Masters of the Universe, AverMedia Mini+, & 7th Guest Remake

Jon

Welcome back Gen X Grown Up Podcast listener to this episode 212 of the Gen X Grown Up Podcast. I am John. Joining me as always, of course, my buddy George. Hey, man.

George

Hey, how’s it going everybody?

Jon

Good. You know, it would not be a show without Mo. Mo, how are you?

Mo

Hey, how’s it going?

Jon

All right. we In this episode, we’re going to take a trip to Eternia to see the new big screen adventures of Prince Adam’s alter ego, test drive a new budget-friendly 4K video capture card, and play a new remaster of a fan-favorite 90s interactive horror puzzle game. We’re have those topics and many more in this episode. ah But first…

Jon

Three of us are here. Some of us listen. If anyone else does, you are our fourth listener. on The fourth listener at this time around is Jonathan S. who dropped us an email. The subject of his email is drive in movies.

Jon

Okay.

Mo

Oh, that was recent.

Jon

Backtrack. We did. Yeah. Yeah. ah Here’s what Jonathan has to say. John, George, and Mo. Mo might appreciate this. There’s an operational drive-in in Mineta, South Carolina called the big Mo.

Mo

ah I like it already.

Jon

That’s, that’s, that’s no, that’s Mo’s nickname has been for years. Yeah. The big Mo, my wife and i is it?

George

It’s one of those opposite nickname things.

Jon

Yeah. There’s a little guy. My wife. ah

George

You like big guys are tiny, bald guys are curly.

Jon

Yeah. Hey tiny. What’s up with you Exactly.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Yeah. Yeah. My wife and I have gone to this drive in a couple of times. They have three screens, each having a double feature.

Mo

Oh, wow.

Jon

Yeah, yeah. One of the screens is usually kid-friendly, family-oriented. Another screen will generally show mainstream movies. The final screen is all horror all the time. Nice.

Mo

Sweet.

Jon

Yeah. ah They also have a playground and the timeless cinder block concession area where you can get cooked food. All things that we talked about, we remembered so fondly.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Good to know that one’s still around. It says they no longer use the old speakers perched on the windows, but rather broadcast the audio over radio, as we mentioned. Yeah. He says the last time we went to this drive in was like out of a scene from Twister that George mentioned.

George

Oh.

Mo

I hope nothing bad.

Jon

We had only planned to stay for the first movie and the sprinkles were starting to fall as the first movie was wrapping up. Right after we left there, a deluge of rain so much that it was hard to see traffic on the road, except when the frequent lightning filled the sky.

Mo

Oh, geez.

George

wow

Jon

So,

Jon

Yep. Straight out of Twister. He wraps it up by saying another great episode. Keep it up, Jonathan S. Cool.

Mo

Nice.

Jon

thank Thank you, Jonathan. Yeah, that that was a fun episode. You know, sometimes i’m as we go into those backtracks, we’re like, is there enough to talk about with Drive-In? And we had to trim and trim. There was way more to talk about.

Jon

We found that we can talk about anything, it seems. But Drive-In movies was a that was a fun episode. Jonathan,

George

I just, I’m shocked. I mean, I didn’t know drive-in movie theaters ever had three screens. That seems like a huge place.

Jon

i did It was during the edit that I learned you anybody had two screens. i I’d never seen one in my area.

Mo

Yeah. I remember doing York had back-to-back.

George

Like, id I’ve seen two screens, like, in, you know, like, looking at them online in documentaries and stuff, but three screens?

Jon

Had you? Yeah.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

I mean, that’s, that’s gotta be the, like, that’s larger than a football field’s worth of parking, I would think, right?

Jon

Mm-mm.

Mo

Oh, easily.

Jon

Oh, yeah.

Mo

Oh, I would imagine, right?

Jon

Yep. Yeah. Yeah. During the edit on Twitch that we do every Tuesday, some folks sent me ah like Google map ah bookmarks of places and like they like compounds.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

The screens are either back to back or they’re on opposite ends or they’re like in a triangle. iss really interesting. I had no idea the variety of layouts, but the more you learn.

George

Hmm. Right.

Jon

That happens with the backtracks, too. but People will go, oh, yeah, you left out this whole swath of history about them. I’m like, now we’ve learned even more.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

right

Jon

Yeah. Jonathan, we’re glad that you enjoyed the drive-in movie backtrack. We, the memories that it brought back for you of that cool theater, the big Mo. ah I thank you, George.

Jon

Thanks you. And big Mo. Thanks you for writing in, letting us know what you thought of that episode.

Mo

Always.

Jon

Fourth list. If you’d like your email featured here on the show, it’s drop dead easy. Just hit us up at podcast at gen X grownup.com. We’ll read every single one. And most of them like Jonathan’s will eventually make the show. All right, with that good business in the rearview mirror, we’re going to jump into the body of episode 212 right after this very quick break.

Jon

All right, gents, let’s get the ball rolling, as we always do here at the top of the show, talking about media we have been enjoying since we last spoke. And we know it could be television or movies or comics or film or whatever. least that’s movies and film. Anyway, you know what I mean.

Jon

All these different genres of media.

George

yeah

Mo

ah

Jon

And i’m go to start with you, Mo. What have you been checking out?

Mo

Sure. Yeah. So it was a movie I want to say I was looking forward to, but it’s one of those movies I knew i was going to go watch. As soon as I saw the trailer for it, I knew i was going to see it, which was Masters of the Universe.

Jon

Okay. All right.

Jon

Oh, sure.

George

Oh, yeah.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

the The He-Man and Masters Universe live action. Isris Elba, who apparently will do anything. Jared Leto, who will be in things as long as you can’t see his face.

Mo

And

George

Which is a positive for the rest of us.

Mo

ah Exactly. And a bunch of people who I don’t know who they are, to be quite honest. I couldn’t recognize anybody else on it. And I figured that, you know, to do something that was kind of goofy, even for the 80s, it was kind of goofy. um To do it now, you figure it’s going to be a little bit, it’s got to be a little tongue in cheek, right? A little bit of that.

Mo

And I thought they took every joke a few steps too far. Like they just kept doing the same joke over and over again to the point where it’s like, oh, come on.

George

Hmm.

Mo

Like one of the guys from Master Universe is named Fisto. Now think of the possibilities of jokes with that. Okay.

George

Yeah, right.

Mo

Well, they did every single freaking one over and over again, multiple times, you know, the, and the main character, you know, it’s,

Jon

multiple times

Mo

The way they his his role, I think he almost like he overdid it like he was I almost didn’t care. Like I’m like, yeah, the actual he meant like because he was like kind of like annoying, quite honestly.

George

Do you mean the person who played He-Man? Okay.

Mo

um And he was very annoying to me. And at one point, I’m like, I’m not sure I’m rooting for him or not, but I don’t know.

Jon

Yeah, there’s another one, Mo. the and like but More of these lately we saw together, which hadn’t happened for a while.

Jon

I can definitely relate to you, Mo. This is another one of those that rare ones that I happening more frequently now that you and I get to see together since we happen to live in the same town. I guess your wife house little more frequently, which is great.

Mo

Yeah, every now and

Jon

Nice to see. Uh, but we got to see it together and You know, I envisioned this movie like, you know, we talk about you can you can take a movie back and get like a director’s cut or get another edit or whatever.

Mo

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jon

Like, I wish I was running this movie through like an audio mixer board, how you can like adjust the treble and the bass or the, you know, the EQ or whatever.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Like I wanted to be able to adjust how goofy it was and how long jokes dragged on because this movie did have a heart.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

It did have some nice warm messages, but they never let them land.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

There would be this heartwarming moment and then fart joke, something right they would not let it stick.

Mo

Yeah. Fist joke.

Jon

A fisto joke, sure. It happened over and over. I thought they did a good job of bringing the cartoon to the screen.

Mo

Yes.

Jon

I had a fun time watching it.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

I’m not sure who the audience is that would go and see it multiple times to make it a huge hit because…

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

for For so many reasons, but I liked it, but didn’t like exactly the tone.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Like you said, it was a little too goofy. None of the things that they try kind of they repeated the same jokes and it didn’t feel the jokes didn’t feel earned after a while. It was like, Oh, you had to squeeze another one of those in.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

I see.

