Beta 1 - Love On Ice

She actually, she likes the rival team that I can't stand.

She's a huge New York Rangers fan, and I'm a New Jersey Devils fan.

And so for me to associate with the Rangers in any way, shape, or form is not really acceptable.

And she had a Henrik Lundqvist jersey, who's like their star goalie.

And she made this bet that if she could beat me, the next time we went out together,

I'd have to wear this jersey for an entire day.

I agreed to it.

I'm not going to give her a book.

My wife, at the time, was my girlfriend.

And she would always come over and hang out at the vice point, whatever.

You know, she was sometimes watching stuff.

But she loved hockey.

She started really getting into hockey right when we started dating.

And so she decided that she wanted to play me at, I think it was NHL 10.

And we played a couple times, and I whooped her pretty bad.

I told her I was going easy on her.

And so we worked together, and we were chatting at work one day.

And she says, you know, I really think I can take you.

And I said, I bet I could probably beat you 20 to nothing if I really gave it my all.

So she comes over that night.

And it's funny, afterwards now, she claims that she was drinking and that she was under the influence.

And this is why things didn't go so well, which I call BS on.

But things start out pretty ugly, I guess, for her.

And I think after the first period, it was probably 8 or 9 to nothing.

And so I decided to just keep bringing it and bringing it.

And I wasn't really paying attention.

I wasn't really paying attention to her.

I was just doing my thing because I wanted to score 20 goals.

And not thinking about the consequences of that.

It was about 15 or 16 to nothing.

And about the middle of the third period, I look over, and she's just crying.

There's just tears.

And I'm like, oh my god, okay, I should just, you know, let's stop.

So I pause the game.

And she's like, no, don't pause it, keep going.

I'm like, no, let's just stop.

This was not obviously what I was intending to cause here.

And she says, no.

She goes, I'm not.

I'm not mad at you.

She goes, I just want to beat you.

So I keep going.

Final score was 18-0.

And so according to her, I technically lost, even though I won the game 18-0.

Because I assured her I'd win by 20.

But so she then goes out and buys an Xbox 360.

And picks up the copy of the game.

And proceeds to just relentlessly practice and practice and practice.

And just determined to beat me.

And so then she watches me play online.

I mean, it was pretty cool, actually.

She was really studying how I was playing the game.

My strategies and things I do to win.

And I think it took her about, I want to say close to six months.

But she finally started playing, not well enough to beat me.

But starting to get competitive.

And then one day we orchestrated a little bet.

Where if I lost, she actually, she likes the rival team that I can't stand.

She's a huge New York Rangers fan.

And I'm a New Jersey Devils fan.

And so for me to associate with the Rangers in any way, shape, or form is not really acceptable.

And she had a Henrik Lundqvist jersey, who's like their star goalie.

And she made this bet that if she could beat me, the next time we went out together,

I'd have to wear this jersey for an entire day.

And I agreed to it because I figured I'm going to whip her butt.

No big deal.

So we started our game.

We were just, you know, it's a pretty tight game.

And I was winning.

And then 4-2, and then she scored a goal.

And there was probably about two, three minutes left in the game.

And I decided I would let up a little bit.

Just, I don't know why I did, but I just did.

And so she tied it.

So we're in overtime, and I'm thinking, okay, I got this.

It's no big deal.

No big deal at all.

So as luck would have it for me, she just takes some ridiculously lame shot from very far out.

And for some reason, my goalie just decides he's not stopping it.

It goes in.

And she wins.

She's jumping for joy.

She's all excited, freaking out.

And, of course, you know, I have to honor the bet.

And so everywhere I go, wearing this shirt as we go out, all I hear is about how Rangers suck.

How can you wear that?

You're disgusting.

All sorts of obscenities.

Someone actually slammed a door in my face at a gas station.

That was good times.

What was really interesting, too, is how she continued to just improve and improve at this game.

And now this is five years.

Just after this.

And I think what's really cool now is not only is she competitive at this game, but she can now whoop my butt on a regular basis.

And I think it's really cool to see how, A, she really was so competitive and really wanted to get better at it.

And she did get better at it.

And it was really cool, too, because it was really something that we did all the time and still do now.

Although maybe not as much now that she beats me so much.

But it kind of brought us closer together.

And I thought it was really cool how a video game, you know, kind of...

Not really brought two people together, but gave two people something really cool to do together and created such an intense rivalry.

And I think that was something that, for me, was something really special about video gaming.

And something special that video games can do and how the competitiveness can bring people together in good ways and bad.

