Book Club and Final Wrap

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Know your sleep score with Apple Watch. iPhone eleven or later required. This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, likeike restoring a vintage motorcycle from a fifty page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online makes sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responsse is setup required compatibility and availability varies eighteen plus Okay, yeah, I'll I'll get you those files in a minute Eric's always talking about files all the time. He loves his files. files. And there's a lot of files he shouldn't like, but these files he does Hello everybody. Welcome back to the Break Room. I'm Alex Berg. This is Brian Kim. We're going to talk about some stuff. One of the first things to talk about is the new look. Look at this. It looks a little it's same, but different. different. Same but different. kind of like how Breakrooom is going to be. Yes. Yeah, yeah. So we want to just talk to you guys a little bit about the thinking behind the rebrand. what we're hoping to achieve with the rebrand and all that sort of stuff. So as Some of the vocal commentaryat have let us know. You guys miss Brandon, you guys miss Evan, you guys miss John, you guys miss Zach We also miss these people. Yes. Some of them don't work here anymore And some of them don't live in California anymore. you know Yeah So you know, the the break room has always been like a little bit fluid. And I think for a while, we were just kind of rolling with the fluidity instead of going like, hey, this is like changed enough that it's fundamentally different now. And so the rebrand is kind of our attempt to be like hey, let's let's just acknowledge that and and try to make it a little bit more give the vibe of the show a little bit more of the vibe of the hosts R which Brian and I are both pretty laid back As you can tell by my suit and Oh not my suit by my so funny tie. I didn't know Brian. I didn't know one, I didn't know we were gonna to be matching today.. We are kind of matching. you two When I showed up, Brian wasn't wearing this and I was like sitting here working on something. and then Brian came like walking onto set and I was like, o, fancy manan. It was mostly like I was like, maybe we should I was trying to do the office vibes. Yeah I'm working in an office. which is why we need a tie and a button up shirt I gotta tell you guys, it's hot. so this may not be a thing I do every time. It's also, maybe it's like a Southern California thing. I've worked in multiple offices None of them have had a dress code No not a single one. The only places I've been with dress codes are like when you have to go to like an agents like an agency office or something. then everyone's in suits and even then I think it's mostly peopleeople trying to show off how much disposable income they have like I can just wear a suit like this every day. You know, this isn't special for me. I'm like They're trying Do it differently at SoCo U But yeah, basically as you guys probably know, but maybe you guys don't because they're only explained a couple of episodes U Evan, no longer the producer here has left new rock stars. John as well left new rock stars Specifically, Brandon, we all love Brandon. I love Brandon. He's great. love Brandon. But during the transitional period, he made the decision to move outside of California. And so literally cannot be here. Yes.. And same thing with Zach also decided to move out of state. You know, they still work with us at different capacities, but it's They're not going to be in the break room like they used to just because of literal physical capacity Yeah. And in terms of other hosts that you guys know and love and that we also know and love and appreciate their expertise, U The other thing is our budget has been little bit reduced. So we don't necessarily have the same capacity to hire these hosts as we used to. Yes. And that's been the case for a long. L scroll up and try to figure out the last video Maud or tooy was in, you know, like we love them, And we like their expertise is something that the break room had initially been but up on, But we like compensating our hosts for their expertise. and we just since we felt like we couldn't do that in a reasonable way. We wanted to do more like in house in office. And I think Eric had pointed this out too In general, we wanted the vibe of the break room to be more like the break room of the office. Yes. though, the people who work here. it When it started, when I first started at New Rckstars four years ago last week Wow. I've been here for a college length of time I It was the actual breakroom You exact room, right when you walk off. Yeah. It was just like loaded with cameras and monitors and stuff. Very comforting. Yeah, very comforting. Yeah, yeah. And now we're bringing it full circ under percent Um And so yeah, this is why all the changes have happened U We're just laying it out now. now you guys know. And if anyone ever asks, link them this video. Yes. Link them this video so they know U I'll also also I'm comfortable taking responsibility for this. I really wanted new chairs. I hated I hated the high backed stools. They were very uncomfortable. Yeah. especially during Comicon when we were doing those like, you know, four hour streams or whatever. It like that was like a tough I'm an old man, you know N for sure. My grandson doesn't feel this yet, but Yeah Little baby boy, littleittle baby B.y.. you're if you're watching this video, just put put something in the comments, hashtag little baby Brian. Oh Hashtag LBB. A. How old do you guys think I am genuine question, how old do you guys think I am My my birthday's coming of this weekend. Yeah, yeah I'm excited for you to finally turn thirteen. I think I think you're going to be a great teenager someday soon. This might be illegal if I' Not an adult. I'm not worrying. I'm not doing thiseg. I don't know I don't know we got we watch We to watch the proomperter I guess before it But so that's that's the reason why things look different. We have a new graphics package. Thank you so much to Joshua Heard for helping us with that. Thankk you so much to Patty Miller for helping us the set set up. Thankk you to Wayfair for seing us these chairs We'll have a formal ad read for them next week. recognized. But we were like we need new furniture and Wfare was like, we got you and And I'll tell you this much Genuine rck, these chairs are comfy. These are great. These are great. These are great. Yeah, We had like gray sofa chairs that we tested They I didn't like it much. They were not good. These were way better. They sound way better. they made us look like babies. They made us look like babies. They made Brian look his age. Exactly. fiveive years old. Yeah He said it. He said it No, I'm gonna turn thirty, you guys. Clip. I'm turning thirty. That's official unk age. I'm joining the unk cllub I don't know if I think unkks a stayate of mind. think I think I've been unk since I was fourteen. You know what? I think that's fair, but I think when you reach thirty, you can't pretend anymore. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?ty thirty does feel like your second childhood has. It's like all right, I am unk And also like, you know, like people talk about like their twenties being pretty messy. likeike if your thirties are messy, that's a little bit more of a cry for help. like twies everyone in your twenties everybody gives you the grace of like, yeah, of course they don't have a checking account. They're only twenty nine you know That's true. I have one more week Yeah so I can make all these mistakes. Yeah, ye ye ye. O course they've got twenty grand and credit card debt. They're just figuring it out, you know, like U And then as soon as you turn thirty, everyone's like, dude you got to make better choices. The ch is immediate showhing up hungover to something on a Saturday when you're twenty nine. Still acceptable Once you're thirty, it's quits being cute. you know, like and you get people like they won't call you out on it. you'll just notice no one's amused. Thats like That's fair. Yeah. And one final thing is that The break room, I wanted this water cooler. Mind's been want since day one. Day one. I had this idea, which I don't know if we'll ever do, but I'm putting it out there that we might do. I wanted to do this like interview format where it's like us at the office and then we interview somebody as if they