01:33:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

So when Sony showed off PS5 in 2019 at GDC, they showed it off with Spider-Man one. And then what did they do? They remastered it for the PS5. So, but but the thing is like,

01:34:00

Shameer Mehdikhan

The sequel's already come out though. I know. And it's like, why? Imagine a hide imagine a four k Look, I mean, if they were doing it as like a tech demo, like they were saying, hey, like we have this like pipeline with AI where we can easily like remaster. So like, look at what we did with Breath of the Wild, right? And then they used that to show them like, oh yeah, this tech works, right?

01:34:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

Maybe I can see it, but... That's definitely what they're doing, but why not sell it? I'm so over that, especially with Last of Us 87. Yeah, thank God, was so pissed at that. I'm so done with that.

01:34:31

Shameer Mehdikhan

So do you think... I guess I'll just make this prediction right now. I don't think we're going to get a successor to Mario Odyssey. And I don't think... Even if they make a new Mario 3D game, I don't think we see it until 2027. But know a lot of people are like, oh, it's been seven years, we should be getting one at launch.

01:34:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

I just personally think they're working on a different game. And if I had to guess, I'm gonna say it's gonna be Donkey Kong game. Why? Because We saw a new model of Donkey Kong in the Mario Kart trailer.

01:34:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

And that's not a coincidence to me. You don't just change the model just because. didn't even notice that. How do you notice these things? Bro, this is... You're just a Nintendo fan. You look and you see and you go... Oh my I mean, I'm amazed right now that you notice those things. So I don't even know what to say.

01:35:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

i mean, I like the idea of Super Mario Odyssey 2. I think I liked it more than you did. um and I know... Before that they had Galaxy, right? And so they'd like 1 and 2, but normally they don't do that, right?

01:35:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

um I want there to be an Odyssey 2, you know, and I want to say that's going to happen, but the fact that it hasn't released yet, you know, if they were going to do that, you would think that it would be a lot of like reused assets and things like that. So like, especially like Galaxy 1 and 2 weren't that far apart, then why isn't it out yet? And that team hasn't released anything else, right, since Odyssey.

01:35:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

So you're probably right, you know, it probably is something totally different. um I do think... i don't know, like, I mean, can't they be working on both at the same time? Like, can't they be working on the new Mario and the new Donkey Kong? maybe be the new Mario...

01:36:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

is actually a fusion with Donkey Kong. Yeah, I could see that. I mean, I feel like that would be interesting. I could see that. Like, i no joke, and maybe it's like a split hybrid type of game. And especially since the tea then the movie had both Mario and Donkey Kong. And there was a focus on both quite a bit in that movie. so you know Probably not going to happen, but I feel like that would be really fascinating. And did they just announce a Donkey Kong Land in Japan, in Universal?

01:36:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

Oh yeah, that was the expansion. like ah and i mean Donkey Kong hasn't really been that huge. like On the Wii U, they had that tropical freeze or whatever, and then they remade it. But then other than that, they've been kind of mean scal of sitting on Donkey Kong. Yeah, and they just did okay Donkey Kong Returns came out last month, but that's a remaster.

01:36:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

so i It hasn't really been a new Donkey Kong game ever, technically, since the Wii Yeah, it's funny you say that, too, because they just did a new Kirby game three years ago, so I feel like they've touched all their other franchises, and the only one that hasn't gotten a new game has been. They even tried to make Star Fox.

01:37:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah. Yeah. And then, well, haven't done Icarus, haven't they? Okay, Icarus came out on 3DS, yeah, the last So that's pretty niche, but yeah. You're right. But I get your point. Like, out of, like, the the really, the core things, like, Donkey Kong is really overdue.

01:37:17

Shameer Mehdikhan

Well, so, okay, if I had to look at this, the reason logically why they're launching with Mario Karts, because it's their best-selling game on the Switch, right? So what's their second best-selling game on the Switch? I look at it and I go, Animal Crossing.

01:37:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

Maybe we also get an Animal Crossing within the first year. if I can see that, but it'll be 2026. Yeah, I'd say 2026, for sure. Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, um some sort of Zelda remake, yeah remaster, and Animal Crossing. and and Yeah, I think i think that's going to be... Dude, you don't have stack that first game. It's going to be stacked. The thing is, like they've been kind of sitting, because last year was kind of quiet for the Switch. Even on a quiet year, they did decent. Yeah, it was just just like...

01:37:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

a lot of remakes. We got Paper Mario, Thousand Year Door, we got Super Mario RPG, we got this Peach game that was really one-off, you know. So there's like really smaller like titles. it wasn't like their biggest bangers. Yeah, and then the funny part is, I didn't know this, the Zenoblade team is so talented, they not only helped make Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild,

01:38:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

They also help make Animal Crossing for the Switch. They kind of do everything they do everything. So if if an Animal Crossing game comes out, does that mean a Zenobank game won't come out? I don't know. It depends on how many resources back the screen. I feel like they've been kind of sitting on a lot of stuff. I do too. And the thing is, like I don't imagine the developmental pipeline for Switch 2 is going to be that vastly different than Switch 1. So I feel like...