And in this instance, it was good, other than the fact that she can now destroy me on a regular basis.

But that's probably one of my personal favorites.

One of my favorite video game memories is that.

And now, what's really cool is she'll play online and she will just destroy people.

And so, what we started to do then is we decided we would team up together, play online together against other people.

And it's interesting because her and I play completely different styles.

And so, it took us a while to mesh together.

But we actually ended up doing pretty well together online, too.

And so, until EA decided to take out co-op play in this year's hockey, for whatever reason, that was something, too, that we shared together.

It was really cool.

So, hopefully, that's something that they will bring back in the future.

But probably one of my all-time favorite video game moments would be that with her.

So, if I asked you, lessons learned?

When you make a bet, play to win.

And don't let up for a second because the CPU might let you down, which it did for me.

Now, it's...

You know, I am an adult in this world.

And I didn't used to be an adult.

But I've said, I think, repeatedly to anyone who would listen that I'm fairly certain I have some amount of autism, Asperger-ish characteristics.

And you know those people, like adults, who take things really seriously.

And, like, when they play a game, it doesn't matter if they're playing with a four-year-old.

They're still going to play to win.

Yeah.

You know those kind of things?

You know those kind of people?

Yeah, I'm one of them.

Yeah.

Most times.

Yeah, me too.

So, I was just playing wiffle ball this weekend with some neighbors and my neighbor's kids and some other kids from the neighborhood.

And for whatever reason, I was the pitcher for our team.

I'm not a pitcher in general, but I pitched reasonably well to make the game work.

And I got my friend's, like, six-year-old or maybe eight-year-old.

I don't know.

I don't know how old he is.

He's young, but he's not so young that he can't, like, swing a bat and run, right?

So, I got him out at some point.

And then the very next time he was up, I got him out again.

And then one of the other adults, you know, caught his next fly ball.

So, the kid just kept getting out, not even getting on base.

And I could tell this was upsetting him.

And so, I realized, like, oh, oh, wait a minute.

I'm an adult here.

All the other adults are letting the kids, you know, easing up a little bit.

Letting them get to base, being slow about whatever.

So, now I should pick up that cue.

And anyway, I was...

Did a part of you die inside?

I mean, there was one time where, like, I said that I caught his ball.

Like, I caught a ball to get him out twice.

I think that only happened once.

And then another time, like, one of the other little kids, maybe playing first base or whatever,

threw the ball to me in order to get someone out, like, as they were going.

And so, like, I got the ball.

And, like, I was on the ground.

And I sort of rolled around and quickly lunged at the kid.

And that's the second time I got this kid out.

And so, I guess at some point, he did actually make it to base.

But anyway, I got him out.

And I was like, I totally, like, I just turned.

And I didn't even know it was going to be him.

But I just turned and I just went full force at him.

Not, like, hitting him or anything.

But in terms of, like, speed and with the intention of getting him out.

And I was like, oh, bummer, right?

Like, this...

We keep doing this, hurting the kid's feelings and stuff.

And then eventually, right at the end of the game, I felt like I was accomplished.

Like, I had won the game because I realized, as a normal, healthy adult with normal emotions and awareness of the situation,

that I should delay throwing the ball to first base a few seconds in order to let this child, who had not gotten to base very often,

let him just barely get to first base.

And so, even though the game was tied in the end, you know, on Easter Sunday, and I had taken this kid out several times, I felt like I won.

Because I had overcome this incredible autism of playing to win.

Now, I have one other question for you.

You said that you would be forced to wear this jersey for an entire day.

And I guess that turned out poorly for you.

It did not pan out well.

Yeah.

Now, what would have happened if you had won?

I actually...

I didn't make a bet with her in return.

I just said, I'm going to win.

It's no big deal.

Okay.

And I don't think...

I don't recall putting anything on the line for her for some reason or another.

An economist would tell you that that is a bad wager.

Yeah.

I...

You know, I...

But see, I take pride in just winning.

I like to just win.

So...

I don't think I was necessarily concerned with any type of reward out of the...

Just winning was really all that mattered to me.

The irony here is that you might say to yourself,

well, it will strengthen our relationship as we continue to play together.

And, you know, if I win, she'll think strongly of me.

But in truth, she probably would just be upset with you.

And then things would go even more poorly for you if we won.

You know what's funny about her is when I play online,

she takes, especially before she beat me,

she would take such joy in the time...

that I would lose.

Like...

You know, when I would watch her play online, right?