Mo

Yeah. Okay. and Yeah. It was pointless.

Jon

Yeah. Mm

George

Yeah, I don’t know if we’re going to get much more out of this. So, so far in the time that it’s been out, and I haven’t seen it yet, 200 million budget, 90 million box office global.

Jon

hmm.

Mo

Oh. the That’s not good.

Jon

Yeah. Yeah.

George

Yeah, especially considering who they threw at this, because, I mean, like you said, Idris Elba, apparently, i don’t know how you didn’t notice her, Mo, but Marina Baccarin is in this.

Mo

No part two.

Jon

Yeah.

Mo

Oh, really?

George

Yeah, she’s sorceress.

Jon

Oh, yeah. very

Mo

Oh, yeah, but she’s in a very small.

Jon

Just a couple of times. She is in it couple of times.

Mo

She’s only she’s a very small role.

George

Yeah. Yeah. so what about evil in allison bree she wasn’t in it very much because she’s another big name okay yeah so

Jon

Yep. Yep. Yep.

Mo

Evelyn was in it. Actually, she was in it pretty much. So, yeah, this.

Jon

Yeah. Yeah.

George

I want to see it just because I’m a master universe fan and I’ll probably wait, but um I’m not going to That’s the thing.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

Oh, sure. I would say go see it.

George

Like, so it used to be, go see it, you know, if it’s five or 10 bucks, but tickets are 20, $25 now for first run movies.

Jon

ah

Jon

Right.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

That’s right.

George

It’s getting to the point where they’re pricing me out of taking a chance on a movie that

Mo

Taking a chance. Yeah.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

that somebody may or may not have given a good review to. They’re kind of cutting their own throat in the theatrical market. They’re putting me in the position of only wanting to watch stuff at home.

George

If that’s their goal, if they’re doing like Vegas, where we’re only catering to Wales, no more of the mom and pop family vacations, if they’re doing that same kind of thing with theaters now, they’re, yeah, they’re winning.

Mo

Success.

Jon

They succeed. Yeah.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

yeah And I’ll tell you, i won’t spoil anything, but there are after credits or mid credit scenes. They set up like no fewer than three more movies that it looks like they would like to do.

George

Oh, yeah. so yeah

Mo

i don’t think it’s going happen, though.

Jon

But I don’t. ah Yeah, exactly. I’m not sure it’s going to happen. So, yeah, I’m with you, Mo. Mm

Mo

Yeah. So, you know, it a it it was it was goofy. I said that the live action, the fight scenes were actually really good. I thought the fight scenes themselves were excellent.

Jon

hmm. Yeah.

Mo

um

Jon

Yeah, action was good.

Mo

The actual. Yeah, it was very, very good. But yeah, it’s just in like it was just just didn’t grab me at all, you know, essentially.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Mo

So so that’s what had. But so, John, you saw a movie I was very interested in, you know.

Jon

And let me tell you, it’s an absolute winner. i won’t I won’t hide anything from you.

Mo

OK.

Jon

I won’t save it up for the end. I went saw Obsession. Now, this movie, a horror movie, was not at the top of my list of I got to go and see. Small little movie.

Jon

I think A24 is another backed a twenty four film And the premise, very fascinating, is this friend group, a couple of guys and a couple of girls and just ah a platonic friend group.

Jon

And the one guy has a crush on this young lady who just sees him as a good friend, you know, as ah as a brother or whatever.

Mo

Friend zone.

Jon

He’s but he’s been friend zoned, right?

Mo

says

Jon

He’s always dreamed of having a more relationship with her. And through a series of wacky events, he ends up with this almost like a amazing stories script, right?

Jon

he He goes to this little curio shop and he buys this little gadget that you’re supposed to open it and crack it open and make a wish.

Mo

Oh.

Jon

Well, her wish was, I wish that she would love me more than anyone else on the planet. And, you know, it’s actually the biggest wish you could wish.

George

Wait, her wish or his wish?

Jon

And his he wishes that she would love him.

Mo

His wish. That she would love him.

George

Okay.

Jon

Yeah.

George

Okay, when you said her wish, I was like, who are we talking about at that point?

Jon

Oh, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. No, the young man wishes on the young lady.

George

ha ha.

Jon

Yeah, yeah. And it starts to work right away. And at first it seems great, right? She’s suddenly, you know, like paying more attention to him and kind of wants to hang out a little bit. And do you want to come in instead of, you know, drop me off at my house? And he’s like, this is kind of cool. And at first he doesn’t know it’s the the gimmick, right?

Jon

But then the name of the movie comes into play, Obsession. That’s the thing. He is the most important thing to her on the planet.

Mo

Hmm.

Jon

More important than eating, more important than leaving the room to go to the bathroom, more important than sleeping.

Mo

Oh, wow.

Jon

She wants to stay awake and watch him sleep. I mean, it’s Obsession to the point where he can’t live his life and doesn’t know what to do. I don’t think I can tell you much more about this movie.

Mo

OK.

Jon

But I will tell you that it was one of the most satisfying, cohesive scripts and stories and performances, a culmination of all the pieces for a movie of this type that I’ve seen in the theater in a good long while.

Jon

You know you get frustrated with movies sometimes that are are like, people are doing stupid stuff. Like, let’s hide behind the chainsaws, right? Dumb stuff. Or let’s just go in here.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

It’ll be fine. After about a quarter of the way through the movie, everybody knows the stakes are big and nobody’s stupid. They’re trying really hard to do the right thing. It’s just not working out for them. And it’s accelerating and it’s getting worse and it’s getting worse. And this has a satisfying effect.

Jon

arc. It has a satisfying ending and it leaves you like the end of a twilight zone episode going, Holy crap. What did I just see? How did we arrive here? I was, I enjoyed this more than anything I’ve seen in the theater, probably in the last two months.

Jon

And I’ve seen, you know, seven, eight movies probably, uh, as a complete package obsession,

Mo

Oh.

George

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Whether you see at the theater, whether you see it when it hits streaming, whether you go and get it out of your public domain in Georgia, or whatever, you should definitely spend some time with this and focus on it. Don’t like half watch it. Don’t put it on the side while you’re checking on your phone. The performances, the progression, the story, the nuance is so much better than this movie had any business having. I’m so happy I saw it.

Mo

Was it it so it sounds like you’re pretty satisfied at the end to like you said it set up for like Twilight Zone II that there’s probably more could happen or more maybe happens afterwards where or did it actually like end and like, OK.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Jon

This story has an ending.

Mo

OK, OK.

Jon

I think the legend of this magic could continue, but these people’s story have pretty well run their course, I will say, by the end of this film.

George

Right.

Mo

OK.

Jon

Yeah, yeah. It’s definitely satisfying. Definitely obsession. Obsession. If it wasn’t on your radar, it ought to be.

Mo

All right.

Jon

And if it was, move to the top. Definitely worth seeing. So, cool. All right. So we got a so-so. We got a great one. George, how about you? what are you watching in media?

George

Well, Kind of in between those, maybe, i guess.

Jon

Okay.

Mo

Okay.

Jon

That’s not bad.

George

um

Jon

Sure.

Mo

miss yeah I’ll take it.

George

Apparently, um Bob Odenkirk has decided that he is going to niche down hard. We talk about niching down all the time in YouTube.

Jon

Hmm.

George

Bob Odenkirk has decided, am going to be the king of all John Wick-style action movies that have one word in the title that start with the letter N. Because now…

George

He has done Nobody, Nobody 2. And this film called Normal, which was released in April earlier this year, and I finally got around to seeing it.

Mo

Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. and h

George

um

Jon

m

George

When you’re searching for it online, just be careful. You’ll find it. It’s listed as a 2025 film. That’s because that’s when it was debuted at a Toronto Film Festival. But it wasn’t widely released to the general public until April of 2026.

George

The movie storyline is essentially Bob Odenkirk is a substitute sheriff. That’s the best way I can describe him. He’s a sheriff for hire where towns who I guess they’re in between sheriffs, their sheriff died.