were our coworkers and just be like, Hey, man, how was the how again? How I really wanted us to be leaning against the water cooler And I was like, I have to sit. There is a version of this where we literally are doing the show standing by the water cooler. It could have happened. Still might It my. I'm so happy. I can't I can't tell you how much how happy I am just to have a water cooler in the break room. It ties everything together again, I I said it earlier, it was not a bit. when I showed up to work today, Brian was unpacking the water cooler and he had this like shitty like like a dad with a new ride on mower. You know, Brian was like, it's here It becausecause I've been saying for so long, I'm like, it's real. This is actually here. crazy So anyway, so that's that's the story behind the the rebrand and the refresh. We're going for a casual vibe, a more intimate vibe. It's going to be the two of us. We're not sitting at a desk. It doesn't feel like ESPN. You know, so that's that's why we are where we are and how we are and who we are Um, so Thank you for watching. Uh let's let's start off with a quick weekend catch up, Brian What did you do to celebrate America's two hundred fiftieth birthday this Saturday I went in my Ford F one, whatever the heck is calleding fifty one a fifty went to the Mojave desesert and launched a bunch of fireworks. Now U Friends of mine were like, Hey, you want to eat some steaks and potatoes and corn? Sounds like that sounds yummy. Yeah, it sounds fantastic. I'm usually a burgers and hot dogs guy for fourth of July, but they're like we got to do steaks. and I'm like, Yeah, I'm not gonna to turn out on steak. No. I'm not gonna to turn it down.. And then we ended up playing just games together. What games? I played the rhythm heaven Wh Oh yeah. ye. I might' talk about it now or do you want to circle back to it in Brian's corner? You don't I want tona talk about it now. Yeah. I'll just talk about it now. Rhythm Heaven, if you guys don't know, is a rhythm game from Nintendo. It's really fun, It's really quirky, it's really cute. It's like mini games, right? Yeah, It's like a bunch of min games with like testing your rhythm. Yeah. I'm I'm gonna say hot takeake right now. I think Rhythm Heaven is the only actual true rhythm game every other rhythm game is actually memorizing game or reaction speed game. Yeah where like DVR or the OSU or all the stuff. you're just like testing how fast you can click the button. What about something like Thumper or guitar Ho or like one of those. Even those, I will say When it gets to the hard levels It feels like it's just a it's a Test of whether or not you can press the buttons fast and. Interesting. I'm obviously exaggerating a little bit Yeah. Th are rhythm games, but What I appreciate about rhythm heaven is that it's not about this like fast or like how complicated, It's like testing whether you have a sense of rhythm. Interesting. whichich I find like a lot of fun I'll be I'll be terrible at it. I have I have no for a I played Tombone for Four years as a kid? I was pretty cool. Dude Trombone gu. But I have no rhythm and I'm to death Perfect pererfect for Br. You know, so it's like, yeah, like if you're like, you know, in a in a band with like thirty other high schoolers, it's fine. But once it started doing like, you know, jazz band and stuff was like, they're able to rightly call me out on my shit. So I think I would be bad at Rhythm Heaven but It' it's so much fun. It's also because it's like it's a quirky game. Yeah.. And there's a thing where If you guys part of the Rhythm Heaven C community. you know this. The Rhythm Heaven like scoring system was like it started with Try again Okay Just okay and superb All the games were, that's the inkings. Okay. For this game, they changed it for some reason. It was keep trying Good, really good and amazing And I think it's to be like not as mean where if you get these things and you say it's just okay, just feels bad. It feels not as good. I was like, no, I really liked it because just okay, so funny. Yeah, yeah This's not gonna to matter to anybody. but When you play the game, there's like the first half of the game. and when you reach the second half, it's like, oh, now the game is for serious and it's harder now And they brought back the old rankings. Re? The old rankings is what they used for the hard half. And I was like, wait, that's so cool. Oh that's such a fun like. Yeah yeah, whichich is so dumb because it doesn't matter, but like I just the fact that they made The rankings are reveal kind of. They knew what the people want. It's like they they figured out that you would be disappointed and they felt bad about it, but they had to do it so that they could get you excited in the second The first half, I was like, you know, this is fun, but I don't think it has the same sauce as the other games. And when the second half hit, I was like Yeah, that's the sauce. This is This is exactly what I wanted U how was your for the July weekend? My weekend was good. I I went to a Black tie optional. Wedding Oh, that a sad show So Which basically just means black tie, but you don't have to feel bad if you don't have like an evening gir or a tux. So I didn't wear a tux. I did't wear a full suit. I didn't wear full suit to my own wedding This this is what I wore to my my I mean, wedding. I went to a, you know courthouse, but But it was it was so funny because like I'm not a fancy person. you know, like I'm really not as you can maybe tell by the cut offff cargo shorts general inability to make it through three sentences without fucking swearing, you know, likeere's the thing, once you get to an even higher tax bracket, it does loop around to Yeah It does. It does. Yeahah. Maybe you're Uber rich. Maybe yeah,be mayaybe I'm a billionaire. So It was funny because like the You know, it was it was an outdoor venue, the it was basically like an estate in Beverly Hills on top of a mount. Um, and also the the groom u The groom's a writer for Rick and Morty. So there were also like a bunch of like famous writers there, you know, so it's like I'm I'm like in line to get a donoughnut for dessert, you know, it's just like It's between the having to dress up and be fancy and being around people who have careers I would kill for know It's a lot of like self reflection And then but probably the The the main thing is u At the end of the night, they had like a donoughnut and coffee station for like dessert And I fucking love donnuts and I love coffee and I can't handle caffeine. But I was like, I'm gonna have a little bit of coffee. I can have a little coffee as a treat. I just won't drink the whole thing. idiot. I drank the whole fucking thing And then I I was up all night and and because I couldn't sleep, I was like chugging through a big chunk of Final Fantasy six It's on game passass right now and I've been like slowly playing it when my wife isn't home to play Ragnarok with And so it was like, well, I didn't I didn't get any sleep. But I did get to, you know, get Syan as a character and watch Kefka pooison Doma and you know, all that fun stuff. So it was productive. It it was a productive evening. Productive. Yeah, wororth it. Yeah. and then Sunday, I, I mean, this is my true happy place. I sat by myself in my backyard reading a nonfiction book about fungus. Learning all the different the fourteen different phyla that encompass the kingdom of fungi and you know, what defines a fungus and That was like, that was my fourth july. Th you know what Those were my fireworks. Yeah. out you the fun guy Thank you, George Washington We salute you. Is this your first fungi book? 'cause absolutely not. Okay, I was gonna say Absolutely not. I feel like you've read more fungi books. I think this is this we might be getting into double digits at this point Double d dits Yeah, I mean, over the past like couple years, definitely. how much more can you learn about So much. So much. And like that's the thing is this book is a bunch of authors who I've read like some of them I've read individual books by Other ones, I've read like articles by in like some of these compendium books. But they're constantly doing new research. The rate at which we discover new types of fungus is Like, you know, I think it's something like two or three thousand new species a year. and now we're doing all this complicated gene sequencing. And so we're learning more about like the molecular machinery that they work on Yeah, there's so much to learn. and then I always forget some from the last book. I'm also like constantly relearning the basics, is which is also really great, really humbling That's fair. That's fair. Yeah. ye. I'm way on bored. and the pictures are great. There's a bunch of really cool microscopy photos. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. This is what being American's all about. Being American's all about. Yeah. Playing video games, reading books about mushrooms. Yes. Yes. So yeah, that was my weekend Today's episode of The Break Rom is sponsored by Factor. so let's talk about food for a second. I get incredibly hungry. U likeike when I'm when I haven't eaten, do you get arere you also a hgry person or you know,ve I usually try not to be and I generally am not, but I think the older I'm getting I'm getting hgry I cannot handle hunger anymore No. I'm like I need something to eat, sometometimes you need a little food. Yes. Sometimes you need a little food. So this is one of the things we like about factor is factor is always fresh neverever frozen meals already in Two minutes Uh factored jops Pps cooks and delivers straight to your door. So you have more time for everything you love and can spend less time in the hangry phase of things getting to your food. Something I like about Factor two is like I'm very specific about the food I eat. You may have noticed the bag of almonds and bag of raisins that accompany me to the office Most days. Like you sort of are you a person who's like, well, I'll e whatever's nearby or do you have like specific things you're trying to do with reen. Here's the thing. I usually am and eat whatever I want, but Sometimes when I want to try to get cut, I do a little like keto esque. I do a little pescatarian. I don't want to be too much h with different kinds of meats and I have pretty specific that way I can like, watch what I'm eeting. Yeah. And I think that's what I appreciate about Factor that they have all these different options. Yeah, so that I don't have to think about I think that's the worst part about dieting having to think and shop for all these different options. Factor makes it easy. Yeah, F factor does. I mean, they have options for weight loss, overall nutrition, more protein, GLP one support, strength and workout recovery. They have a new Muscle Pro collection specifically for strength and workout recovery. And that's for me. Yeah, yeah. All these muscles For mister Muscles over here. They have over a hundred rotating weekly meals and now they're rolling out globally inspired flavors. so like, you know, Mediterranean and Asian. So there's always something There's always something to look forward to. Yeah, I mean, I I'm a sucker. they have like a shredded chicken taco bowl, which is neither Mediterranean or Asian but it's it's my favorite. Yeah, it's really good. you know, I mean, it's it just tastes like restaurant food But it's I'm at home and it's way cheaper That's what I'm saying. Yeah. It's cheaper and convenient You don't got to go somewhere, you don't to wait in restaurants nowadays, expensive and also gott to wait in line for what? thirty, forty, fifty minutes. No. And also if you're trying to like order food, again, with the hangry thing, like I can't plan out when the hanger is gonna to hit. I'm saying forty five minutes in advance to order ses or something, you know what I mean? And For that forty five minutes, you are unbearable Yeah, I don't want to be near you. Yeah. You need I need to put food in you immediately. I get it. I get it. Well, thank you so much to Factor for sponsoring today's episode of Break Rom. Head to factactor meeals dot com slash breakroom fifty off. And use code brereak fromrom fifty off to get fifty percent off and free daily greens per box with new subscriptions only while supplies last till september twenty seventh, twenty twenty six. S the website for more details, and we thank Factor for sponsoring today's episode Finance lead just opened the credit card statement. a charge she can't trace. No receipt That's how most business travel gets managed. Not with engine The ennggine makes it easy to control spend at the swipe, get real time visibility, and force spend policy before Not after thirty thousand businesses travel with Engine You can too Teams travel spend Managed, all for free. Sign up at engine dot com slash control Okay, well let let' us move into some headlines. yeah. Yeah So we have a couple of just this morning, Xbox Ashashharma who I think is I can't tell how much of the heat coming towards Asha Sharma is deserved or just she happens to be the person in the big chair when all this stuff is going down and The choices that set this in motion precede her. I don't know But Xbox had a big presentation today or they sent out an investor's letter or something, the Xbox reset. And the gist of it is people are about to get laid off a ton of independent studios that Xbox and Microsoft, I should say, had acquired are about to be let go. there may be more shuttering coming in the future Um You know, and it seems like it kind of comes down to the idea that Xboxes strategy in this last generation of consoles was kind of deeply flawed. They went all in on game pass U quit doing console exclusives and we'll get to PlayStation in a second because there's big news there too Um And basically because they were so all in on game pass They kept jacking up the price of the subscription to try to increase revenue And that made them just shed subscribers engendered a ton of ill will and now they're kind of picking up the pieces U It sucks. It it sucks a lot. It's It sucks for all the people who are getting laid off, obviously Um, you know, it sucks for like I love game pass You know, now I feel complicit in like all these studios getting laid off. I'm like, well, I I signed up for GamePass because I had to to play multiplayer games You know, like I didn't which also all the console people do that. Like just let me play fucking multiplayer games. likeike Nintendo, PlayStation and Xbox are all guilty of this shit. But I didn't realize game you have to get game passass online to get your Yes in order to in order to play a multiplayer game on on a modern gen console, you have to have an account with that console. Right. But but like, but that you have to pay for it. So it automatically ties you into like their suubbscription thing on game passass, its it's actually like a pretty good deal. likeike I don't begrudge game passass PlayStation pllus is not as strong of an offering. But the way it kind of works out is like You know, they they'll give you at the basic tier, which is what I'm on. You know, they'll give you like three free games a month If two of those games a year are like worth your while, then that kind of pays for it, you know? like And then Nintendo Nintendo has like a free retro game library you get what their thing. which if you're an elder millennial like me is worth it for the nostalgia U, but for most people, it's probably not worth it. But it is it is kind of crazy, like it's a very good, especially the SNS library is I digress. This is, you know, so I just mean to say like Xbox' strategy with GamePast differed from these other consoles in how much of their business they hung on And it did not work and now we're seeing the fall Yeah It is like just The gaming industry in general, like the triple triple A era, I feel like is Dying. It It's interesting because on the one hand, I understand the vibe shift that you're talking about and I feel it too. I'm not trying to it does feel like What I'd like to say is Brian is wrong now. I say an opinion is suddenly. sorry, not just wrong. Also problematic. cancellable. Yeah, but I mean, I know you're talking about And yet Grand Theft Auto six is on the horizon and seems Yeah that's not an Xbox first party game, obviously, you know, like Yeah, But yeah, it does feel like the most interesting things in gaming have been indie games for a minute You know, that's where the new genres are coming from. It feels like the Triple A landscape on the other hand, is littered with stories of Dlays, cost overruns Steam subscriber or steam concurrent counts not being where they need to be like day of launch and then a studio getting shuttered, right? We saw that with Highgard couple months ago whenever that was. you know, you got these stories like Bioware poured everything into Anthem And then Anthem went bust and it's like Cool, We could have had like three awesome single player games in that time It's really only been U