I would cheer for her.

I would say, oh, you know, I would even...

I would try to be a nice person.

A gentleman, if you will.

Give me...

Say, hey, you should try this.

This guy is pinching this way a lot.

You know, you might be able to do, you know, different things to break that.

No...

She wouldn't listen to me.

And I'm like, okay, whatever.

But yet, if I was losing, she would just revel in it.

And I was like, you know, how about some support?

I'm like, you know, I cheer for you.

Right?

But if I play online, man, she...

Just...

Revel if I would lose.

Well, I guess...

I guess that shows you guys have a strong bond.

Yeah.

It's...

It's definitely a very competitive bond.

We're very competitive in anything we do together.

If it's some type of sport, you know, like if we're doing something outdoors, you know,

we want to win.

So I think, actually, it's going to transcend well to our daughter,

who we want to be a competitive, strong-willed person.

But what's funny is I ask myself,

kind of like how you were in that situation you're in,

like when she starts playing video games,

if we're playing something competitive,

am I going to go easy on her?

Am I going to let her win?

Or am I going to crush her?

I don't know how I'm going to cross that bridge yet.

Yeah, that's a hard decision.

But I could tell you that the lesson I learned while listening to your story

is that you essentially found every gamer's dream girl.

Because she went from not knowing how to play a game

to dedicating herself.

To kicking your ass.

And I can't think of anything more admirable in the mate of a gamer.

Yeah, she's very competitive.

And there was another time we played with a bunch of people over,

and she whooped my ass pretty hard.

It was like 6-1 or something.

I don't know what happened.

I just collapsed.

And in front of all my friends, too.

And they're just like, really?

And so she played them, and she just proceeded to mow them down, too.

Which was kind of nice, because then it shut them all up.

All right.

Well, we're going to go to break now.

For all of our listeners, this is Joe Pinsky,

a fan of the show and storytelling machine.

A man, not a machine.

Anyway, we'll be right back.

We'll be right back.

We're back, folks.

And I am going to tell you what just happened to me.

Me and Joe, sort of, like this past week, week or two.

So I was at, I've mentioned recently how I'm selling this artwork, right?

And so I've got some of the artwork of Jeffrey Gersten.

We did this video game art stuff that you can see on our Facebook page.

I have this in a gallery in Denver.

And while I was at that gallery for First Friday,

it was a art event in March.

So, you know, just over a month ago.

Obviously, I'm talking about video games with some of the people who come in to look at the artwork,

because the video game art that I have on the wall tells the story that I love games, right?

And this one guy starts talking to me about, you know, if I have a Wii U.

And I'm like, of course, I have everything.

He says, you really got to get Captain Toad.

And I had obviously heard of Captain Toad.

And I played, you know, the mini games in Super Mario 3D World.

But I had not, I had not actually bought the game.

And I just, I had some real skepticism.

But whether or not it was going to be a great game all by itself.

But he insisted it would be good.

And on that recommendation alone, and a lack of new games in my life,

and the assumption that it would be an easy game to pick up and play it with short amounts of time,

which is what my life is like these days.

I thought to myself, yes, I will get this game.

And I remembered I'd gotten a gift card that was good enough to buy the game from Best Buy recently.

So I went down there and I got the game.

Now, of course, when you bring home a Nintendo game,

you think to yourself,

I'm sure everyone does this.

I need to go put this game code, my pin, into Club Nintendo to make sure I get points for it.

Especially because Club Nintendo is shutting down at the end of June.

So I open up the case and I look for this code and it's nowhere to be found.

And I'm like, are these sneaky devils crazy enough to put it on the actual like slipcase cover on the inside of the cover art?

Because there's, you can see something written there through the,

Wii U games have like the recycled symbol actually etched out.

So the DVD case is not solid.

And so you could see some writing on the backside of the cover art and I slide it out and there it is, the pin for the game.

So I go over to, to Club Nintendo and I put that in before I even start playing the game and I've noticed a big warning that says the last chance you have to gain coins for Club Nintendo, which is how you get stuff, is March 31st.

So as I just said a minute ago, it was the end of June, but I was wrong.

The end of June is when you can cash in the coins.

But the last day you can actually,

put game codes in in order to obtain coins is the end of March, March 31st.

And this was like March 28th or something.

So I realized, crap, I do not have enough.

And they have a really cool prize, this like messenger bag, black on black with a Zelda theme on it.

I think it's from Majora's Mask.

And so I say to myself, as I tend to do, I need that thing for no good reason whatsoever.