George

In this case, he died unexpectedly before they can elect a new one. They bring Bob Odukirk in to kind of steady the ship and just make sure everything runs okay.

Mo

Interim.

George

And everybody’s happy. And this is a very friendly town. It’s, you know, in a very like wintry Northern part of the country, it’s everybody is friendly.

George

It’s Mayberry, you know, from the Andrew Griffith show. Henry Winkler plays the mayor. So if you can picture that, you can understand the aesthetic that they were going for in this town, a small town vibes and feel, but the town has a secret as any action movie with the letter N has its first initial and single word.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Oh, nice.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Yes.

Jon

Hmm. Hmm. Hmm.

Jon

ah yeah

George

And Bob Oda Kirk film is going to be, um

George

I don’t want to… I mean, it’s in the trailer, so i’m I don’t feel like I’m spoiling it, but essentially, the town and its bank is a money laundering way station for the Japanese Yakuza.

Jon

Okay.

Mo

as they are wont to be.

George

The whole town!

Jon

Well. Okay.

George

the Apparently, when the Yakuza can’t get all of their money…

Mo

yeah the whole town.

George

over to Japan that they’ve made illegally in the United States through drug trade and whatever else that they’ve done. They put them, they put all these money in gold bars and everything else in these little banks in these little small towns that they can control so much so that even the regular citizens are in charge of protecting this cash of funds.

Mo

Yeah.

George

Well, of course, Bob doesn’t know any of this. Yeah. And some people, these this husband and wife, boyfriend, girlfriend team, they don’t really clarify. They decide to rob the bank one night.

Jon

Oops. Oh, yeah.

George

Oops, it’s the right word.

Jon

Mmm.

George

Bob gets involved and very quickly the town not only is all after the couple, but they turn on him because he’s an outsider too.

George

So no witnesses are what, because there are a couple of Japanese guys there that are from mafia and they’re charged with making sure the town is doing everything right.

Jon

Mmm.

Jon

Mmm.

George

It’s just, it’s an odd storyline that I probably never would have come up with on my own, but it’s funny.

Mo

Hmm.

George

And the story also doesn’t necessarily hit all of the marks that it could, as far as the film is concerned.

Jon

okay

George

I feel like it leaves some on the table. There’s parts where it’s a little over the top and there’s a parts where little under delivers. Um, I think Otakirk does a good job.

George

um Henry Winkler for the time he’s there, I’m going to leave it at that. Um, does a decent job.

Jon

oh Gotcha.

Mo

she

George

Um, Leanne Headley from game of Thrones is in this as well.

Jon

Understood.

George

She has a nice little pivotal, small role in it.

Mo

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

George

Um, it, it’s a film worth watching once they do set it up for the potential to have other films like nobody did.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

George

But everything I’m reading says that because it performs so poorly at the box office, that it’s likely that we won’t see a nobody to normal to kind of situation. Um,

George

But yeah, i like at some point, I’m um’m wondering, like I know he’s shifted his career, obviously. We see him doing these different kind of roles now. I think maybe he might have like just gone a little too far.

George

this like It might have been one film too far.

Mo

Overcorrected.

Mo

Yeah, I watched also, and I didn’t even know about this movie, quite honestly. Like it just sort of popped up.

George

Mm-hmm.

Mo

I was like, Odenkirk, I’ll watch it. um It’s as ridiculous as the plot is.

George

Yes.

Mo

I did find myself going with it. Like I didn’t at one point, you know, the way the movie was done well enough that i’m like, i’m just going to go with it.

George

Yeah, a little bit, yeah.

Mo

You know, I’m fine with Yakuza for some reason being involved in this thing.

Jon

Sure. Why not?

Mo

Why not? You know, but there were parts that just went so over the top that you’re like, well, it’s almost like a different type of movie suddenly because it was so over the top from what the rest of the movie was.

George

Yeah, it was like the action and the gore was amped up to 11.5, not even just 11 to the point where it was just slightly ludicrous.

Mo

Mm hmm.

George

Some of the things that were happening, but maybe that allowed you to suspend your whole, you know, system of critical analysis.

Mo

I

Jon

charming.

Mo

ah

George

I mean, yeah,

Mo

i mean, I enjoyed it.

George

everybody knows Henry Winkler in his later career. Now he’s always the lovable father figure, kind of nice guy, right?

Jon

Yeah. so charming yeah

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

He starts off that way in this film. So it’s not a shock when you see him, you’re just like, Oh look, it’s the Fonz. And he’s being the same guy. He was in Adam Sandler’s click and you know, in all in Barry, he’s being all the, yeah, he’s doing all these kinds of, he’s doing the same thing.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

Parks are wreck and Rec and…

Jon

Parks and Rec and everywhere. Yeah, right.

George

And then when the shit hits the fan, He flips that character on a dime while still being that character, which is really weird.

Jon

Oh, good.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Hmm.

George

Like he’s still super nice guy, but now he’s super nice guy with a purpose and to hell with Bob Odenkirk and the couple, this has got to happen.

Jon

Ah, here’s an agenda.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

George

It’s, he’s, it’s almost like he’s, he’s gleefully evil.

Jon

Okay. I can see that. That might be worth the price of admission right there.

Mo

Yeah, that’s a good way putting it. That’s a good way putting it.

George

Yeah, it it it’s ah it’s an interesting film. It’s not one that I want you to go run out right now and go find on streaming or DVD or in the theaters if it’s still out there somewhere.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Right.

George

If you have a free hour and a half, though, and you’re not sure what to do, like you’re you know you’re searching, like, find me a good film that’s kind of like this.

Jon

Right.

George

I think that’s when it’s worth your time.

Mo

Yeah, you could do worse for sure.

George

Yeah.

Jon

You could do worse. There we go.

George

Yeah.

Jon

Fair enough.

Mo

Yeah, know i said I enjoyed it, you know.

Jon

All right. Yeah. I watched half of it. I might go back. I didn’t, i didn’t think I saw Henry Winkler yet. That’s how little I watched of it. So I’ll have to get back to it.

Mo

Oh, wow.

George

Oh, you didn’t watch half of it then.

Mo

That’s not even half.

Jon

And I didn’t watch half.

Mo

Yeah.

George

He’s in the first five minutes.

Jon

I’m not even halfway through. Okay. Maybe I started it and got distracted either way. I think Winkler might be a reason to go back to it. All right. Thanks.

Mo

Let’s jump right into tech and toys. So John, why don’t you kick us off?

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

What do for us this week?

Jon

Yeah, sure. I have an interesting piece of tech. So ah all the way back when, I want to say 2017 or 18, when we started Gen X Grown Up, the need to capture video coming out of something was immediately something we realized we needed.

Jon

And at that point, I picked up what i what was at the time a pretty pretty premium, I would say, capture, not a capture card, but a capture device. You’re the one you put in line and plug in USB by a company called Elgato.

Mo

Yeah.

George

yeah

Jon

And I have have had, when I need it, I really need it, but I don’t need it terribly often because over the years, things have all leaned toward HDMI. It’s easier to capture things, you know, but recently we’ve been covering some pieces of hardware that I need or want to capture the direct HDMI output.

Jon

It’s not satisfactory to be up on just a screen and shoot it. For example, we were doing that cool ah Morph 2K upscaler box and I had footage on a TV, which was great, but I really wanted to show the direct output.

George

Oh, yeah. The upscale. Yeah.

Jon

Same thing with the M64. I want to show those scan lines and what they look like coming right out of the box. And I went to set up my Elgato and it finally had come to the point where I was tired of fiddling with it.

Jon

It was one of those things where I had to keep unplugging it, plugging it back in. It said no signal. And I don’t know if it was, yeah, is it getting flaky or was it always like that?

George

Oh, it wasn’t reliable.

Mo

Oh, okay. It was it was quirky.

Jon

Or is my power cord or whatever? I don’t know. I played with it for days and I’m like, okay. I remember them being several hundred dollars. and I’ve been resisting. but However, I went shopping and I found

Mo

Sure. Mm-hmm.