01:38:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

What Sony and Xbox are really struggling with, the pipelines have gone so much longer, right? Because graphics have just gone crazy, right? Like physics simulations and what we expect out of a AAA game and all those things. It's like,

01:38:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

really hard for them to develop uh deliver and then there's also an expectation that like it has to get crazier you know like skyrim is not enough we need an even crazier skyrim but like when it comes to nintendo like yeah we want to see evolutions but for some reason like nintendo gets a pass you know if if zelda is still using the same fighting moves for like 30 years Everyone's okay with it. Everyone's okay with it, you know?

01:39:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

and ah And even though we want an evolution for Pokemon, like, we also have a yearning for like, the old school. Yeah, we still want the old school. And I think it's just, like, Nintendo has just captured nostalgia in a way no one else has, you know? And so I say that because even though I expect, like, Mario Kart 9 to have some advancements in, like, you know, their other franchises...

01:39:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like, do I expect, like, the next Mario Kart or, like, the next Metroid like, the next, like, Fire Emblem to just be completely revolutionary? No. I think, like, they're just more evolutionary. Yeah, yeah, agree with that. And I think that makes it so, like...

01:39:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

You can have pipelines that are like three years, yeah four years. Which is why they crank out most games three years. And that's why they I really think they're going hit hard in the next two years. Yeah, I think so too. Just like how when the Switch launched, the first two to three years after was so amazing.

01:40:11

Shameer Mehdikhan

like I just stream remember so many great games. and I'm like, dude, honestly, out of all the consoles I've ever owned, the Switch is the console I've owned the most games for and I haven't even played the game. Switch is... That's the story of your life. turn on I will say Switch has had the most consistent releases I feel like in the last generation.

01:40:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

never felt like there was a Lullaby. And actually, I would say I'm the biggest Xbox fanboy, then Sony, and then Nintendo is the least. Because I really got into Nintendo pretty late. like The first console I owned was a Wii U. Right.

01:40:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

ah But they were really consistent with the Switch. like they know They know what they're doing. So I think you know they're going to hit hard with Switch 2. And they want to because I think they like this cadence where they have like a two, three-year lead you know on the other manufacturers.

01:40:56

Shameer Mehdikhan

Which I guess kind of ties into another thing I wanted to talk about, which was the Xbox leaks. There is. There's one more thing i want to talk about before say Oh, you Nintendo fanboy. There's two things. One is, i sorry, i forgot to mention this.

Console Pricing and Market Dynamics

01:41:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

i actually think this will come out in the launch window, a new Luigi's Mansion.

01:41:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

so Which i I don't like Luigi's Mansion. It's funny you say that because I looked up the numbers. Luigi's Mansion 3 sold 15 million units. Oh my god, that's insane. utterly I was one of them. that So Luigi's Mansion and the Legend of Zelda, which was the 2D remake, I tried so hard to get through those games and I just could not and I gave up.

01:41:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

yeah So that that was fun. I do think that would come out a lot. But the second thing, before we get to your next point, and it ties into this really well is you look at handheld devices that have been on the market now, specifically the ones for that are PC like in a hybrid that just come out.

01:41:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

The numbers show that in the last three years, the Steam Deck, which is the best selling handheld besides the Switch, right? Out of all these different manufacturers only sold 4.6 million units. That's insane.

01:41:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yes. and And the Switch sells 15 to 16 million every year. So when I look at it again, I love the Steam Deck. It's great. I love the ROG LA. Holy fuck, Nintendo is on a different stratosphere. How has...

01:42:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

How is that possible? Steam Deck has only sold that much? Yes. and and val And people talk about the Steam Deck like like it's sold like 80 million. Yes. And Valve's like, we're so happy with the numbers in three years. Oh, my God.

01:42:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

Dude, Nintendo has sold over 150 million Switch. So how much money are they sitting on it? Well, not only that, but like, that yes, that tells you there's a market for handheld devices. But like, you combine it with how strong their brand and IP is. That's what makes it.

01:42:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

You know, now that I think about it and I never thought about it, like I thought it was really odd with the Xbox sneak that they were going to release like an Xbox branded like Windows device basically this year.

01:42:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

um and then in 2027, they're also releasing an Xbox handheld. Yeah, they're on. Which I thought was interesting. But I wonder if it's because what Microsoft realizes is there's certain...

01:42:56

Shameer Mehdikhan

market share and there are people who are going to buy a switch and a steam deck yes but most people are just going to buy a switch and no other handheld yeah like they don't want two handhelds yeah they don't and so i wonder if microsoft is like wow we gotta like kind of get into this early yeah before you know we're sitting we're facing a Nintendo Switch 2 that has like 15 million have ah units sold.