So I am going to,

go on the Facebook and ask people for codes because, you know, I don't have any other means other than actually paying for a bunch of games that I don't want to play or can't play right now.

So I go on Facebook and I asked Chatterboxers for codes and one person steps up and that was totally awesome, even though I already had the game and couldn't use the code.

And then I asked other people and, and I only have like two days for this.

And of course the website is now getting pounded by everybody doing the same thing last minute, trying to enter codes.

And so like,

a couple of days before this happened, before the very end of it, which is basically where the story starts, I contact Joe, the very Joe that you just heard from.

And I was like, Hey, Joe, do you do club Nintendo?

And he's like, no, I don't do that at all.

I don't know anything about it.

And I said, well, dear friend, I bet you have things like consoles and other stuff with codes that you can give me.

And he, like a true gentleman, goes scouring through his house and finds the box to an old Nintendo 3DS.

He doesn't even have it.

And some other games.

And he gives me these codes and I start entering some of them.

And I, to make a longer story, less long, I'm trying to put these codes in for basically an entire day and they won't work because club Nintendo's website is just getting hammered.

Eventually I get some stuff in and another friend gave me some codes and I had, uh, I put all of these in and two of them ended up like getting accepted by Nintendo, but not giving me.

So every time you put a game code in, you don't get the same code.

You don't get the codes right away.

What it does is it triggers a survey.

And when you take the survey, you get the coins.

And so these two games went into my like game catalog, but the surveys never appeared.

And so I ended up just short 60 coins out of 800 short 60 coins of my goal of 800 and the games I'd put in that did not prevent present surveys to me were worth 110 coins.

So I emailed, you know, tech.

I emailed tech support at Nintendo to be like, Hey, this is what's going on.

Can you help me out?

And the next day, which is April 1st, the day after when you can no longer enter this stuff.

Um, Oh, wait a minute.

I got to step back.

Got to step back.

This is the best part of the story.

So I have, uh, Joe, who's given me some codes and another friend has given me some codes.

A lot of them are for games.

I already have like, you know, Mario 3d world, the new super Mario is you and stuff.

So, uh, I have these codes I can't use, but I figure Reddit will have a place where you can trade codes.

Lo and behold, it has exactly that.

A subreddit for people to trade codes.

And, uh, so I'm trying to trade codes.

Like ever since I get home that day, I'm trying to trade codes.

And I found one guy who had a code for smash brothers and I didn't have smash brothers.

So he gave me his code, but all day I'd been trying to trade codes with people and they're like, it didn't work.

It didn't work.

And I don't know what the heck's going on with the website.

It tells you the codes don't work when they really do.

Cause it's, it's that broken.

So I gave him my code.

This is literally 20 minutes before midnight.

When it's going to shut down or maybe 25 minutes, I give him the code and he's like, are you trying to screw me?

It's not working.

Right.

And I was like, no, I haven't used your code yet.

Don't worry.

You can hold onto it.

And then a few minutes later, he's like, oh, sorry, dude.

Sorry.

Like it's the Christmas miracle.

It showed up.

You could totally go use my code.

This is 15 minutes after I gave it to him.

So it's now 1150.

There are 10 minutes left.

And so I go to Nintendo's website again, cause you're constantly refreshing it.

Cause it logs you out every three seconds because it's so handy.

So I go to Nintendo's website again, cause you're constantly refreshing it.

I go to, to load it up and you get that.

There's a page with Mario being like, oh, Hey, maintenance.

Sorry.

And it was that way for like the next nine hours.

Like I went to bed eventually, but, uh, even the next day, it's still, even right now, I think I haven't tried it today, but like even just yesterday, it was hard to get into.

And, uh, yesterday, by the way, was the sixth.

So bottom line is I got a 60 coin code from this guy.

And the difference of like,

Three minutes meant that I couldn't even get into the website to try to enter the code, to try to get a survey, to try to answer a survey.

And, uh, so I was, I like to say I was 10 minutes out of getting it to work.

So I had to rely a hundred percent on them being nice enough to give me the coins based on the stuff I'd entered previously that didn't give me codes or surveys.

Anyway, it all worked out because in the end they did come through and they did give me those 110 coins.

And I did order the damn message bag, which will.

Arrive in two to five months, um, which is a long time, but thanks to Joe and some other very kind people, it worked out for me and I have a friend who is a Nintendo rep and I explained the story to her and she's like, listen, even if it doesn't work out, don't worry about it, I'll find something to trade you for that bag.