Jon

what I would call a second or third tier company, but these days, that’s the electronics are probably about the same. My company called Avermedia, not Elgato, but Avermedia has this 4K 60 FPS capture device that’s very much like an Elgato. It’s a little, looks like a pack of cigarettes, right? You plug it in USB to your computer and then it has a pass-through. You run HDMI into it.

Jon

And if you’d like, you can run HDMI out to a monitor so you can even see the the throughput on a monitor while you’re capturing video.

Mo

Hmm.

Jon

And a couple of things, first, I’m going to give you the link, Mo, to Amazon where I bought it, of course. It was under $100. It was 50, 60 bucks, something like that delivered, I believe. But a couple of things about it that make me recommend it. First, much less expensive than comparable offerings from bigger companies.

Jon

Ultimately, you just need it to do one thing. Does it get the signal and record it to a media file? Yes. Okay. It was reliable, like my Elgato wasn’t. not Don’t mean a doggone Elgato.

Jon

It was fine at first. I think maybe mine over time just got not good or after a while.

Mo

Sure.

Jon

plugged it in right away and it just worked. Moe’s famously saying it just works. That’s a great thing for it.

Mo

see

Jon

The other thing is always with Elgato, I found their capture software to be very cryptic. It wasn’t just as simple as push record. There was a bunch of like, we’ll create a room and then box that into a folio and then folio that into ah a capture profile.

Mo

Oh, and you just want to just give me a video.

George

Oh, right.

Jon

i’m Like, no, no, I want to push record button and stop button. That’s what I need from you.

Mo

You’re right.

George

Right.

Jon

And the studio has that very thing.

Mo

Okay.

Jon

I didn’t read an instruction number one with this thing. I downloaded the software they recommended. I installed it on my computer. I plugged in the box. Signal worked right away. Beautiful capture footage. Great bit rate throughput.

Jon

And i the only thing that makes me upset is I didn’t go seeking out something better much longer ago when it was frustrating me.

George

Mm-hmm.

Jon

I didn’t know the prices had come down. The quality had come up in such a way that a package like this worked so well. And it totally made the production of those videos twice as easy.

George

I think at our age, we tend to fall into that same thing. Like we we keep using the same piece of software because we’ve always used it. And even though it may be as an upgrade happens, it irritates us or something like that.

Jon

Mm hmm.

Mo

Thank you.

George

It’s a lot easier just to keep using that rather than try and go learn something new.

Jon

Mm

George

I’m glad that you found a device that… eliminated that argument by being so simple itself, even simpler than the previous device.

Jon

hmm.

George

What I was curious about, you talked about you connect your USB up to your PC.

Jon

Yeah.

George

So that’s where the capture throughput is happening over USB, not over HDMI. Is that right?

Jon

That’s right. Yeah, is USB 3.0.

George

So do you have, I was going to say, do you have to have a certain level of USB?

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

Because on a lot of people’s devices, they might only have USB 2.0 ports and not 3.1 or whatever.

Mo

3.0.

George

Does this device need a specific one or?

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Yep.

Jon

Well, so i I didn’t try it on lower. I use it on 3.0 because it said 3.0. You know how you look inside the USB and it’s got a blue thing, which indicates it’s expecting 3.0.

George

Mm-hmm.

Jon

So that’s what I plugged it into. I would guess it might work on a lower one, but you might not get the most stable frame rate because data throughput would be lower.

George

Right, that’s what I was curious about.

Jon

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Oh, one more quality of life thing that i just tickled me to no end is on the box, there’s a blinky record button.

Jon

on the box.

Mo

I

Jon

So if I set up my recording and I push record and I minimize all my software, I can see on the box sitting on the desk, blink, blink, it’s showing me recording. It’s telling me what the software is doing. So I have confidence that it’s still rolling.

George

Oh, so the Elgato didn’t have that.

Jon

And Oh, no. Oh, no. it it It literally had little LED lights that kept going on and off for some reason that I couldn’t had nothing do with recording state.

George

Oh.

Mo

don’t know why.

George

ah

Mo

ah i don’t know why

Jon

ah But this is friendly from a software standpoint, from a hardware standpoint, from a simplicity standpoint, all across the board. If you need capture or you want to do streaming or whatever, this Avramedia.

Jon

Elgato, you guys are great. You’re too expensive for me. This does a job I need for much less expensive. So I i would recommend it.

Mo

Very cool.

Jon

Yeah. All right. Mo, how how about you, my man? What you got in the world of tech?

Mo

So I i got George to think for this. They ah George, a while back you were complaining about you couldn’t get your glasses clean.

George

oh

Jon

Okay.

George

Yep, still am.

Mo

OK, so I had the same problem of most glass where people have that same problem, especially if you look if you ever look at your glasses, look at like where the hinges are and the nose goes on.

Jon

Oh, don’t look.

George

Oh, yeah, that part I never bothered about.

Mo

They all get gross, right? Don’t look.

Jon

Don’t look there. Okay.

George

It’s just the lenses for me, but I get you.

Mo

Yeah.

George

Yeah.

Mo

So I found this thing on Amazon. It’s an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Have you seen those? You put water and he uses sound.

George

I’ve got one.

Mo

Well, they have one big enough. We put glasses in.

George

Yeah, mine is.

Mo

Have you tried putting your glasses in it?

George

Mm-hmm.

Mo

So I did.

George

Doesn’t clean my lenses.

Mo

Huh?

George

Doesn’t clean my lenses.

Mo

Really?

George

it It takes all the gunk out of it, but in order for me to get the lenses clean with mine, at least, is I still have to put some dishwashing soap on the lenses, rub them, put them in the cleanser.

Mo

Mine did.

Jon

ah huh Maybe yours is maybe Elgato.

Mo

Oh, okay.

George

It gets rid all the hinges. Then I still have to rinse it off. It’s still like a four or five step process. It’s not put it in a device and it does like a Jetsons kind of scrubby thing or something and cleans it for me.

Mo

Oh, okay. Well, mine did. ah The one I bought.

George

Oh, maybe the one I bought sucks.

Mo

um So it’s…

Mo

Maybe? um

George

no right

Mo

It says it’s 48 kilohertz. I have no idea if that matters. I have no idea. All I know is that I put the glasses in, filled it with regular tap water.

George

ah

Mo

yeah You could do like ah five minutes or seven minutes on it.

George

Oh, mine doesn’t have. okay All right.

Mo

you know, they go for five minutes. It’ll beep at the end. i pulled them out. I dried them off. I did have a microfiber cloth before drying them off. your drug glasses And they were I have not seen them that clean since I got them.

George

Okay.

George

So no soap in there, just the warm water.

Mo

Nope. And then so I did try you put a couple of drops of dish soap in it just to see if it made a difference.

George

Right.

Mo

And it really cleaned just as well.

George

okay

Mo

You know, um and they do say like the restructions say, hey, you know, if it’s really tough, you know, if it’s really greasy, then put a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid and then run it and it’ll work just the same. So I so I’ve been, course, cleaning everything else I could fit in this damn thing. um You know, my wedding ring. And then, you know, my wife came. She’s, oh, let me throw my engagement ring in there. We threw that in there. And she’s like, oh, my God, it’s shiny. You know, ah so it definitely works. um Now, it was 30 bucks I paid for this thing.

Mo

So I was like, worst case, I could always return it right to Amazon.

Jon

terrible.

Mo

But when they said it’s long enough, I can actually fit a pair of glasses in.

Jon

Right.

Mo

um It even has like a little stand. So you can put a watch in it and it’ll keep the watch face out of the water. But the band will be in the water so you can clean your watch bands and stuff.

George

Oh, that’s nice.

Jon

Oh.

Mo

um Besides that, though, it was just fill water, hit a button. There really wasn’t much else to it. um And then pull them off and then dry it off and you’re done. So it’s some random.

Mo

don’t even know what company it’s from, be quite honest. It’s just it has a name.

Jon

Amazon seller, right?

Mo

Amazon thing. I don’t know.

George

Right, yeah.

Mo

So. But yeah, because again, like I always get annoyed because I can never understand how the inside of the lenses of my glasses get dirty. I’m not sure how that happens. Like my eyes flicking dirt on it.

Mo

I have no idea idea what’s happening.

George

Right.