01:43:20

Shameer Mehdikhan

How can we ever claw our way to a success you know if they already have that units Yeah, they're way ahead of the game. And so I feel like you know it's kind of an easy place for them to go because if they just put like some Xbox branding... Which is what the rumor is. Which is, I mean, really, what do they have to do? It's just the x but the yeah center button. They really don't have to do much, right? And the colors of the button.

01:43:42

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then they kind of make Windows a little more streamlined, which they're already trying to do in general, right? As long as I can hit sleep on the goddamn handheld and it goes to rest and it doesn't fucking close the game, that's all I need.

01:43:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah. So... So now what that's actually making more sense to me. I never even realized that. um Because I was just thinking like, why would anyone want to buy an Xbox Steam device, like an Xbox Windows device in 2025 and then buy the Xbox Series 11?

01:44:12

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know It's a market share. In 2027, it's market share. yeah you dude And if rumors are true, and Sony is also trying to get back into handheld gaming as well, they're going to be behind eight ball. You, you release their handle in two to three years around.

01:44:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

They have no confidence. They're not going to be able to catch. Switch is going to be runaway success again. And it's going to be really hard for them to break that because then Sony is going to have to face what Microsoft is facing now where like after you have that much brand loyalty and connection for that many years, like,

01:44:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

and people just associate like handheld, you know, it's really hard to break into that market. yeah And then if they try to do like a full on PS Vita 2, like it's going to be hard for them. yeah um I mean, I think it's going to be hard for Xbox, you know, but i I think they're kind of, you know, in some ways they are better posed because they already had a series S. So they've already kind of created this precedent where like, we're going to have the lower tier and the higher tier.

01:45:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

And now they just have to make the lower tier handheld. Right. And, and you know, they do have like hardware and software teams, right? And so they freaking own windows, right? So you would think that they could figure out the optimization and things like that.

01:45:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

and And really just, if you had like a game pass device that could do cloud and you know um direct like downloads and it downloaded fast and you know seven to eight hours of battery life yeah i mean that's crazy but maybe like so five to six hours about i yeah oh man like that's killer and like for like what you're getting on game pass like i feel like that would be a real competitor yeah and you can still access games through the cloud as well too so even if you're on the go you don't have the time to download the game play it through the cloud you know most of the games are playable through the cloud right now

01:45:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it's just, it's all around. It makes sense for them to start this year. You know, I just think it makes a little more sense. They don't have to invest too much. And then when you think you have the time, do your own dedicated device that ends up being more optimized.

01:46:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

You know, but I have to say, I'm really surprised because I was thinking that, Microsoft was just going to launch late 2026. Like if they really felt pushed, I really thought they would do that as opposed to like splitting their attention to like 2025 and 2027.

01:46:18

Shameer Mehdikhan

But that probably goes to show you that they're like, oh man, you know, like ah we're not ready to like get that whole supply chain ready. And also I wonder like, you know not to get into politics but with the way things are with tariffs and global trade and all that stuff that has to be affecting that right they have to be really wondering about like oh man where are we going get our chips at what price like all of those things right like amd already announced that their new gp that just came out was the 9800 xt or whatever okay the first versions of it that came literally last week 500 or 600 you know what they're saying the next batch that comes out in ah in a month

01:46:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

It's going to be 800 to 1,000. I going to piss so many people off. You're going to piss off everyone. So if you didn't get it, list pass me. Oh my that's going to piss people off. And I was just thinking about this too. Like, ah I mean, it's kind of ironic, but shouldn't say ironic, but like, like,

01:47:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

If tariffs get worse, like, a is the PlayStation and the Nintendo Switch 2 going to get more expensive? so Like, we're about to Switch 2. Like, is that going to be impacted by tariffs? yeah, it will be Because Nintendo already said that they're already monitoring the situation with tariffs, and they're going to adjust the price accordingly. That's why they haven't announced the price.

01:47:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, so, oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, man. That's really interesting. And so, like, what if they announce the Switch 2, but they don't? They don't say the price. Yeah, they probably won't. I wouldn't surprised if they hold off. I don't think they're going say the price because, I mean, if you're hitting like, if you're getting like a 25% tariff, like they're going to have to pass it on to the consumer. Yeah, they definitely will, you know.

01:47:44

Shameer Mehdikhan

It's just, it's crazy. But it's going to be hard for them to sell a device that's over 400. You know, I am expecting like 400. And the funny thing is, it's almost like they shot themselves in the foot.

01:47:55

Shameer Mehdikhan

The rumors were, and maybe ah this could be completely um like not validated at all, but they were going launch last fall. Imagine if they lost they launched last fall, they would have been selling well. People would have then paid the extra 50 or 100 bucks now.

01:48:06

Shameer Mehdikhan

But now if you come out gate swinging at 500, I was like, the fuck? Like, I'll just keep my sweatshirt now, you know? Yeah. 500 would be a hard sell for the Switch. I don't even think I'd buy it at 500.