Well, not only that's reductive, but u, but CapcOom, you know certainly has been bucking that trend with Resin Evil seven was a huge success. Pragmata was a huge success U IO interteractive, who did z zero seven first lightight. right who is is feeling some of the u They have a game in development with Xbox, the future of which Ashash Sharma says is not under threat, but I haveave a hard time really believing that in my bones But, you know,, but also other other studios like the sort of AA studios like u Double fine who did South of midnight. Or I can't remember or hyperfine I'm getting I double jump in hyperfine I think I'm getting mixed up. but But you know, South of Midnight was critically acclaimed and like had a ton of players when it when it launched That wasn't enough to save that studio. Yeah. And so I think I think what you're speaking to with the The triple A landscape thing is like ome higher risk. Her reward since Fortnight and it seems like that strategy iss not paying out Yeah, not not nearly as much as I used to. and like, Yeah, and I think this is a little bit like You know, unfortunately, the consequence is like so many people getting laid off, but like and they just had a bunch of layoffs last year. likeike and I keep interrupting. Yeah and I hate it. I'm trying to talk right I know you my God. No, just like I think What was gonna to say? like Xbox a little bit had it coming. Like I I don't think Xbox Generally speaking was we're trying to make good consoles games for their consoles. Like since Xbox was it one, where they're like, this isn't just a game conso. It's like a H enttertainment. Yeah that was the one where they really wanted to be like your media spere. And so they they they've been trying to like divest from just the gaming sphere. Yeah and like trying to make it a more general media thing. And so A general person is not buying an Xbox U And so I feel like we alienated spepecifically the gamers Uh and it's it's kind of coming to a head we're like I don't know, Xbox used to be like, I think America's number one con, like people loved Xbox. But it's just I don't know. Well, it's interesting because you know you look at sort of the niches that the different consoles have carved out. I'm not going to talk about the steam box because I think it's not formally out yet and also It's basically a gaming PC that's pre assembled. Yeah. And PC gaming is its whole own weird and wonderful world. I don't really have a window into But you know, one of the things that was such a You know, the headline of that era of that generation of consoles was when the we came out Nintendo actively wasn't chasing uh photore realalism, they weren't chasing online multiplayers because those were seen as PlaySation and Xbox' Turf Xbox specifically, I think Traditionally being the home of the online multiplayer, Halo two was a watershed moment for those of us old enough to remember it. It was like twenty years before you were born. I'm only two years old. You know, but the in I'd say not just this console era, but in the PS four Xbox three hundred sixty, I think was the last one before this or Xbox one, R was three hundred sixty one You know, u B PlayStation and Xbox got to a point where graphically And gameplay wise, there wasn't really any distinction between the two of them. Yeah. You know, for for your average gamer, the reason to buy PlaySation or an Xbox was largely going to be one of price. And then the deciding factor when they were like equal ish would be Well, what are the console exclusives? you know, And that was where PlayStation really excelled. they had L of us and God of War, you know, in the Spider Man games And Xbox, I think took an interesting strategy. It didn't pan out, but I don't think the strategy was inherently bad of being like Well, you'll get these day and day. you know, big game drops with game passass Um That did kind of mean that then those certainly in house games that Xbox was making wouldn't make as much money because people would pay for a game pass subscription And then Xbox was like, okay, well, then we'll sell those games to PlayStation owners and PC gamers which just sort of further weakened the need to have an Xbox. one hundred percent. no exclusives means there's no reason to get an Xbox. The subscription model also means that like a breakout success of a game doesn't necessarily mean moreore money Because it's yeah. I was learning about this about Spotify. There was like a Drew Gooden video about like the whole Spotify thing and how it's a mess And one of the things is that I didn't realize until it was put into words. since Spotify is a subscription model The amount of money that each person gets is like a percentage of the pool of money that exists from subscribers So if a Artist does really well. Taylor Swift is someone who's traditionally very popular on Spotify. I don't know who kids your age listen to these days. Taylor Swift is possibly my generation. But yeah, They're taking more from the pool, but the general money that All of Spotify is getting is like Yeah. it's a zero sum game Yeah. Yeah So in the same way that I feel like Xbox or Game passass was a little bit doomed to fail because it was just too good of a deal to start with that like I was like, there's no way they're making money.'s a loss leader. And now it's clearly it's not making money. So they raiseed the price, but nobody likes this. Yeah Yeah. And then a bunch of people like. Yeah. I don't know. I commend them for trying something new, I suppose. but it feels a little bit like when movie Pass was a thing. Oh everybody was like, how is this possibly profitable. And it turns out the answer is it was not. you know, so bad. And I don't feel too bad for Xbox because one, you can't feel that bad for any corporation because they are Sooulless vampires and ghouls who manipulate the market in order to make their bottom line work. And in this my friends. the comment on TikTok, they say, wow, that's me for real, for real. No No Xbox is just like me. only The only corporation you could support is the Wendy's Twitter account. That That's it. They were the first They were the first They were the first ones. They were the only good ones But I am also in my disdain for corporations and how much of like their projections of having seventy seven million game passass subscribers at this point in time. Those are all juiced to get investor money and then they go, you know ple you know, near bankruptcy, and, the business actually isn't that great. We have to merge with Blizzard Activision. you know, like It's it's tough to feel sorry for Xbox and you shouldn't do, however really hate. that so many people who have poured their lives, time, energy planned their lives around having a stable job at Xbox That when the CEO, like, you know, when the C Suite gambles, Those are the people whose livelihoods they're gambling with You know, And for as much as Asha Sharm is like, well, some of these things we had too many layers of review. We're trying to reduce it to max F layers in some cases, three layers. It's like That doesn't help the people who got laid off, you know, And that that really sucks. And the gaming industry has been going through waves of layoffs lately. So those people are now competing for jobs with people who've been laid off from all these other sectors of the game industry. And I guess I guess what I would say to Xbox and all the other corporations juicing your predictions undernder promise and over deelliver and quit Playing for the fucking IPO. I'm so sick of this shit. is that is all it is. They are just trying to juice up their numbers. Everything is juiced. It's everything is juic. Their main product is shareholder value and that is fundamentally wrong You know it just sucks. It is it is unfortunate. And especially because in this current era of chasing after AI things. I mean, we've all had error like dot com was a thing but like, The current era U That's where the focus is on. So they kind of don't even really care about like big picture Microsoft. Xbox is a little tiny little piece of their big pie. Yeah. So it's not like they even really care that much about how it's doing And so and I think the curnt CEL was also brought in from like one of their AI divisions or something like that. O I believe she was high ranking at Instacart or something like. Okay. and then came over to Xboxes or maybe implemented some AI stuff in Instagram. Yeah Yeah. her even res I'm blanking on her resume right now, but If