And I was like, listen, it is not, it's not about the bag, it's about the journey, this whole thing, it was a game and I needed to know that I won the game through whatever reason.

It was a game and I needed to know that I won the game through whatever reason.

And I did.

I think.

I don't, I don't know what the rules are for winning in the game that's in my head, but I think I won.

And maybe when I get that bag, I'll feel it.

But right now I just feel like I overcame.

So I have one question for you about that.

Yes.

If you don't get that bad, do you feel as if you've lost the said game?

I'm confident that I will because it's been ordered and Nintendo in the past has come through with Nintendo Club stuff.

But, you know, if it never shows up, I still I still do feel the accomplishment, which is silly because in truth, it was just an incredible expenditure of both time and worry for if I don't get the bag, what is literally nothing, no value.

Was this bag something you really wanted?

Like, did you eye up this bag like months prior and go, oh, I really want that?

Or is it just because you knew it was shutting down?

You wanted to get the most expensive item?

I did not know it existed until I put in the Captain Toad code and saw, well, what can I get for these coins?

How many coins should I want to have?

And it showed up as the highest value prize.

And I was like, wait a second, that doesn't suck because in the past they've had really cool prizes like unique stuff.

And they they make a point that you can only get these things through Club Nintendo.

You can't buy them.

Obviously, you can get them on eBay and stuff.

Because other people sell theirs, but you can't get them through any official channel except this one.

So that sounds like a pretty cool thing.

Why are they discontinuing this?

I'm sure it comes down to money.

There's there's a lot of expense in terms of people who maintain the website and maintain, you know, designing products and creating products through the people that actually create these things and shipping them out.

Because everything is free shipping.

So I guess they decided that the incentive it creates for people to buy new games is not good enough.

And that's actually you.

You see that in another another part of this is so you have coins that you can buy stuff with.

But if you have collected 300 coins in a calendar year, which, well, not a calendar year, but in the Nintendo Club year, which is July 1st to June 30th, if you've gotten 300, then you're deemed an elite status member.

At the gold level.

And if you collect 600 coins in that same year, then you're an elite status member with platinum privileges.

And so they would have gold.

You can just pick.

It's not a coin at that point.

So, like, you can use your coins for whatever, but you also get the any one of multiple gold prizes or if you're platinum, any one of multiple gold or platinum prizes.

And those are usually these especially cool things that, again, you can't get through any other channel.

And obviously, they're more limited because it's only the people who achieve that level.

And if you look at the gold.

And platinum rewards this year, they are 100 percent, no exception, downloadable games.

So 3DS games, Wii U games or Wii games that are for the Wii U download.

So they've removed, obviously, the shipping component of the platinum and gold prices.

And so you can tell that part of the reason they're abandoning this is because of the difficulty in producing and shipping the prices.

In other words, management of the program.

The cost portions of the program management.

So at least those are the lines that I'm reading between.

And so I'm sad that they're getting rid of it.

And I supposedly they're going to create something else to sort of fill that void of loyalty program.

But I'm not aware.

I don't like I didn't actually watch the Nintendo Direct that happened on April 1st.

So I don't know if they announced something new then.

But it would have been a good time for them to do that.

So I don't think they did.

And I know that my Nintendo rep friend.

Who I spoke to on the 31st.

She may have been lying to me because she can't tell me.

But what she said was that, yes, they say they're going to do something else.

But they haven't told us what it is yet.

And I believe her just because Nintendo's like that.

They probably wouldn't share it because they know that it would get out.

Yeah, they're pretty, pretty secretive.

Yeah, but that's that's the claim right now.

And I haven't heard of anything replacing it.

So what's funny is like through this act, they're going to essentially shut down.

A subreddit because that read it was that subreddit was dedicated to the trading of these codes and those even the codes you get for the downloadable games, obviously, will be useless after June.

So that whole subreddit has to go away unless they create something that is a replacement and also involves, you know, tradable codes.

It's a shame to see stuff like this go away because there's not a lot of it left anymore where you can get cool little swag, swag and neat little collectible items.

Like, I remember like 15 so long ago, 15, 20 years ago when I worked for GameStop, you know, we used to get so much cool promotional merchandise and little things to give away.

And like, you don't really see that now, now you just extra levels and games and stuff, you don't see the cool collectibles like you used to, it's a real shame.

See, I feel the other way, I feel that the there has been a greater access to these collectibles, except that they're contained within deluxe and limited edition version of games.

Like, I don't know.

I don't know.