01:48:18

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yes, you would. Okay, I'm just saying. I'm with Twitter. Yes, you would. You would have two PS5 Pros. Let's do it. But, yeah, I what you mean. Like, the average gamer. Yeah, every gamer. No, a little hesitation, you know. Like, ah I mean, if I was younger, you know, and not as far in my career, like, yeah, I would probably, i would hesitate. I would wait, you know? I remember that's how I felt when the PS4 and the three ah the the Xbox One came out. i was like, man, like, two $500 devices is going to kill me. its ki And that was hard. And and I couldn't buy back-to-back. had to really, like, wait, you know, and save up. The only reason why got back-to-back is I convinced my brother take get one, and I got the other.

01:48:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

If it wasn't for my brother. And then i I tricked my brother into saying, hey, I should just keep both because you never play games. He's like, you're right. After, a year later, he's wait, why did I give you the other one again? i'm like... Bro, you got them good. Yeah, and I got them good.

01:49:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, that's the only reason why I even had both at the time. But, yeah, so I just think... um This is interesting, these leaks, and not surprised that they're working on another iteration of the Series x and it's going to be more powerful.

01:49:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

Cool. The question is how do they unify it? Because the VP of Xbox Next Generation basically talked about unifying Windows and Xbox. So it doesn't mean a custom Xbox OS for Windows devices. It means a more unified version of Windows OS on other devices like portable, handheld, etc. So we'll see how that goes this year. Hopefully they figure it out.

01:49:41

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I don't know why they didn't prioritize it in years prior, but they're more reactive. You know, and I'm really curious because I know i think it was Phil Spencer, one of the execs were saying that we want to be differentiated more on our hardware going forward.

01:49:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

So i understand like the handheld push and that's how but it's going to differentiate them. But how are they going to make the Series X2 different than the PS6? Because if they're still stuck using AMD, and even if they're using any sort of upsampling stuff, you know it's going to be the same stuff that you would probably see on PS6.

01:50:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

And if they're trying to do you know get into like the same price points, how are you going to differentiate? Unless you make it cheaper and then therefore not as powerful or more expensive and therefore more powerful like you know yeah like i I don't think that that was the differentiator this generation I mean it was supposed to be but i think like practically speaking it didn't make a huge difference because even though there's like a difference in teraflops, you know, like Sony kind of has a difference when it comes to SSD and, you know, those minor differences didn't really make a difference. It wasn't a selling point. Because the thing is, like, if the difference, I would say, is within the 5% to 10%, you know, threshold window, like, most people aren't going care. You know, like, if you're going from, like, 60 to, like, 55, but, like, you know, more and more people want to not have VRR, like, you know, it's not going to make a huge difference. um

01:51:04

Shameer Mehdikhan

But that's the thing, like, if... if you're trying to hit the same kind of general price points and you're trying to make like home consoles that are powerful, I just feel like they're going to keep ending up the same.

01:51:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

yeah And then no one is going to buy the Series X2 over the PS6. So again, now what's differentiating the two is really the software and the services. So Game Pass is what differentiates them. Pretty much, yeah.

01:51:27

Shameer Mehdikhan

Right? It's not no longer the hardware. So I feel like when he was saying that about hardware, I think it was, Me personally, I think he was mainly talking about handheld. I think he was talking about handheld at that point. And he loves his ROG ally. You love your ROG ally too. Yeah, I love it, man. And he uses it more than... know he has a Steam bag, but he always talks about the ROG.

01:51:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

He's like, especially when I travel, when I'm on the plane. Especially with Game Pass, you know? like um Yeah, it works so well. Xbox Game Pass works so well. And the cloud streaming. i did Like I said, I do ninja gating. I don't know how you're playing ninja gating on cloud streaming. Bro, it's so... Because you need like like zero latency, I feel.

01:52:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

And again, weird thing about it is I don't see that weird problem that we talked about while playing the native version. So I'm like, why is this better? i don't know. That's so weird. It's interesting. But yeah, I think you're right. was talking about the handle.

01:52:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, interesting take. We'll see where it goes. I'm excited because if they're going to announce anything, it'll probably be during their June showcase, i would assume, right? When else would they announce it? If they do by September, it doesn't make sense. I feel like they're going to do later.

01:52:27

Shameer Mehdikhan

i think they're going to announce it late. I think they're they're just going to have like their own showcase. I think Microsoft is trying to break out of like everything has to be in June. I think they're really trying to make everything – they're trying to get into quarterly.

Microsoft's Showcase Strategy

01:52:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

And think, like, right now, like, they know developer director is a thing. They know their June thing is a a thing because of E3. I think they're trying to, like, have other big game shows that show up at other towns like Gamescom or things like that. And I think, like, they're trying to, like, elevate those somehow. They're trying to still form figure out the formula. So I feel like they'll show at Gamescom.