you're interested in reading on it aftermath has had a bunch of great articles on this today Polygon has had a couple of really good articles. I also I want to cite Polygon momentarily. They had a really great article about the PlayStation Dc thing we'll talk about in a second. Sure But u But yeah, so safe to say like give your local Xbox staffer a hug Give your local Xbox corporate stooge a kick in the penis you know, wow t treat them like Steve O orry know danger Aaron or any any other jackass guys. for you. But yeah, I I I I I amm curious to see what happens next with Xbox. I think having another competitor at PlayStation is fundamentally Good Um, so long as there's not like coll you know, like, I don't want I don't want Sony to all of a sudden become so dominant that they don't have to care about what anyone else is doing U you know, I'm fundamentally rooting for Xbox as a console to succeed Uh but more than that, I'm rooting for people to not get laid off because someone made a promise they couldn't keep twelve months ago. That' true And here's the other thing You don't talk about it. If Microsoft had value increase because of AI They could still keep the same team. Uh yeah And like that that could subsidize it, you know? Yes, it could. But they're just not gonna No. They're just not No they're making a choice and it's a choice that fucks over a lot of people. you know Do you hear that Sounds like breakfast is ready. Because quQakers coming in hot with morning nutrition one hundred percent whole grain oats and a good source of fiber to fuel the rhythm of your morning and kick startart your day That sounds absolutely delicious. Fuel to start whatever's next. Quaker, official sponsor of FIFA World Cup twenty six At Ollie, we've got wellness down to a science. From PMS to pregnancy to menopause. Our women's wellness line offers science backed support for every stage. No judgment, no shame, none of the stigma. J supplements designed to meet you wherever you're at. Ollie, choose science over shame Find support at a retailer near you or on Ollie. com. That's ollY. com Hey guys, I'm Brian, the host of Brian Enton Investigates. Most other true crime and breaking news podcasters are in their basement or studio Without me, I am out on the road every single week. From inside prisons to murder scenes to active manhunts There really isn't anywhere I won't go Coast to coast, I am all about old fashioned boots on the ground reporting You have to show up in person to cover the news and get the secrets. And I have a way of getting people to talk I cover stories others ignore with a relentless determination to get to the truth Listen to Brian Enon Investigates every day, wherever you get your podcasts Let's talk about another choice, there Another choice that's going to fuck over a lot of people. Sony Yeahah, this was. So okay. so I need to comment on so like Two or three weeks ago I don't remember why. Somehow it came up when we were talking about something. I was like, I haven't bought a physical disc in years. And then like three days later or not maybe not quite that quick. Sony was like, Well, we're not doing physical discs anymore Um, and the the The which is B because right before this, Sony also removed a bunch of stuff from people's digital libraries because Yeah, Shing changed hands with the mergers and acquisitions of the parent rights holders Um, You know, and something that Polygon, I wish I could cite the author. I'm blanking on it right now, but Polygon over fourourth of July weekend was posting spicy takes. And I can't remember if this was part of their sppicy takes or if this was published in the middle of it, but they were saying like You know physical o, their spicy take was Physical discs were always a bad medium for games because of load times. And in that same article, I believe, they were making the point that E in like the PS three era U The user experience of playing a game off a disk was so bad that you'd buy a game on disk and the first thing you'd do is have to spend like two or three hours installing it to your conolle's drive. And so The the way that you know, everybody did that kind of already made the disc feel obsolete, which is certainly my path to going full digital. It was like, well, I may as well just download it and not have worry about swapping stuff out. And I know and, you know, the ultimate discussion is about like ownership, but ab in terms of literal physical discs I think there was like a number, I forggetot exactly, but it was like eighty, ninety percent. L somewhere in that range of people buy digitally Yeah, the amount of people who buy physical copies of games is just so Well and even, you know, GTA six, which, you know There's an analogy here I'm going to make. in the same way that if California sets like emission regulations, all the car manufacturers have to kind of follow suit because California is such a huge market GTA six, right before PlayStation announced this, said that their're physical copies of the game would just be an empty box with a download code in it without having a physical disk You know, because you know the game is too big, you know, like right in hundreds of gigabytes or something. Yeah, you know, And so like on the one hand, as someone who hasn't used a physical disc in ages to play a game or cartridge even, you know, my switch, I also don't. That was really what got me was was having a switch and being like, I can be on a plane and have all my games. you know, I was the beginning of switch. I'm like, I'm going to be a physical guy But having to unload every time to switch games I like this is This is we're liaving in twenty twenty, whatever. we got I got to update. Yeah. And also like on swwitch specifically, the cartridges were so tiny. Like I bought my daughter. my daughter had a switch before I did. I got her one for her fifth birthday And I bought her a bunch of physical games. And it was just like, this isn't A five year old cannot keep track of a bunch of SD cards, you know And so so but but this is all a roundabout way of saying like despite my gripes with The limitations of physical media I think everybody's outcry about Hey, what the fuck? I can't own my games anymore. We can't preserve an original copy of a game, you know, like everything and, you know, everything auto updates. So like You can't even be like, well, I didn't want the DLC. It was just automatically put in there Um, It is a bummer and it is the end of an era. And I even though I never use discs and I am part of the reason why this happened. I do think it's a bad thing You don't have any great fixes, but I agree with people's take that like, hey, this sucks. It definitely I ye again, I don't know how it happens because I don't know how politics really work, but I feel like this is got to be like F Oh it is FCC what am I thinking? FCC is yeah, Federal Communications Commission. Yeah, that guy Yeah, yeah, Brendon Carr. No, the FTC Federal Trade Commission Uh, whoever Lisa Khan used to be Yeah, choose FTC. Yeah FTC. you know, some kind of rule madeade All laah made possibly made that's like a right to own something policy or something. or like you have to give the option to own something might be the only path forward if you want to make sure corporations. Well, yeah, because we've kind of been here before, right? Like, you know, John Deere was famously embroiled in bunch of controversy because they put the equivalent of DRM on their tractors. Ohes. and that started the right to repepub Yeah, exactly. Yes. you know, because these farmers were like, hey, if I live in middle of nowhere, Iowa and I farm wheat I don't want if my tractor breaks down to have to figure out how to get that into a licensed John Deere repair center Whereas forever, if I owned a tractor, I could just open the hood and you know, bubble gum and duct tappe it together until it worked well enough. likeike I should have the right to do that Yeah And one of the things we've seen and this is the case with Game Pass too is like These companies figured out at some point that it was easier to financialize a subscription model. They're called stickier Um, you know, this started really with mobile gaming where we saw the rise of like, well, hey, instead of just charging you six bucks and then you own this app We'll charge you a subscription. you know, like or we'll charge you an in app purchase. and like that's where we'll make our money. And it was really insidious when it began You know, and for as much as people