Jon

your Your filthy eyelashes just throwing mud.

George

Yeah.

Mo

Exactly.

Jon

Yeah.

Mo

But I said I dropped him in, pulled him out and he said they were I’ve not seen them that clean since I bought them.

Jon

wow i have a quick question about the watch part because when you described it i was thinking all along like so i have a a whatever the galaxy watch the google watch whatever and i feel if i’m sitting somewhere in good light and i look down i’m like oh this thing is filthy like or where where the watch band meets the side the body of the thing like you can’t get a q-tip in there you can’t get anything

Mo

Yeah.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

Mm-hmm.

Jon

You said there’s some kind of a little stand. How does it work? Could you put like and ah an electronic, like a digital watch, like the Google watch or an Apple watch in there and it not get waterlogged?

Mo

Yeah, i I didn’t try it. I think. See, the thing is, I don’t think it hit that joint because it keeps the whole watch face out of the water. Like the whole body of the watch will stay out of the water.

Jon

Oh, okay. All right.

Mo

And it’s just a band. But that means that you’re probably not getting in that hinge part where it connects to the face.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mo

So that part’s not going to clean. It will get the rest of it clean, but not that part.

Jon

Okay. All right.

George

I’m pretty sure too. I remember that even though those types of devices are waterproof, you know, IP86 or whatever, that I remember reading or seeing somewhere that when you put those kinds of devices inside these ultra vibration water cleaning things, that it completely eliminates that rating and it’s just going to get waterlogged no matter what, because the vibrations.

Mo

Yeah.

Mo

m

Jon

yeah

Jon

Because they’re they’re vibrating and penetrating, probably.

Mo

It’s vibrating it, yeah.

George

Yeah.

Jon

Yeah, I can see that.

George

I know I could be wrong about that. Maybe somebody can comment, send us an email later, but yeah.

Mo

sounds logical, though.

Jon

a so Sounds right.

George

Yeah.

Jon

Let’s go with it.

Mo

Sounds logical, yeah, for sure.

George

So I just wanted to ask you, um because it it sounds like maybe I should try this one instead of the one that I have. But you talked about how you put your glasses in, you took them out, you had a microfiber cloth.

George

I have microfiber cloths everywhere. I’ve got like 20 sitting here at my desk right now as we’re recording this.

Mo

Yeah. Yeah. and So I usually use to try to clean my glasses.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

My question on the microfiber cloths is, though, how often and what way do you wash or clean the microfiber cloths? Because every microfiber cloth is slightly different, the different textures. Like I’ve got the Koala ones that are supposed to be high premium. I’ve got the ones from Walmart and everything that are super smooth.

George

But every single one of them I see is like, you got to hand wash this towel in the sink with warm soapy water and do all that.

Mo

Oh.

George

And I’m like, who has time for that in my first world problem stuff? I mean, I just.

Mo

Yeah, it’s honestly, I go laundry.

Jon

Me too.

Mo

If there are special instructions, I never read them.

Jon

yeah ha

Mo

but You know, I just don’t know my regular laundry and they seem to come out fine.

George

but Okay.

Jon

Buck in the system.

George

And how often do you clean them then? Because that’s the other thing. How often do you clean a thing that’s made to clean things?

Mo

Oh, I mean, whenever I do laundry, if I see one, I just throw it in and wash with my clothes.

George

Okay.

Mo

You know, it’s like one of those things.

George

I just need to do a better job of that because most of mine are here in my office, not near the laundry basket.

Mo

So once a week.

Mo

Oh, yeah, that’s a problem.

George

So i I need to do a better job of throwing them in the laundry.

Mo

Out of sight.

Jon

They’ve never been cleaned. ah

George

All right, everybody. Time to get into the meat of the episode. Talk about games.

Jon

keep

George

We all three have something to talk about.

Mo

Yeah.

George

John is trying to pull a George and talk about two things.

Jon

Yep.

George

So let’s jump into him first.

Mo

Oh, geez.

George

What the hell are you doing cheating and giving us two games for in one segment, sir? Hmm.

Jon

i’m ah You’re leading by example. I’m trying to follow suit. yeah Just very brief, I’m actually between games. I don’t have anything new that I have really gotten into, but some things I’ve played before have kind of seeped into my life.

George

Hmm.

Jon

So first of all, we’ve talked several times about Utopia Must Fall. that vector-y looking game that you shoot all the incoming enemies and it looks like centipede and asteroids and stuff all combined together.

George

Mm-hmm.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Huge update on that game. It was in beta for a few weeks and it just hit. Has elevated, i always speak glowingly of it and I speak even more glowingly of it now. They have made it where the but progression is so much more meaningful and there’s more strategy to it. You can still just pick up and play.

Jon

It’s still just a quick five minute game. But when you get good and you get deep in the game, like I have, it can take 45 minutes to do a run of it.

George

wow

Jon

I finally broke my 1 million barrier, which is one of the achievements.

George

o

Mo

yeah.

Jon

And when you get to a million, let me tell you, you’re about done. Yeah. Things are pretty chaotic at that point. You’re lucky to get past 800,000 usually. So I accomplished that. i was on a live stream. In fact, I had a lot of tutorials in that. I’m working on another video of that, so distilling it down to just all of my advice on how to do upgrades and stuff. so we’re going take that. And the other little bit is to mention that we’ve been talking about Retro Rewind. George makes fun of me every time we talk about that video game rental or a me VHS rental store.

George

because I play it religiously now too oh

Jon

They’re adding Do you now?

Mo

Oh.

Jon

Okay. So I want to let you know that our good friend Souls told me about a new game that is currently in a demo. It’s not released yet. It’s called Retro Arcade Shop Sim.

Mo

Oh.

Mo

Oh.

Jon

Same idea. You start with an empty room. You sweep the floors, put up the wallpaper, and buy your first arcade machine.

George

well shit I’m hooked

Jon

And then later you can buy whack-a-mole, basketball, go-karts outside, all kinds of stuff. It is in demo.com.

George

Oh, you’re turning into a whole fun center.

Jon

Oh, yeah, eventually.

Mo

Oh.

Jon

So the demo just lets you get to level four. doesn’t have all that stuff. But so far, I’ve got couple arcade machines. I got a foozeball and about foosball, not foosball, air hockey table. I got the basketball hoops thing.

Jon

People come, you have to put a coin machine. You got to take the coins out of the machine, put them back in the change machine, take their money, run credit cards. It’s so much like the video or movie rental store. But it’s all arcade machines.

Jon

And just in the demo, I stopped because I’m like, oh, yeah, I’m going to be playing this on a live stream, even while it’s still in demo, I feel. It’s really cool. So I want to mention it to you, put it on your radar, Retro Arcade Shop Sim.

Mo

Okay. Nice.

Jon

So throw it out there for you.

Mo

nice

Jon

So see, just a couple quick items and move right along. So who’s next? Mo, I guess, what are you he what have you been playing, right?

Mo

So um this is a game actually came out last year and I talked about, which is Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which was the latest in the Assassin’s Creed. i don’t even recall.

Jon

OK.

Mo

They have so many now.

George

Oh, yeah, yeah. Right.

Mo

ah The family. um And the reason why bring it up is that they recently because Ubisoft is coming out with a a remaster of an older Assassin’s Creed game that they’ve totally remastered, did a whole bunch of updates too But this game, they kind of like a lot of the criticism is, i don’ know if you know the basic story of Assassin’s Creed, but it’s like people in present day can go back into their memories and you’re basically reliving memories um of and and you’re trying to find this.

George

Right.

Mo

And there’s this whole other race that lived on the planet before we got here. They call them the precursors and there’s technology that is left behind and all that stuff. They didn’t really have much of that in Shadows.

Mo

Like it was just you being in Japan. you know, and doing the normal Assassin’s Creed kind of stuff, but they didn’t have like that tie into the whole main story, which a of people just sort complained. They said it was a good game, but just like you miss that connection.

Mo

So Ubisoft came out with this update that came out, I guess, two weeks ago, maybe at this point, um where they added a whole nother island off of Japan in a whole series.