01:52:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

I agree. I could see that, too. But it's like, don't do you think this would not be a big enough announcement that their U.S. June chngest that would be the product? mean, it's massive. You know, I mean...

01:53:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, I don't know. I could see Gamescom. I think that would make more sense because that's when you have the most people talking and paying attention. And Gamescom's in Germany. I just kind of get the sense that Microsoft really wants something bigger later in the year. And what's bigger later than TGS and then Gamescom, right? Gamescom would make sense. I feel like going to be Gamescom.

01:53:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, maybe you're right. They still host it digitally, so it's like ah virtually in the sense that... Yeah, did they have a Gamescom show last year? They did, here yeah. And so I think they're going to try and pad that out. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.

01:53:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

So, yeah, I guess the only other thing is really just some shows we've been watching. Um, you want to start or are you, uh, you can

TV Show Reviews: Invincible and Severance

01:53:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

go. I think the only thing I've been watching is invincible. And, uh, I know you haven't watched that, so I don't want to spoil it for you, but, ah invincible has been interesting.

01:53:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah. I heard some people been not talking mad shit about season two, but weren't, we're disappointed with it. So yeah, I think people are starting to enjoy it. Yeah. I think we'll now season three. And I think most people are enjoying season three quite a lot. Um,

01:54:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, I kind of have mixed feelings about it. Like, I feel like the first season of Invincible just, like, captured a certain magic, you know, and it just, like, hit it perfectly, and it was just so shocking and surprising and things like that.

01:54:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

um But then I feel like the second and third season have, like, basically just been, like, hitting the same, you know, general theme, which is Am I going to be bad? can I still be good? What happens when i'm I'm trying to be good, but like everyone's still blaming me? And it's like, okay, like they keep hitting it.

01:54:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then there's like some like exciting twists that happen or some like really epic battles and the fights have been really good, you know? But one of the frustrating things is they keep killing characters and bringing them back, killing characters and bringing them back.

01:54:49

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think now some of the characters who have died have been more permanent deaths. Okay. And so that's like kind of hits you more emotionally, but you know, the villain dies and comes back or hero dies and comes back again. the again like it It kind of takes the weight of those losses away, you know? um But overall though, I've been, I've been enjoying the show. i think ah season one was like a nine for me.

01:55:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

season two and three were like sevens and now it's kind of rearing closer to like an eight. i know So it's kind of picking up. Yeah. And I think the, the show is ending this week. Right. And the last episode looks pretty epic. Yeah. It's all spoiler kind of ready. Yeah.

01:55:25

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think for me, um, and again, personal preference, like I kind of get the sense that Invincible really follows like the comic book format and like in comic books, like the stories can be very different from each other and they're like self-contained stories, but they kind of have a same, like, like overall general theme that's carrying through. Right.

01:55:46

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so, like, I'm seeing that a lot in the show, but I'm just not used to that in a TV show format because I'm really used to the narrative arc and the character arc being, like, from the beginning of the season to the end of the season, yeah you know?

01:55:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so that's been kind of weird for me, and that's why I think I might review it lower than other people. But, you know, if you're really into comic books, like, man, that show is totally your thing then. Steven Yeun is the voice actor, right? Yeah, I was so surprised to, you know, see that. Seeing him in Mickey 17 crying like a little baby. and I know, I know.

01:56:14

Shameer Mehdikhan

doing this I mean, ah Michigan represents from Troy. sorry That's true. His parents are still here. I'll have to find the stores they work at. um yeah so then Yeah, I've been watching Severance. The last two episodes have been phenomenal. they The show finally picked up to a point where I was like, wow. like The last episode was a big reveal.

01:56:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

and do You care just told me. So first, let me start off with the second to last episode. I feel like kind of gave up on the show, but like if you tell me something interesting, maybe I'll watch it. You should highly... i highly recommend watching the last two episodes just because of how good they were. So it's completely different in the sense that they finally have an episode that focuses on Miss Casey. She's the therapist. Okay, finally. And they finally reveal a lot about her and basically her and Mark's backstory.

01:56:58

Shameer Mehdikhan

so the First of all, let me just talk the cinematography on this episode. It was directed by their cinematographer, who normally does a majority of their episodes. This was her first time directing. was her debut.

01:57:10

Shameer Mehdikhan

Phenomenal. She killed it out of the park. you need a i can't It's hard for me to describe in words. I need you to really watch the episode, and you'll get an understanding of It's the highest rated episode of both seasons by far.

01:57:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

And basically what you find out is he meets her at this blood donation site. there's you realize that they're donating blood through a Lumen? Like there's these Lumen watermarks on the blood donations.

01:57:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

She's actually in on it. and That hasn't been revealed yet. Yeah, i I have a feeling that she's actually... She might be....a more complicated and tragic and maybe bad character than we elect to believe because they only portray her in a good light, a positive light. So at least in this episode, it was very tragic in a sense. So they meet by donating blood.