rightly rallied against loot boxes, we all remember when Star Wars Battlefront two came out and we were all so excited and then so mad You know, it It fundamentally hasn't really made any difference. And again, in my broad corporations, but not not the people who are like actually doing the work. the people in suits who just get traded between you know, like a gaming company and then like a media company and then we'll work for like a delivery app. It's like Those people are aren't really They're just MBA goons and suits. You know, I think that this is another step on the road towards making that the norm. And this might be me, you know, old man yelling at clouds, but I don't like it. And I do see you outside yelling all the time. I do yell ye thoseose just clds. Yeah,ah, it' clouds Yeah,s Uh yeah, it's a it's a New era coming in for games. That's for sure. Yeah. we'll have to see if it stays bad or if Somet that. And then but another thing too like You know, Belatro never had a physical condition. You knowm not I'm not trying to single out Belatro, but just saying like One of the things that was so cool about the W and PS three era was you saw this huge upswing in indie gaming available to console players. I think on PC, it was always a pretty robust community But for us consoled webs It was amazing. You're like, oh my God, all of a sudden I can play these really great indie games. You got stuff like Journey all of a sudden, you know, and Papa Eo and like all these like weird, you know, And those games are great I don't worry about the guy who made Belatro all of a sudden being like Belatro is mine. You know, like it's really just, I don't trust these these big corporations. I don't trust Sony to not sell the rights to God of warar. I'm playing replaying Ragnarok right now. I don't trust Sony to not sell the rights to God of War to Amazon games because they need to hit some financial target to avoid a hostile takeover before the next fiscal quarter and then all of a sudden, I have to reby go God of War Ragnarok. That's the thing I don't trust that I think a disk prevent Yeah, at the end of the day, it's it is like The core conversation isn't really about the physicality of it. whet about ownership if we can own the things that we buy. Yeah. And I mean Well, we'll have to see we'll have to see. I mean because Similar things happen to other services like All the Adobe Site. used to be able to buy the program and that's the program. But now You can't anymore. Yeah have a monthly subscription. H to subscribe. Yeah. I even think they made some of the ults of obsolete or something I don't know 's crazy Um What you can do is try to get people who push these policies or something. Yeah. I don't I don't know. Go vote. Yeah, it is like a call your representative thing, you know it's like there's like a legitimate. So much of our media is is electronic, you know, like and You know, for as much as like maybe you were never going to buy a Stranger Things season five Blue Ray box set or whatever. Um, you know, and that wasn't the primary format in which that thing was like There really is no recourse for someone who's a subscriber to something to have any kind of assurance that the thing they subscribe to that they're paying for be gone in an automatic update that happens overnight or something, you know? And and PlayStation is now drawing the fire for that rightly so, but they're not the only ones. it is systemic Um I'm trying to think has Nintendo done anything bad this past week spepecifically bad this past week. Um I can't I think they donated a billion dollars to BB Netanyahu's real life Wh! Nintendo no. Yeah ye ye why Wh? I can't I can't play it publicly anymore. I Yeah, ye yeah. Yeah, we found out that all the money from Rhythm heaven was supporting genocide in the F East, you know like Okay, but I'm sure Nintendo will do something bad eventually if they haven't reented. I mean, they've been They're not the most consumer friendly to begin with. No corporation is. No corporation is they can't. Yeah. A you know. Here's my Nintendo gripe. So some people may remember I got real excited when the Star Fox trailer came out. Yeah U, I've been playing it and it On the one hand, Starfox sixty four. Absolute Banger, legendary game The new Star Fox game is beat for beat exactly Star Fox sixty four with a couple of new cuts sccenes It's not enough to justify a seventy dollars price tag, which I should have known. Everyone said that. I got excited pre orered doers. Yes. Oh my God. Yes. It cost as much as as Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom and it's not as much game St Still fun. Looks great. sound, the music's great. I've heard Actually when people play it, only good things. It's great actually. It's great. If I had paid Fty bucks for this game or If they had waited and packaged it with the Occarina of Tim reboot and it was like, hey, here's like And like, here's like you're like in sixty four Yeah, like here's like a pack of like three N sixty four first party games and it's and that pack is seventy bucks.. So sto If I'd gotten a discount because I have the Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack true So stok Um, But but as is, I'm a little bit like I feel like I feel like I got slight sllightly hosed, notot totally hosed because again, the game is so good and it's so much better than the port. came out for the N sixty four online expansion pack that I thought was unplayable That made me mad, which is part of why I was so excited for this Um, but but yeah, feeling just minor, minor minorly hosed That's Nintendo, man. My you a little bit. Yeah. a tiny bit to make you remember, donon't trust us, but it's just a tiny bit. You can have a little fun. but but I am really, it is really fun, but it's like I played through it. It's like, yeah, I beat it You know, so there's two hours, you know, true. Okay, let's let's get into this week's recap reaction Speaking of funs, Yeahking of fun whole X men ninety seven season two fucking rules. It's the peak. It's so good. It's so goddamn good. I mean, I I loved season I love season one and I watched a lot, not all of, but a lot of the original one it was on Um Season two is coming out of the gate swing in my opinion. It's it's I mean That's the thing. I talked about this before with Xen season XMen ninety seven season one I also like off handandily watched a couple episodes of the original animated series here and there. U but never really like super got into it. but The vibe of the first season was like Well this is what it feel this is what it felt like to watch those cartoons back in. Yes. L it's super cool. and also Like this is fan service done so well. so well because it's it's just making it's not just Well, look at these cool things but like making the heroes that you know and love even cooler Uh, you know The first season, Cyclops became really cool. He' the way he use his powers or whatever. But yeah, in this one I just I'm really liking the time travel stuff that they're doing and seinards, apocalypse, all that stuff U and And the characterizations they're making with like Magneto and U I don't know. It's just F fun to see this world like feel alive like how it is. Yeah. and I think something that I am really responding to with season two, which was also the case in season one, but there' You know, I watch a lot of animation and most of it's comedy and like modern adult animated comedy is very cynical. you know, like it's all kind of chasing the Ricky Morty vide hate that inherently Um, you know, but u but it's it's a thing and it' something I noticed in myself while watching Season two of Xen ninety seven is waiting for them to undercut it. You know, in the way that like when we saw Masters of the Universe, like half the movie is like, Ramman's kind of a stupid name, you know, but he's Ramman. It's like, I just own it, you know And X men ninety seven is so sincere and so earnest, you know, like you really get the sense In I think it's episode two of the new season when the X Force episode, when Jubilee and Sunspot join up with cable, which also to make the opening credits to X Force was like so great. That's the other there's so many little things that they do. They don't have to, but so unnecessary, but so appreciative. Oh good. I really highly recommend everybody watch Gina Ippolito's breakdown of the first three episodes She's calling out so many details I missed. that's over on the new Rockstars channel. Her breakdown for episode four