Mo

So it’s almost, I think, something like 15 hours of additional content for free that they just put out there.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mo

And it ties the story into that other backstory. you know, so, you know you have Templars who are the enemies of the assassins show up and they find this artifact and, you know, you have that glows for some reason. And, you know, and it even ties into the other Assassin’s Creed games where you find this cave and there’s a statue of one the old characters from when the old games is in it, you know, so it’s kind of cool.

Mo

And it’s, and they actually so came out, Ubisoft said that this is it for shadows. He’s like, we are done. Um, This ends the story, no more DLCs, no more anything else. We’re finishing this story and we’re moving on to new stories after this.

Mo

So that part, I’m like, I give them credit because they’re like okay, people were complaining.

George

Right.

Mo

We give them a ah satisfying ending and we’re going to end it for free, which is even better. Like they didn’t charge for it, which is amazing. um And also it was just a hell of a lot of fun to play. They had a couple new mechanics, add a couple new things to it.

Jon

good

Mo

It’s just, it was just a blast to play it and get back into the franchise.

Jon

It seems very surprising that, look, they’d released this game. They intentionally made a a departure from how the other games were.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

But then they heard people complain and they’re like, you got to think maybe they had planned some DLC and you’re like, you know what?

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Let’s tune this DLC to address those concerns also. To their credit, I mean, I’m sure they didn’t start from scratch and invest millions of dollars, but they took a turn. And you got for being a big company, you know, was it Ubisoft?

Jon

You got to them credit for that, I guess.

Mo

Ubisoft, yeah.

Jon

Yeah, for something.

Mo

Yeah. mean, even financially, there’s i mean they’re always on the ragged edge of going out of business because software…

Jon

Really?

Mo

the big franchise names, it’s just the profits are sometimes not there, you know, and that’s why they charging $70 a freaking game now.

Jon

Yeah.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

ah But, but, you know, and a lot, and there’s a lot of indie games that are almost as good quality now, or he’s sometimes surpassing it, you know?

Jon

I’m trying to break even

Jon

break even. Mm-hmm. $14.99. Yeah, half the time.

Mo

And you know you get for 24 bucks, you know and I’m like, okay, that’s a fair price, I think, for some of these things.

George

Yeah.

Mo

But again, I said, at the Assassin’s Creed is one of those things.

Jon

Yep.

Mo

If they come out with new one, I’m getting it. I know I’m going to get it. I’m not going to pretend I’m not going to get it.

Jon

Automatic. Cool.

Mo

yeah um And I just move on from there. So as I said, if you played Assassin’s Creed, played Shadows, reinstall it. It’ll download this extra bit, and you have a whole other area to go explore and play. So definitely worthwhile.

Mo

So the next thing, so George, you got something.

Jon

cool Good.

Mo

i actually watched you play it the other night. I was kind of just sort of lurking. I didn’t comment, but oh yeah, I was just lurking and watching.

George

Oh, were you? Oh,

Mo

I saw the woman’s neck break or something weird crap like that. But but i I saw that.

George

okay.

Jon

who

George

Yeah. Oh.

Mo

like, what the F? But yeah, George, so talk about this. What did you play?

George

Yeah. um Well, you’re you’re likely talking about the Seventh Guest remake game, which is obviously a remake of the original 1990, early-ish, like 92, I think, when the Seventh Guest first came out.

Mo

Yeah.

Mo

Was it 90s too? Wow.

George

Seventh Guest… Yeah, yeah. ah It and another game called Myst were really the two games that drove the whole CD-ROM revolution in PCs.

Mo

you Yeah.

Jon

Right.

George

Before that, we were all on floppy disks, right? You get like five or six floppy disks for a game, and you load one, and then you have switch the other one, and maybe you had a 40-meg hard drive or something like that to store your disk on if you were lucky.

Jon

Okay, Mr. Rockefeller, 40 megs. Goodness My amiga, yeah.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

poo okay mr rockefeller forty megs goodness gracious

Mo

Wow.

George

I know, right?

Mo

Moneybags here. ah

George

Wait, you had a 40-meg drive on your Atari, or Amiga, rather? We all did.

Jon

my mega yeah

George

Anyway. But um when CD-ROMs came in, the other thing that came in to home gaming, which was previously only possible in arcade gaming through very expensive setups, was full motion video capture type of games, FMV.

Mo

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

George

Seventh Guest was not the first FMV game. Obviously, there were games back in the 70s that were FMV games, technically. Obviously, in the 80s, the most known is Dragon’s Lair.

George

You know, that’s the most famous first version.

Mo

z

George

And then you get some other things later on that come from that. But at home in the PC, Seventh gaze’s seventh Guest was definitely the one that drove that market along with Myst.

George

Now, personally, I liked Seventh Guest way more than I enjoyed Myst. Myst was

Jon

Okay.

Mo

Oh, this confused me.

George

Well, they’re both puzzle-solving games, but Seventh Guest had a more engaging story, if you ask me.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

Number one, you had visual actors because they filmed people on green screen kind of stuff, which was still very new at the time.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

And… the whole concept and the story of Stauf Mansion and the ghosts and the kids and the party goers and everything.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

I found it to be closer and closer to that thing that I’ve talked about on this podcast in the past, where I always wanted TV show or movie that was a good story that I could control.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

That’s why I love Alan Wake so much, because it’s that same kind of thing.

Mo

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

George

Seventh Guest Remake takes that original game and amplifies everything, not just the visuals. That’s easy. Anybody can do that these days.

George

How many remake, demake, all these different make things are out there?

Jon

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

George

Anybody can enhance visuals at this point. But what they did with this remake, they hired a whole new cast of actors, refilmed all of those segments for this new game.

Jon

Oh, nice.

George

The dialogue is slightly different. The story is basically the same, but you get into it in a different way than you did in the original game.

Mo

Hmm.

George

There are a lot of people who have done YouTube comparison videos, side-by-side videos. Here’s the intro to the original. Here’s the intro to the new one. They’re completely different. The puzzles, that’s the main heart of the game in these types of things.

Mo

Hmm.

George

Completely unique and brand new puzzles, but they have homages back to the original game, which I really appreciate.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Oh, good.

Mo

Oh, OK.

Mo

Oh, that’s pretty cool.

George

So I’ll give you an example. In the first game, there’s a dining room and you have to go in there and there’s a cake and it had all these little drawings on it that you had to kind of maneuver around like a sliding puzzle kind of situation in order to solve the cake puzzle.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

Well, in the new one, there’s a dining room as well. You go in there and instead of being a cake, it’s a dessert container that looks kind of like a big globe, essentially.

Mo

Okay.

George

And you have to push these buttons in specific orders in order to release the dessert. That’s the puzzle. Once you solve the puzzle, what’s inside it? That original cake design from the first game.

Mo

Oh, nice. Mm-hmm.

Jon

Oh, good.

George

Not in the same shape, but that same design. And I really appreciate that they that they stuck to the roots of the game. All the… Just the storyline, the atmosphere.

George

I feel like that this game… It’s definitely an improvement. You know how rarely, like in movies, the sequel is an improvement to the original film.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

In this case, the s sequel video game, I feel is a very strong improvement to the original video game. It’s maybe not quite as scary as the first game was, but maybe that’s also because of when…

George

I played that first game versus now. I’m i’m in my 50s now. I’m not in my 20s. Maybe it can’t affect me as much.

Mo

she

George

I’ve just you know had too much scary life experience at this point, watching movies like Obsession, like John brings to me all the time.

Mo

ah

Jon

You lived through 2020.

George

But yeah.

Jon

What’s going to scare you now?

Mo

Yeah, really.

George

But it’s got some great moments. I’m not finished with the game yet. In the live streams, we’re going play it again next Thursday, which is the same day this podcast will drop. People want me to keep playing it. We’re like 70% through, 65, 70% through. So solid game. Mm-hmm.

Mo

so okay

George

so good solid game

Jon

Yeah. And something you mentioned there that that I caught, you just you said it in passing, this keeps advertising itself as a remake. And like Monkey Island had a remake, upgraded graphics and everything, but the puzzles were all the same.

George

Right.

Jon

If you knew how to play it, in fact, you could like float flip a switch and go to the old graphics, new graphics. Like it was identical, just looked different.