01:57:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

They fall in love. They try to conceive and have a child. They are not able to. So they go to a fertility clinic. Yeah. And they end up going to a Lumen clinic out of all places.

01:58:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

And they try to do IVF and they still can't have a child. And then eventually she ends up going out on her own to some play or something during the night. And Mark's like, hey, I'm busy. I can't.

01:58:19

Shameer Mehdikhan

Cops come knocking out her their door. She's supposedly dead. In between all of that, they show exactly where Miss Casey has been this entire season. She's on a floor below everyone.

01:58:30

Shameer Mehdikhan

And her mind has been severed multiple times and into multiple personalities. It's very interesting. Why would you do that though? And you kind of have to watch it. So basically she's kind of being like analyzed and experimented on in multiple different rooms. Every time she opens a different door for a different room, they're all labeled differently.

01:58:48

Shameer Mehdikhan

She has a different personality where like there's one where she's like on a plane and it's like they sever her in a way where she can't remember the experience of the flight. and there's like a lot of turbulence being simulated.

01:59:00

Shameer Mehdikhan

There's a simulation of her going to a dentist. people hate going to the dentist and she they sever her mind in a way where she can't remember all the pain from the dentist like activities but she knows that her jaw is hurting but she's like i can't remember that i went to this dentist there's one where someone is pretending to be her husband and that like mark has moved on and she's fallen in love so i mean i kind of get the sense that like they're making her a lab wear yeah you know and so they're testing her but like you know if you're doing like a case control study

01:59:31

Shameer Mehdikhan

you know, which is like the foundation of like, you know, any sort of research, like there's so much variability, like, yeah you know, even if like, oh this worked for the dental procedure, why don't we make it a thing for everybody? yeah But if her mind was severed in other ways, then that research is pointless. yeah it's about but you You know what I mean? like Wouldn't it make more sense to have like one person who is specifically designated as the dentist guy and one person who's specifically designated as plain person? It's interesting. You have to take a look at it. But you're right. there's like like Logically, does this really make sense? with it Because they still don't explain why they're doing what they're doing.

02:00:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that's kind of like one of my things with the show. I'm like, man, this is really cool. But when I think about it, I'm like, this is not how they would actually do it if this was an evil company. Yeah, I know. And then they they reference ah another room that she just hasn't been to. The room happens to be called Cold Harbor again. So more references to Cold Harbor. We don't know what's in that room specifically.

02:00:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

And they get to 96% like in terms of the macro data refinement. And what's his nuts? Mark ends up having the nosebleed from the prior episode, goes home, then he has the seizure. So he hasn't been able to complete the operation.

02:00:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

But they show a scene within this episode where she almost escapes. She finds a way to get out, goes up the elevator, up one level. Why is she trying to escape, though? Well, she's beinged she's being held against her bow.

02:00:52

Shameer Mehdikhan

So she's herself when she's not in the rooms, but when she's just outside of the rooms, in the hallway. she She's her normal self. She knows everything. She's like, where's Marika? Can't they say the part of her who wants to escape? Yes, but they're kind of doing it to torture her.

02:01:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

They're doing it on purpose. It's a really weird. yoga So she escapes at night. She gets away. She gets on the elevator, goes up one floor, but she ends up being on the severed floor where Mark and everyone else is, right? As soon as she gets up there, they inverted it where she then gets severed again to becoming Miss Casey. So anytime she gets on the severed floor, she legitimately becomes Miss Casey and then she doesn't know where she is.

02:01:26

Shameer Mehdikhan

So it's like, okay, imagine the severed floor. So they're using the same elevator shaft for both of these floors. Yes, but one goes down, one goes up.

02:01:33

Shameer Mehdikhan

So she's on the bottom floor. There's the suburb floor. There's the outside floor. There's a elevator shaft. It's a cool idea, though. It's a cool idea. So she gets up there. She becomes Miss Casey, but she's like, where am i Why am I here? And then she starts getting out. And it's like apparently late at night, and Mr. Milicek comes running down to this doorway. He goes, ah turn back around, Miss Casey.

02:01:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

You're not supposed to be here. And then she's like oh, but this Mr. Milicek, like... what am I doing? And he's like, don't worry about it. Just go back down that hallway, go back downstairs to the basement.

02:02:03

Shameer Mehdikhan

And she just does it. So, and then when she gets back down, she realizes she's like, Oh fuck. Like I tried to escape, but I guess that didn't work. So it's very, the episode is very tragic. It's actually very heartbreaking. Like they filmed it so great. Like I highly recommend it. Cause you can really empathize with and you like see all of her like pain and how like she knows something is wrong. Yep. She knows something's wrong. She knows something. She doesn't believe that Mark moved on.