will come out Wednesday and I think I think they're going to be Wednesday's attion. Yeah. Yes, u Yes, there's so many great details, but like, you know, when so Jubilee and Sunspot and this is a this is a spoiler Um, There's mutants Oh my go But so Jubilee and Sunspot join up with X Force after being captured by X Factor. Oh' Yeah ye. They they go to Rio de Janeiro to capture war. One of Apocalypse' four horsemen Um And they basically like tie him to a post, Sylock reads his mind against his will And then they kill him like they shoot him in the head while he's cing And it like really upsets Jubilee, like in a very genuine way, you know? like it's not this Cable is certainly like cable and the rest of X So certainly like it had to be done, you know, it's for the greater good. But like it genuinely bothers Jubilee in a way where you can watch her wrestling with the morality of it in a very similar way to, I think it's episode three that's all like Magneto back in time with Esabinor. Yeah. Yeah ye. But where they they capture Logos who's like one of the, you know, Ramatuts You know, head Honchos or whatever And I E Sabinor beheads him and the blood spatters on Magneto's face and he's like upset by it. you know, like it's like these characters are having very vulnerable moments in response to like morally questionable stuff, which is like notot something You expect from a show where like also the, you know, like Sylocks costume is comic accurate. Like it's, you know, like a very like high R R suit, you know, it's like very like thigh and tit forward look for her Um like like the world takes that seriously so you also Yeah Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't ever try to put any kind of distance between itself and what it's doing and say like, we know that this is silly or. we think that's stupid. and trust us, we' we're not that stupid. It's just really owning it in a way that makes it so good. I love it. What were your highlights from that first batch of three episodes? Like what were the moments that made you go like you know Yeah. I can give you a quick recap. I can give you a quick rundown. Yeah. Okaykay. rundown. So first episode, Forge goes to the future to meet up with Cyclops and Ge. Yes and bring them back and Storm is also in the future with Mother Escani. Oh and Wolverine. And Wolverine Wolverine with b cllaws. Yes. Yeah, that which for me, boneclaw Wolverine with the wild mt The mutton chops that flow in the wind, That was like a huge like fuck yeah for me Um But yeah, so's that's basically the first episode. and they they give Cyclops and Ge like an extra day to say goodbye to Nathan before bringing them back to nineteen ninety seven.. The second episode Jubilee and Sunspot team up with X Force U to try to find war You know, and then you know, the crisis of conscience we just discussed. And the third episode is Back in time, Magneto, Xavier, Beast and Rogue Maybe night crawlers is that cor too. working their way through like the highest tech version of ancient Egypt to try to Magnetos kind of like encouraging Ensabonor Uh Charles is trying to discourage him Magneto sort of wins out Magneto, Magneto. No, he was just there. He'so.agneto But Magneto kind of wins out, but then it's like, oh, no, what we do? Yeah So that's that's the arc of the first three episodes. Yeah in the broadest of I think it's just that All the animation is beautiful. gorgeous. just the characters are super cool and it're showing all the powers and all of them working together. Like the fact that it's episode two is like X force and Yes X factor factor. L all these different teams are going together. Yes. M this world really lived in Um just a little quips and stuff And the fact that like, yeah, it never it's it's like corny, but in a way that's like genuine Yeah, like Ernest, like you've said before. use an Evan Yeism. It's Chorny. It's Torny. It's chorny on Maine. It's Chorny. That's for you. I love that. Yeah Evan, that's for you. Yeah. Joourney on Maine It's hard to explain other than like I just feel good watching this. Yeah Um Yeah, it's it's like they're not making fun of the thing that they like. They're not Like looking down at the viewers. it's it's just You get to live in a world where X men exist and they have to like U do things to And there's like a little political stuff. And like all these small details that they leave Um it's like Big picture didn't matter but it's like those details show us that they care. I love watching People do things they care about. Like the fact that the journalist has still has the scars from the time she became a seninel Y. That's just like so fun. Also, how does she still stay with that job? It' crazy? I know'raz I like I think she had a performance reiew when they went back So, you know, Sorry, I became like an Uber racist for like a second. Like, you know your time outside of the office is your time, but it also reflects on the company. You know, like Yeah. I mean, I think that again, I can't recommend enough Gina's breakdown. Gina, I've known Gina for a long time pre new rock stars She's always been This much of an X men nerd. it's kind of wonderful that we get to know her while X men ninety seven is on the air Um, but Gina is pointing out like you know, all these mutants that you see like a glimpse of before like, you know, when they're like running up to The X manansion before X like they all have like backstories in the comics and stuff You know, and for it's been a minute since I read comics because I'm so bad at impulse purchases, I can't go into st anymore. It it really bums me out. The last time I went into a comic bookstore I was trying to pick up one hellboy trade And I walked out with two hundred and fifty bucks h Rs And it really screwed me for like three weeks that was like You know, I was like outuinely a problem. Yes, I was yes, genuinely a problem. Like it's so funny because if you go to my my house, you'll see like I have a bookshelf with like all of these comics and then when you look more closely, you're like Oh, this is a very specific era of like ultimate Spider Man and like, you know, when Max was doing their hyperion series and like, you know, all this sort of stuff. Like when Fables was still running, you know, like it's that it's a very specific phase before I was like, I just physically can't go in there. Um But but it does recreate the feel of Reading one of these comics that take place in a really well established world and you're like, yeah, of course X Factor and X Force are there and they have their own thing going on. They have their whole own like two thousand issue arc and some other comic. We're just catching a glimpse of them and it makes the world feel really, really lived in Yeah And it it's really effective. It's fun because it's like not in the MCU or whatever that they can just do what they want with the IP that they have. Yeah. or you know, other shows and movies are limited by whatever I don't know they just can't have everybody in the movie all the time, whether it' budget whether it's like, Yeah, it's harder to get. I mean, we saw this with Oh God, there was some reboot recently that happened like during pandemic. Maybe it was the first season of Daredevil and they had to do a bunch of reshoots. And it was like, you know, you can see these shots that I think if you had never been involved in a post production process and had to deal with pickups, you might not catch it But like Okay, right now yeah, Brian,u, hang the camera on me, but get ready to switch it to the wide If there were a bunch of conversations where it was like, okay, go to the wide like Brian and I are talking And then go to me That's me. Oh yeah. And then it wass like And I'm starting with a full thought and speaking in one complete sentence. to wide like you know that's been picked up, you know and You don't run into that in animation just because it's a different medium. I'm sure they still had to do pickups, but like You know, if you have a pickup because you missed a rogue line or you need something to clarify, you can animate rogues standing next to whoever you need to without making it look so obviously picked up. you know And yeah, I'm super stoked for the rest of the season. I hope it keeps going. I hope the ratings are good. Hey man. it's I do hope people are watching it because animation Like comic books, you know, MU was great in that it showed what a live action comic book a movie could look like without like compromising too much on the