George

Yeah.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

I wasn’t aware.

George

Yeah.

Jon

Now, I’m not a big Seventh Guest fan. I didn’t play it back in the day, but I’m aware of its legacy. And I know people that play it, like yourself, of course. I wasn’t aware, smart It’s kind of, you said, almost like a sequel.

Jon

Like it’s that again, but it’s not a repeat of that again. It’s kind of a reimagining with homages back that gives you a reason to play it, even if you know the other one intimately well. In fact, it pays off in terms of callbacks without being easy because you already know over a puzzle.

George

Mm hmm.

Jon

That’s smart. That’s a good idea.

George

yeah Well, you know, i don’t think this is their original idea.

Jon

Okay. Okay.

George

And what I mean is it’s very similar to what Sam Raimi did with Evil Dead. He had his first movie, right?

Mo

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

George

And we all saw the cabin in the woods and the the friends that were there on the vacation.

Jon

Right?

George

And, you know, Ash had his whole, you know, survival last boy standing kind of thing. But then we got Evil Dead 2. which was Evil Dead, just remade with slightly new visuals and slightly different storyline, but the same Ash and the same universe.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

George

That’s kind of what this is. It takes that original thing, it bends the universe slightly askew a little bit, amps up all the creative aspects of it, all the elements and the assets and everything, and then puts you back in that world that you’re already familiar with

Jon

Yeah.

George

but have something new to explore and have fun with now.

Jon

Mm-hmm. It’s not just a rehash.

Mo

Very cool.

Jon

Yeah.

George

No.

Jon

With new graphics.

George

Yeah.

Jon

Yeah. There’s more to see.

George

Yeah.

Mo

I’m going to get this.

Jon

Nice. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, hey, if you’re listening to this on the day, be sure you go and watch George’s live stream.

George

And

Mo

c

Jon

More and more.

George

yeah.

Jon

Yeah.

George

And you know, if you want to go get the game yourself, we were talking about it earlier, $70 games. This is 20 bucks. You get this game and it’s VR version as well.

Jon

There you go.

George

So great price as well.

Jon

Oh, really? That’s cool.

Mo

Nice.

Jon

That is. Okay. Be right back. Awesome.

Jon

As we’re coming in the last bit of the show here, we always like to pause and talk about the things we’re looking at right now or looking forward to between now and the next time we get a chance to get together and speak. And I want to start with you, Mo.

Jon

I want to hear what you have on the horizon. Mm-hmm.

Mo

ah Sure. I’m looking forward to Supergirl, the sequel to Superman that just recently came out last year. I really enjoyed the Superman movie, so I’m hoping Supergirl looks a little bit different, but Same crew, same group of people making the movie. So i have pretty high expectations as can be at least a quality movie if nothing else.

Mo

um The TV show The Bear, ah which is it’s going to its last season.

George

Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

Mo

This is it. This is a season ah series finale ah season that they’re doing here.

Jon

Oh, really? Okay.

Mo

So season five. know it’s coming out June 25th on Hulu. um What I’m most looking forward to is HBO spinoff show House of the Dragon.

George

Oh.

Mo

Let me tell you why. It ends that there’s going to be a Dragon War.

George

Good. ah Okay.

Jon

Oh, a dragon war.

Mo

Okay.

George

I might want to watch the Dragon War.

Mo

A Dragon War? I cannot not watch. A Dragon War.

Jon

That’s basically Kaiju and Godzilla, Mo.

Mo

I’m sorry. Oh, yeah. I mean, it’s ah and plus they did a really good job with the dragons in this previous season.

Jon

It’s basically… Yeah. yeah and Okay.

Mo

So watching these things fight. Oh, I’m definitely all in on this one. um And then if the fighting is the first two episodes after that, yeah I may fall off. But it’s good.

Mo

You know, if they’re smart, they can have fighting every episode to keep me in, tri you know, keep me involved. But um that’s probably why I’m most looking for right now. How about you, George?

George

Yeah, ah first up, there’s a movie that’s coming out June 26th, so just the day after this podcast drops.

Mo

Thank you.

George

It’s called Undertone, and i was looking around for stuff that might be interesting.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

This one caught my eye. It’s not one that I i don’t think people are anticipating this one a lot, but it’s… a podcast team and it’s got some supernatural horror element to it, but it seems to, at least from the trailer, it looks like it’s all shot on one of the two podcasters.

George

It looks like they do it a remote podcast like we do where I’m over here in my house, John’s in his, Mo’s in his house.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

George

This, this pair of podcasters, they seem to do it remotely. So the focus of the film seems to be on the female character and

Jon

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

George

it looks like they might really lean into the audio portion of the movie, which I think will be very fun. And I’m looking forward to that because since we’ve been doing this podcast for nine years now or whatever, audio means everything in this format.

Mo

okay

George

And if you’re going to make a movie about… podcasting going awry or some kind of horror supernatural thing that this one is, you better make damn sure that you get the audio soundscape right.

George

And it looks like maybe they paid a lot of attention to that, so I’m hoping they got it right.

Mo

Oh, that’s cool.

Jon

I’ll tell you, I saw this in the theater.

George

ah

Jon

I’m wondering if that 26 might be an official streaming. You’re going to like it. I got to see this when it was hit in the theater. It had a very short run, very short run in the theater.

George

Well, thank you for killing my looking forward to.

Mo

Okay.

George

Appreciate it.

Jon

No, you can still look forward to it as well. You should.

George

Ha ha ha ha ha.

Jon

Yeah, it is very heavy in the audio. It’s very cool. going dig it.

George

um Another thing that I’m looking forward to, there’s a game that I’ve been playing the demo for lately, so I’m looking forward to whenever they do release it. I don’t have a release date yet, but it’s called The Walking Dead Streets of Survival.

George

This is a side-scrolling beat-em-up version of The Walking Dead Universe, but you have some choices in this, unlike a lot of the side-scrolling beat-em-up button mash kind of environments where it’s just, you know, how fast can I hit the jump or the kick button or something.

Jon

You’re walking dead.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

This one has some different choice elements that… it gives it a little bit more than those. So I’m looking forward to that. The demo has been a lot of fun, but then thing I’m looking forward to the most is the thing that Mo mentioned in his, and that’s Supergirl.

George

I think this looks like a lot of fun. It looks a little bit dark, which I appreciate.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

George

I know the James Gunn DC universe is always going to trend a little bit darker, with some humor in it of course but the actress mo she’s from the place i saw her from was that house of dragons she was in that first season as the young version for like an episode and a half of one of the characters or something before they time jumped 30 years but yeah i i think that’ll be a good good movie it’ll be worth checking out superhero movies are sometimes they’re getting better now sometimes they’re getting worse but

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Mo

Yeah.

Mo

Yeah.

George

It feels like James Gunn has breathed new life into the DC film verse.

Mo

i think so too.

Jon

It does.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Mm-hmm. Yep.

George

John, what about you? what are you looking forward to?

Jon

ah Sure, a few things. so ah So I think on this podcast a year or two ago, I talked about this cute little game called Dave the Diver, where this little pixelated guy who dives into this blue hole, harvesting cool fish and finding out there’s aliens down there.

Jon

and And you’re running a sushi restaurant in between, like Tapper.

George

Hmm.

Jon

Anyway, very cute.

George

Hmm. Hmm.

Jon

it It was an indie game. it did so well. They have a sequel now dropping on June 18th, which is as we record this, it’s happened, but i haven’t had a chance to get it yet. It’s called Dave the Diver in the Jungle.

Jon

So I’m guessing similar mechanics, similar idea, but in different locations. So it’s another iteration of that. Ready for that. ah Next up, coming up, video on demand, not hitting the theaters at all.

Jon

June 23rd is Hungry.

Mo

Uh-oh.

Jon

Yes, this is a movie about a killer hippo.

Mo

No.

Jon

Hungry, Hungry Hippos.

Mo

No.

Jon

Yes, it’s just called Hungry, and it’s about the cocaine bear of hippos.

Mo

Oh.

Jon

This is a killer, crazy hippo.

Mo

Oh, my God.