02:02:24

Shameer Mehdikhan

Yeah, and like as a viewer, like we can really relate with that, right? Because like you know in our world, like we don't know everything, right? And it's like, you can really empathize with someone who's trying to struggle in a world that have no control there, and they're trying to like get to their loved one.

02:02:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

So I feel like Severance really does that well. It does make you feel like you can empathize with the character. Well, she also felt bad because it's very clear and obvious in the flashbacks that because she couldn't give him a kid, and she sees his frustration, she's like, oh, I failed you. And so she's so upset, but now she goes...

02:02:51

Shameer Mehdikhan

I don't even care about the kid. I just want to be with Mark again. She's like, I just want to be with my husband. So it's even more tragic when she realizes that like, she still loves him, even though she was mad at herself. um But I do think there's some more stuff going on there that they're just hinting at. they don show So I highly recommend that. And then the next episode,

02:03:08

Shameer Mehdikhan

Very short episode, very interesting. You find out that Miss Cobell, you know the first lady from season one that was like the floor manager. You know how in the beginning of the season she just escapes and drives away. yeah They revealed that she worked in a town when she was a child and Lumen came in.

02:03:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

They basically took over this really remote, like desolate town. They made the kids do child labor. I don't know what they were doing, but the town became very toxic based on all the work there. was bunch of pollutants.

02:03:34

Shameer Mehdikhan

And she came up with the whole severance procedure as a kid. She was a child prodigy. So you find that out. And then she's so pissed because you find out more about her backstory and about her mother and how her mother died. So if she made the whole severance procedure, why isn't she on the board?

02:03:50

Shameer Mehdikhan

So that's, that's where this all kind of plays in. So if you notice, I think episode three or four, um, Helena's like, oh, you you think you contributed way more than you thought you did. like You like didn't contribute as much.

02:04:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

It kind of puts this into perspective. They're not valuing her contributions. She actually did contribute quite a bit, and she feels um slighted probably. And perhaps she's like, I came up with all this shit, but you guys stole credit from me. like You guys have to remember that.

02:04:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

You know, if I'm going to take a random guess at the show, random freaking guess. Okay. All these people are rats, basically. And they are purposely trying to test the limits on where severance breaks.

02:04:28

Shameer Mehdikhan

Right. And so even though they could have picked anyone to be the therapist, they purposely made it his wife. Yeah, of course. To see if like love can make you break through severance. Sure. Right. Yeah. And then they wanted to test how much they could sever someone, right? just just you know And they're just trying to basically test like the limits of severance. And that's what all of that is, right? And so that's where all these, they're allowing these people to develop relationships and they they're allowing these people to develop love. They're allowing putting people who once loved each other

02:04:59

Shameer Mehdikhan

Because I think really they're trying to see the relationship between human emotions and relationships versus severance. I agree. Because they want to have full control of emotions, relationships, thoughts, and all of that stuff.

02:05:11

Shameer Mehdikhan

And the ultimate goal, I think, is going to be sever everyone. And I think they probably are already starting to just sever outies. And I think yeah we are assuming that outies are not severed, but because they are not switching into any's, but I have a feeling that everyone is severed. Yeah. So I think everybody is severed in that show and, or like maybe some people aren't, but we're just assuming that because they're outies, they haven't been severed, but maybe they're already severing certain parts of them. Yeah. Certain emotions. And,

02:05:40

Shameer Mehdikhan

I think even if... let's Let's assume a lot of the Audis are severed. They also could be trying to mass market this. So that way they have the whole world end up severing themselves because they're saying, Hey, you wanted to take a shit, but it was a really hard shit.

02:05:53

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like you don't have to feel that pain. You're out your in-ear version. Plus like ah the show hasn't even established if people remember being severed. Yeah, they haven't established that. So like if You know, if all the Audis are severed and, you know, they've mastered being able to sever specific things and not have people remember they're being severed, then the whole world can be severed. Yeah, the whole world. I think that's kind of where they're trying. and it's almost like a, like a genjitsu. Yeah.

02:06:22

Shameer Mehdikhan

from Naruto. I kind of feel like that. can literally, and then like, you know, like you might just all think, oh, what if like the original freaking guy is dead, you know? but Yeah. What if he's actually alive and he's controlling everything and just everyone's separate so they don't even know it? Yeah, exactly. I, I, look,

02:06:37

Shameer Mehdikhan

Does it start convoluted? Maybe a little bit, but i like that idea. if that's where they're going, it's just a matter of how they execute it. Right. And yeah how do they, I mean, the thing to me, like, you know, if there's like kind of some plot holes, like that seem weird, like, you know, why would you put, go through all of this convoluted stuff to put the wife and the husband together? Like the only logical explanation for that is they're trying to see if they will eventually remember each other. Yes.

02:07:02

Shameer Mehdikhan

But if that's not the explanation, then I'm going to be like... I think that is the explanation. I really do think. Or like, you know, why would you create the ability to have her get back somehow to that floor. Like physically. Yeah. Like why would you keep that there? Just keep it there. Why would you not just make two different elevator shifts?