Like, Japan always did that, and people in America who were gamers and knew about that were jealous about it.

But then they realized in America, we want that crap too, right?

Whatever bobblehead dolls or books, art books and things, we want those too.

So they started releasing limited edition here.

And what's interesting is that now that they're available, they're less appealing to me.

And that's just natural psychology.

It happens to everybody.

But I'm so aware of it.

Like, well, now that I have it.

I could just buy that, you know, Master Chief helmet, I don't want it as much.

And that's what that's what makes the Nintendo Club so appealing is that you can't just buy this stuff.

It's got to be something else.

And, you know, the fact that I was able to achieve this without actually buying things by just completely mooching off of my friends and dear listeners, made it even more of a game for me.

No, I can see that.

Yeah.

So you gave up your things to give to me.

So that's very kind of you.

Oh, no problem.

No problem.

Yeah.

I definitely did not have enough to catch in to really get anything worthwhile.

I'm sure.

So now just crap, crappy downloadable games.

That's pretty much it.

All right.

So we've got time for for one more one more story.

And I think you've got one to tell.

I do.

This one a little bit different.

Not so competitive.

A little more cooperative.

Long time ago, I was like, I don't want to say anywhere, but like eight and 12 years old.

Me and my uncle, we used to game together all the time.

And.

Sometimes we were really engulfed in like single player games, two of them that really stand out XCOM UFO Defense, which we played on PC.

Are you familiar with that at all?

I'm not actually familiar with XCOM, aside from the fact that I know it's a game that people play.

And for instance, my brother's really into it.

But I've never played an XCOM XCOM game to really understand what it is.

Term based strategy.

Basically, not when you control each individual soldier.

And you send them out on these little missions where you go to like UFO crash sites or alien bases and research their technology and kind of stuff like that.

And the other one is a little Genesis game called Herzog's Y.

Are you familiar with that at all?

Sort of, but I think only because you've mentioned it in the past.

OK, I know R is a big fan of this game.

So if he listens to this, he'll he'll appreciate this metagame we created within the game.

That is the game that's like.

Sega Genesis horizontal split screen and each player gets one half.

OK, yes, I'll start with Herzog first.

So generally the way you would play this multiplayer really is just, you know, it's versus whoever destroys other person's main base first.

That's it.

You know, and that was the game.

But we kind of got bored with that after doing it for so many times.

And so we were trying to think of what could we do to make this more interesting?

So what we would do is the way the game worked is over time.

Your money, like every every second, your money would just increase exponentially over time and more like little sub bases.

You conquered that amount would grow.

So we'd each conquer the sub bases and even amounts.

Our money would both grow at the same time.

And so what we would do then is one of us would just build up a massive defense.

It's just massive.

And then the other one would just mount this an absurd offense.

And we would just, you know, whoever was building up the offense or you would just send it.

And just basically, you know, you knew if you were on the defensive side, you were going to lose.

It was just a question of how long you could hold out for.

And so we kind of just made like this endurance game of, you know, if you were the one on the defensive, how long could you how long could you hold out for before you eventually lose everything you have?

And we kind of created some pretty epic matches that way.

And it's funny to this day that any time we talk about the game, that's all we really ever talk about is just this epic moments we had of just, you know, some one time, one of us, I think we survived for like over an hour.

Which.

Was pretty, if you've played the game or anyways has played the game, and I understand that's just ridiculous, but what we would do with XCOM, we really enjoyed playing the game, but of course there was no multiplayer aspect to it.

So what we would end up doing was you could name your soldiers.

You could pretty much edit anything in the game.

And so you typically ran with a squad of eight people.

So since it was turn-based and there was, you could just, you know, move the mouse freely between one person to another.

I would control four.

People.

He would control four people.

And we would just kind of play it that way together.

So we were kind of as cool because instead of just, you know, sitting there watching someone play the game for hours on end, you know, because it was single player, we found a way to turn a single player game into a cooperative game.

And it was pretty cool because we probably spent, I want to say about a month going through that game because it was so huge and so long to get through.

We eventually beat the game together, which was, I thought was really a really fun thing to do.

And.

And it's again, something that, you know, 20 some years later, we still talk about.

In fact, we were just reminiscing about this last week together and saying how we should play those again.

And so we were talking the next time we hang out, we're going to get some food and just, you know, go just play them again and kind of, I guess in a way kind of reminiscing the nostalgia of it.

But it was something that we did all the time.

It was really fun.

I always get a kick out of turning single player games or something that's not necessary.