comic bookness of it. Yeah. But I will not lie animation really does elevate that medium or that medium elevates that like the style way more. Yeah, in my opinion has gets to be You know, there's a level of disbelief that you are able to extend further for things like comics or things like animation that I think suit the medium suit the storytelling well at least B than live action. And you also get these things like, you know, one of my one of my gripes Overall, I love the MCU. One of my gripes is with magic in the MCU and Tesis it frequently kind of gets, you know, you saw this in Agatha all along or like the final couple episodes of WandaVision, which I love WandaVision. But you know then the final battle is like, well, I'm this really powerful magician. It basically starts to feel like I just have a laser gun. You know, we're firing like an energy glass You know, and I compare that to like You know, again, in the MCU credit where credit is due like you know, the the like a mirror dimension stuff in Doctor Strange or in X men ninety seven when Xavier goes into Logos' mind and it's like all the floating pyramids and he's like reaching into like the dark hole to find the secret in the pyramids. And he's like it's just so it's so much weirder And I love that they're able to do that and that they're taking advantage of that. Like it's just it's everything's really coming together. It's a great match of story and medium and I just I hope everybody continues to watch it I did too. I wonder if they're gonna Like because in the There's like a whole thing with Uh, you know, I think Ramaut Uh and Kang, I wonder if they're gonna like is apocalypse the G to be the end game of all this or are they gonna go Kang I have no idea. I don't know. You know the things that think could do is There's so much I can do. Yeah. I mean, it seems, you know, as you mentioned, Xmen ninety seven seems pretty firmly separated from the rest of the MCU. And I do think Kang is a really interesting character. I completely understand and support why the MCU moved away from their big Kang dynasty plans Um, So maybe this is a place where they can kind of touch on some of the stuff that makes that character interesting without having to like kind of worry about like, you know, the recasting or like, you know, the you know, kind of getting back in and reconning the story we all watch, they can sort of just start over again with that. So I'm curious to see where they go with it It's also nice, I just like want to mention that because this is based on like the nineties era of X Men It's also the nineties era of what time travel means, which is kind of nice to just Be in a world where like the current era Cultural acceptance is at Time travel means multiverse. L there's different multiverses. L affecting the past doesn't necessarily mean it erases the future. It creates a branch timeline. Like that's just what we accept now as how time travel works But it's kind of fun to go back to a time where That That is how time travel works. Yeah. you know, if you change something in the past, it could irrevocably change things in the present in the future. Yeah Paradoxes be damned. Yeah. ye. And so it gives a little bit more tension and akes for the people who've traveled in different times where it's like, oh, this might genuinely change everything. There's a whole thing where Uh, they're talking about whether or not they should ch like they should go home immediately or try to meddle with enabveneurs like beginning Uh, because that could change everything for mutants, or it could be Catastrophically damaging. And so like that kind of tension is Yeah, I just like that it has steakakes. It has like a heft and a weight to it. Yeah. So I wonder I wonder what's going to happen because U Was it in episode one where they get back to the present and like the other team isn't there and they're like, what's gonna happen? Yeah, Or maybe that's like at the end of or at the beginning of episode three, they're like, we need to go find them and it's like, we don't know where they when they are. But just like how could time travel? We go to a specific time. I don't know how they mix Well that makes me wonder what's gonna to happen U so I'm excited. I'm really excited Um Great. Okaykay, well, let's I'm gonna call Brian out I'm going to call Brian out. We have We do a segment on the Break Rom, Brian Corner and Bird Corner where we just sort of talk about something we're into that we wouldn't normally be talking about on the show. Brian already talked about rhythm Heaven. That's true impromptter what it says and what it says in our shared script document, Brian wrote Rhythm heaven, fucks Fox is in all caps. It does It's so good, you guys. It's so good Go by Rhythm Heaven If you want to support cool games from AAA stududios like Nintendo, go buy Yeah yeah. Littleop shop Nintendo. Yeah. They deserve it. Yeah. They deserve it. Uh, But no, we already talk I already talked about rhythm Heaven so My hner yours. My birg corner is I have mentioned Adrian Tchaikovsky many times. It's Crazy how prolific this author is. and their hit ratio is also crazy they had a new book came out last week that I had forgotten about because every time I see they have a new book coming out, I preorder it And then like, you know, I'll get a package and'd be like, what the hell is this?ike. You know, I then I read a book. that a book come out recently called Green City Wars which is a I would call it like a true detective meets Red Wall. a kind of cyber punk neon wall The lead character is a cyberet genetically enhanced raccoon named Scotch. Wow whoo's trying to find a runaway doctor that all these other nefarious groups are trying to find And it's So good, very similar to Xen ninety seven. It's not It's not taking itself, it's taking itself seriously. likeike the world feels Very lived in, very earnest. It's gritty and kind of desperate and like grungy in a very palpable way. The mystery is legit good The conclusion is legit good. Okay. And you're constantly like Yeah, this this pigeon is basically playing the role of like a nineteen twenties flzy, you know, like this this stoat Weasel is a fem fatal, you know, like it's it's it's really It's really, really good. Interesting. So if anyone here is looking for a really solid read, you know, I think it's like three hundred and fifty pages, but it goes at a clip, you know it's really well written. Okay. It's a great mystery. It's really, really fun Green City Wars by Adrian Chchaikovsky You put it in terms the youth will understand. Please because I don't get it Green City Wars. I don't think that's what you think.body says it. Everybody says that I I mean, hey Berg book Club Yeahah, yeah. let's say this is the first Yeah. tell you what. this is how we'll run the Berg book Club Go read Green City Wars Tell me what you think in the comments. There you go. I will I will do my very best. I tend to check the comments twenty four hours after upload and three days after upload time as well as at upload. because that's when I have to go log all the stats for the videos. Oh true. But so if you've read Green City Wars or you have a chance to pick it up between now and then, go in there and I'll do my best. I mean If you talk about it in a week, I'll see it and be like, Yeahah, you know, tell me tellell me your favorite bits. But it's I think it's a great way into one of my favorite current authors. It's a great on ramp Touches on a lot of themes that that they tend to touch on very representative of their style. It's not like, oh, this is the one good book and the rest suck. like ninety nine percent, there's really The more they write, the more I'm like, I think really there was just like one book I didn't like And then like one series that wasn't for me, but Still very good. Okay. Still very good. Okay So yeah, Green City Wars by Arienanchakovsk U getet your fuck on. I don't think I like that slogan. Yeah. I all I think I like say it. All the say, Get your fuck on. Al just have der says? It's crazy Okay, well B Baker merch. Yeah, is there anything else you'd like o, you know what? I also want to call it why GGi isn't here today Be I know you've all been asking after Gigi. She's fine She's very specifically not here. though now that we have chairs and like a place can sit I would like to bring her more frequently. She's very specifically not here because Gigi will eat anything. And there's a bunch of rat poison around the office because some exterminators were here