02:07:21

Shameer Mehdikhan

You know? And so like, to me, the only way it makes sense is if they are purposely wanting these people to rebel. So then through rebelling, they can see how permanent this is. But I feel like this is going to be their downfall. Like at this point, the way the last episode ended is Ms. Cobalt calls,

02:07:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

Sorry, Devin calls Miss Cobella. She finally gets like her, her, some of her shit from her town. And she goes, we need your help. And this looks like Miss Cobella is going to help Mark and Devin now. So it looks like, I feel like they're, Lumen's going to have some sort of downfall, whether it's in the next season or whatever.

02:07:54

Shameer Mehdikhan

And it's all because they're going to let too many people go astray and they go, we screwed up. Like we gave them too much freedom and that caused downfall this company. So I feel like it could be that too. I mean, they can go down that route and I feel like that's the most traditional route, but I feel like, I feel like they're going a cowboy bebop ending.

02:08:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like, I feel like in the end, like what they're building to is the two of them are going to be together in the end, you know, him and her the suburbs reunited. And the question is going to be how much of, how much are they really severed or not? Hmm.

02:08:23

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I feel like the the moral going to leave you with is like, you know, even if you're severed to a certain extent, like if you're love, you're in love. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that. You know? I can definitely see that. um Would that be... Am I okay? I'm okay with the ending. um As long as the way that all this gets unveiled is satisfying. Yeah. You know?

02:08:43

Shameer Mehdikhan

So we'll see. I mean, it's a detective show, like I said. That's what I think. You know? It's like literally, you know, he's figuring it all figuring it out. You know, you... you know, when you have these reveals and these layers and it's like so unexpected, you're like, oh man, that's cool. Like I would have never expected her to be the person who, yeah, did not expect that. The severance protocol.

02:09:01

Shameer Mehdikhan

And I think what's fascinating about the the show is it's like a smoke and mirrors is this concept. I feel like everything I pick up is from Brandon Sanderson. But, you know, he talked about it. And it's like, you know, you can distract your reader.

02:09:13

Shameer Mehdikhan

And then because of that, like, they don't notice other things going on. So we've been so distracted by what is – they threw a random term at us, you know. And, you know, we got so distracted by that that we didn't even think about, like, how was Severance created? Yeah. And who created Severance, you know. Yeah.

02:09:29

Shameer Mehdikhan

And so that's why it's like such a huge reveal because our attention is diverted to something totally different. Yeah, 100%. I agree with that. And we've been so focused on him getting, finding his wife that we didn't think about the way all came And like, I never thought about it until today. Like if they have as much control as they have, like they must have purposely put them together for a reason, right?

02:09:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

And how do we know and everyone's not separate? I never thought it. Well, they all come up when you see the last episode. It just starts to jog your mind little bit more and gets the gears turning. So I just highly recommend, even if you don't watch the last episode because it was very simple, watch the the episode before that just to see that cinematography and directing was so good.

02:10:05

Shameer Mehdikhan

Like you'll at least be able to enjoy the episode for what it is. It doesn't matter how it starts

Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

02:10:09

Shameer Mehdikhan

and ends. It's just that it's tragic and it's very beautifully shot and directed and it's like that's us episode no matter what worth watching yeah so i'm curious you know we'll see maybe i'll um maybe i'll give it a watch i mean right now i'm not really watching anything you know invincible is going to end this week and then i don't think i have anything on my on the horizon that i'm really looking forward to watch and catch you up on this at least um and then devil may cry yeah and we already talked to him about that a little bit before that this but uh

02:10:36

Shameer Mehdikhan

I mean, the trailer looked epic, you know, and I feel like that guy that got over on Netflix is just producing those bangers, you know? And you didn't represent, I know. So I feel like, i feel like this one is probably going to deliver too.

02:10:47

Shameer Mehdikhan

I feel like it's going to score eight and nines. Yeah. I hundred percent believe that. Like, they They know now how to create shows because he's already done three shows that have been really popular on Netflix or two, really.

02:10:57

Shameer Mehdikhan

He did Castlevania seasons one through four. He did Nocturne one and two. And he did that um show Captain Laserhawk. yeah so like And they were all really successful. Yeah, they're all really successful. So I already know that it's not about like the first season of a new show always is like the starting base and foundation. Like, can we get the audience hooked?

02:11:15

Shameer Mehdikhan

And app once they do that, you can come up with any story as long as like you're consistent. And I feel like they they know how to do that. Okay. I think that's probably a wrap for now. I think that's pretty much everything we want to talk about. So, you know, ah we just got split fiction. So maybe we'll ah give that ah a shot and play it a little bit. Some first impressions. Yeah, might be something for us to talk about next time. All right. alright Take care, everyone.

02:11:39

Shameer Mehdikhan

See you.