That's not necessarily meant for it to be played that way, but kind of putting a twist on that on a game in particular and kind of giving it new life.

Yeah, I have a memory of this when I was a child.

It was just, I mean, it was just a one player game of handing off, you know, between each death or whatever.

So that's not exactly terribly meta, but I would do this with Castlevania with someone who was a friend of mine at the time.

One of those friends who turned out to be a total asshole later in life, you know?

So, like, I've tried to look him up in adult life to see, like, how horribly his life has turned out.

If he's still alive.

I can't actually find any record of him.

I can find, like, his mother and that's it.

So I don't know if he's dead or just in such poverty or, like, non-tech state that he avoids the Internet in all ways.

Stays off the grid.

So anyway, aside from him being a total douche, when we were kids, I didn't feel that way.

And we would play Castlevania and we would always get up, like, to the Grim Reaper level, which is the second to last level.

And sometimes we would get to the Grim Reaper, but never beat him.

I think one time one of us beat him and we got, like, one life in the Dracula level, the next one.

And that was it.

And I could never do that on my own, but it was just something we did.

Like, we would just play over and over, you know, like you sleep over Friday night.

You just play all night.

And that's when I think about my...

My childhood gaming.

That's something that happened enough, like, repeatedly that it actually sticks out in my head as a nostalgic moment.

Otherwise, like, I can't...

I just don't remember any cooperative, like, working with my friends sort of elements in games where it was so repeated that it actually formed a memory for me.

Otherwise, I mean, I played a lot of games with my friends, but this one sticks out as, like, that was a thing we did.

Over and over and over, just like you're describing.

And it was, like, our thing.

Yeah.

I don't have that, I think, in any other way as it relates to games.

And I think one thing, too, that, you know, if this was today, that might not even be possible with online gaming being so big.

And, you know, I think there's something...

I mean, don't get me wrong, online gaming is awesome because it lets you connect with people that, you know, you may not be able to.

Like, for a long time, a friend of mine was down south, and, you know, we used to play hockey and soccer all the time.

And when he moved...

You know, that obviously wouldn't have been possible for us to continue if we didn't have, you know, the online gaming.

But I do think there's something to be said for getting a group of people together.

And I think it just creates moments that can't not really be replicated online.

Like, you know, Mario Party.

Like, would you rather play Mario Party online with four of your friends or have everyone over together?

You know, I don't think that's something that can be replicated online.

Yeah.

And there's this, like, subculture of...

Creating multiplayer games for, you know, that have to be played together in the same location.

And I really like that.

And that's what Sports Friends is, actually.

I've talked about that many times before.

I don't know if you've ever actually played it.

I never did.

That was the theme behind Sports Friends is a game that has to be played in person, right, with your friends.

And so they intentionally made it, you know, not online at all.

I don't know if there's scoreboards or anything even online.

It's just simply a game you play together with up to, like, I don't know how many people, four people or something.

Well, in the case of Johann Sebastian Joust, seven people.

I've always wanted to play that.

Yeah.

And it's a good game.

It's a very good game.

Anyway, I like that.

And there's actually...

Lately, I keep looking at the Jackbox, which is a collection of, like, five or six games, and thinking how I wish I lived the life I lived a few years ago.

When...

So, like, when I was...

When I was going to school a second time around at the University of, you know, Advancing Technology, where we had lots of gamers around and we would get together all the time and play games, like, that would be perfect.

But now I'm an adult in a new state, so I don't have a ton of friends.

And all the friends I do have, like, have kids or jobs or whatever.

Totally lame.

And I have my kid and a job and am totally lame.

So these things don't happen as much.

But I am waiting for the day.

And when I get some people over and it's like, hey, let's play a game, or we have the time to actually do that, and then I'll break out this great game.

People are like, oh, my God, I didn't know this existed.

This is great.

We should do this again, right?

But right now, it's, you know, it's all Cheerios and vomit in my life.

That's what my life has become right now.

So, which is great, because soon I'm going to be able to play games with the kid.

But the Cheerios and vomit, I don't know.

I could skip that.

You could skip that part until they're about five, right?

And then you could begin the gaming.

Like, I have my daughter's gaming education completely planned out already.

I spent time thinking about this before she was even born.

Yeah, me too.

What is her first game?

And what's funny is actually her very first game, it already kind of happened.

Her first controller she ever held was a Genesis controller.

And she was messing around with Rocket Knight Adventures.

And it was really cool.

I actually recorded it on my phone as it was happening.

Because it was so neat.

When she realized that when she pressed the button, the little dude on the screen was jumping.

And when she realized, she was making that happen.

There was just this, like, look on her face.

It was just priceless when she realized she was making that happen.

And it was just so awesome.

And I can't wait until she gets a little older and gets an even better understanding of how this stuff works.

And gets to experience it.

And another reason I want to start her off with a lot of older stuff.

And this is kind of a quick sub-rant.

Is I feel that not just culture today.

But especially in video games.

Everything just seems to be handed to you now.

There's so much of the challenge has been removed.

And I kind of want her to get that sense of overcoming a challenge.

And feeling like she earned the achievement of beating something difficult.

Versus just playing some game that gets either progressively easier if you keep failing.

Or whatever.

I think that you can instill a valuable life lesson early.

Instilling that in someone.

Where they want to overcome a challenge.

Instead of just having an accomplishment handed to them.

Yeah, I definitely plan to...

Like, I have this progression.

I don't know, like, what the first game is.

It's probably going to be Mario Brothers, right?

But in general, I just know that I want him to play...

We're going to start with NES.

And then we'll go to Super Nintendo.

And if someone gives me enough of a good argument to have him actually bother with a Genesis...

Oh, I could do that.

Yeah, you might be the man.

Yeah.

Maybe we'll do that.

And I don't have the...

I'm not delusional enough to think that he'll never play a different game.

Because iPads exist.

And road trips exist.

And that's...

I mean, that's that.

The kid's going to play some stupid touch game on an iPhone or iPad.

Yeah.

But there's going to be a point where I'm going to say,

Okay, now it's time to step up to big boy games and play the real thing.

And here's how we're going to start.

And I very much look forward to that day.

And it will be glorious.

Absolutely.

But it's like six years away.

Yeah, unfortunately.

But it's going to be awesome.

I can't wait to see how...

Because I also want her to have an appreciation for the older stuff.

I don't know.

To me, that's important.

Yeah.

My only concern is that he will at some point see me playing games, which are modern.

And then when I say, Oh, you want to play a game?

Let me pull up the stuff that works for you.

And it's going to be Super Mario Brothers.

It's going to be a step down.

And maybe he's going to be like, What the heck is this?

Exactly.

I play a lot of retro stuff.

So I'm hoping that I can avoid that issue.

I play Genesis stuff, NES stuff all the time.

So I'm hoping that she'll see that I played enough, too.

That she won't get discouraged or be like,

Oh, well, why am I playing this when you're playing Bloodborne?

Yeah.

What I've just realized is that you and I have to now go play IDARB together.

I don't know if you've even...

I've never heard of that.

So you have an Xbox One or a PS4?

PS4.

That's the problem.

Okay.

Well, whatever.

Fine.

I guess we won't be playing IDARB.

If something ever comes out for the Xbox One that I think is worthy, I'd get one.

But I'm just not impressed with it at all.

I suspect that IDARB is available for PS4, except it was free with gold on Xbox One,

which is why I have it.

Oh, okay.

I feel like it is the...

Modern, yet totally retro recreation of NBA Jam.

Because, I mean, it tries really hard to be reminiscent of NBA Jam.

But your character is not really, but it's essentially a pixel.

And, you know, so it's very different in presentation.

It intentionally looks like an Atari 2600 game, but moves like a modern game.

And has, like, sound effects like NBA Jam, right?

Very reminiscent of that.

And it's a game that is clearly derived from sports games, because it's, like, the character

has to grab onto the ball, which is another pixel, or collection of pixels that are not

high resolution, and get the ball into the opposing goal.

And then there's, like, a timeout box.

So it's, like, it's definitely a mix between, like, hockey and basketball made for the 2600,

but moving at 60 frames, you know.

So.

I will check it out.

Yeah, you should at least go to YouTube or something and look at it.

Or Twitch these days.

You can just watch people playing games live.

That's a thing.

Yeah, I have a hard time with that for some reason.

I've messed with it a few times, and I'm like, why am I watching someone else play?

Yeah, there are reasons.

Usually it's when people start talking that I'm like, yeah, this is enough for me.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, with that, I am going to call a close.

To the evening, is there anything that you wanted to say to the crowd or anything you

want to promote before we go?

Not really.

It's a pleasure doing this with him.

Hopefully we can do it again sometime.

All right.

Well, thank you so much for being on the show.

And thank you, everyone, for listening to Chatterbox Beta number one.

Good night.

You've been listening to Chatterbox Video Game Radio.

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