George

Hey grandma, can you please visit an apport since you’ve gone for public?

Jon

Now, they are dangerous animals, but they don’t stalk people.

Mo

They are. They’re very.

Jon

But anyway, I want to see stupid movies like this based on old franchises.

Mo

I wonder why it’s going video first.

Jon

And again, as you both mentioned, Supergirl coming out June 26th. Yeah. So we knew James Gunn did Superman, but more than anything, this Supergirl trailer kind of looks Guardians of the Galaxy-ish in a lot of ways, kind of like the weird outer space ports and pirates and things, which is not a bad thing.

Mo

Yeah, it does a little bit.

Mo

Mm-hmm.

Jon

It’s just I didn’t see it coming. And I’m ready to see DC.

George

James Gunn.

Jon

Yeah, well I’m ready to see DC catch a break.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Like Superman was pretty good.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

But every time I try to build a universe, it kind of goes sideways. I want him to succeed. I want him to do well. So.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Yeah. So, all right. That’s what I’m looking forward to. A lot of similarities between us.

Mo

jesus

Jon

Now I have a new patron to thank, but before I do Mo, I know that one of the benefits of being one of our supporters is the opportunity to ask a question over on Patreon that we’ll answer here. And I see you have one lined up.

Mo

Yeah, this is from Phil. He asked this question. What’s a hill you’ll defend forever, even if you’re wrong?

Jon

Hmm.

Mo

So um which I thought was a fun question. So, ah John, I think you seem to be have something right off the top of your head, huh?

Jon

Yeah. it is It’s funny. this This came up on our Discord server just the other day. And as soon as this I saw this question, I’m like, it’s a hill all dying. someone had a yeah Someone posted a ah a commentary saying that the Atari game Adventure is a terrible game.

George

no ah

Jon

Listen, I don’t want to throw my hands at you, but if it head it comes to it… No, I mean… and When you say a hill you’ll defend forever, it’s not that I think I’m defending an undefensible position. I’m sure that if given the right opportunity, I could convince someone why it’s a great game.

Jon

i understand why some people don’t think it is, but I can’t imagine how someone would convince me otherwise.

Mo

e

Jon

They can try. They’re welcome to try. so and I know adventure is old. It’s sparse graphics. You’re a block. The sword is an arrow. The dragons are ducks. I know all those things. It’s not about graphics.

Jon

You guys know it’s not about the graphics.

Mo

Yes.

Jon

It’s what’s it like. What’s the experience? So people that say adventure is garbage. No, adventure is a tremendous game. One of the best on the 2600. And that’s a hill I’ll defend forever.

Mo

Okay. Okay. How about you, George?

George

ah Well, um I was mentally preparing arguments against John there just as an automatic reflex.

Mo

just a reflex

George

Anytime I hear somebody saying those kind of statements, I just want to argue just my nature.

Jon

just It’s the debate, to bring the gene in him kicking up.

George

Yeah. yeah I think the thing that I will defend forever, even if I’m wrong, regardless, is my family. ah I don’t give a shit about a lot of things in this world.

Jon

No, sure.

George

I mean, you can tell me that this movie is great or this movie sucks or that video game or this food or… none of that stuff matters as much to me. Um, but if you come and you say, my kid blah, blah, blah. And your wife and blah, blah, blah, all that kind of stuff, we’re going to throw down.

George

We’re going to throw hands.

Mo

Even if they’re wrong.

George

Um, I don’t give a shit.

Mo

Yeah. I’m with you.

Jon

There you go.

George

Yeah. I don’t, don’t care.

Jon

That was the question, even if you’re wrong.

Mo

Yeah.

Jon

Yeah.

George

I mean, Inside my family, in that family circle, yeah. ah If my kid’s wrong, he and I can have that out. But I can talk shit to him.

George

You can’t.

Mo

Right. No one yells at my kids but me.

George

And so…

Jon

he

George

Yeah, it’s, it’s, and I’ve extended that outside of the immediate family, like to you two, if we’re ever like out in public or for instance, John mentioned that guy, um, you know, lambasting adventure.

Jon

I’ll take care of it.

George

He called us out in that video and in his video, he got our goddamn name wrong. That pissed me off. Not that he argued that we were wrong, but if you’re going to throw shade at us, at least give us our name, man.

Mo

Yeah, take take a little effort here.

George

Come on. We worked hard for that.

Jon

How much of an authority can you be if you can’t get that right?

Mo

Exactly.

George

Right.

Jon

Hmm.

George

That’s kind of my point. But, you know, if if we’re at a convention and somebody just, I’ll give you an example. Years ago, we were at SFGE, convention that we’re about to go to here soon.

George

And right before we were at a table, that we were running tables back then. And right before that, we had found out that one of our very close friends had was devastated because a friend of his or a person he thought was a friend had made a really nasty comment on one of his videos.

George

I hadn’t seen the video, didn’t know the comment, but I knew that friend of ours and he’s a very sensitive person. I’m not going to go into all the details. So you figure it out if you want. But when that friend of his also walked up to our table within a few minutes of that, I let his punk ass have it.

Mo

I remember this.

Jon

Oh, now got it. I caught up.

Mo

I remember, yeah

Jon

I’m there. I caught up with you.

George

Yeah. I,

Mo

m

Jon

I remember now.

George

Yeah, I let him have it because you’re not going to attack my friend without me defending that friend.

Jon

Got you.

Jon

gotcha

George

That’s just that’s the hill i’m going to that’s the hill I’ll die on, regardless of whether he was right or wrong.

Mo

Yeah, absolutely.

Jon

Okay.

George

didn’t matter to me.

Mo

Okay, that’s awesome. So mine has caused controversy in my family. It has, when I mentioned it, worked just offhand.

Jon

Okay. Juicy.

Mo

I got a lot of crap for it. But I’m going to defend this in the day I die, which is…

George

People hate that you don’t like American Ninja Warrior.

Mo

No, no ah that doesn’t happen. No, no. Way more serious than that. um That mint chocolate chip ice cream is an affront it to people.

Jon

What?

Mo

Exactly. See, that’s the reaction that people give me.

George

So you you like mint chocolate chip or you hate it?

Mo

I hate it. I think it is disgusting.

George

Okay.

Mo

I think it is the worst idea ever created.

Jon

What?

Mo

Mint and ice cream are… I really love ice cream. It’s my favorite dessert.

George

I have questions.

Mo

Mint and ice cream is not something that should go… this if I want that, I’ll freeze a tube of toothpaste.

Mo

So I can say it causes controversy, but I will fight this forever.

George

I have questions.

Mo

ah

George

So it’s not the combination of mint and chocolate because you, you’ll.

Mo

No, it’s mostly the mints, to be quite honest. It’s mostly the mints.

George

So do you not like, like the little Andy’s mints that you get at restaurants sometimes after dinner?

Mo

I mean, those are okay, i mean but that’s that’s candy. That’s not ice cream.

George

Ice cream’s not candy.

Mo

No.

George

Oh, we got more Hills to talk about, sir. That feels like a whole new podcast.

Jon

You just throw rocks at the top of your heels, I guess, at each other.

Mo

So

Jon

Yeah.

Mo

so

George

but

Mo

the funny thing is that you know i have like I have just two camps on this whenever I bring this up. Very, very few people are very staunch, back me up. but’s That’s the minority though by far, absolutely.

Jon

All

Mo

Then there’s the people who think i have no idea what i’m talking about. it’s like there There’s just no middle ground. that No one’s came in like, I can take it or leave it. No, people have very strong feelings about mint chocolate chip ice ice cream for some reason.

Jon

right. Yeah.

Mo

um And like I said,

Jon

I don’t agree with you, but I’m not going to fight you. It’s okay.

Mo

But every time I bring it up, though, somebody’s like, are you kidding me?

Jon

You you can you can have that one.

George

He he he.

Mo

I’m like, no, I am not. And we have a long discussion just like this.

Jon

ah

Mo

So that’s my hill. So that’s my hill. So, Phil, thanks for the question. Really appreciate it.

Jon

Yep.

Mo

Hey, if you want your question answered on this show, it’s really easy. Just go to GenXgrownUp.com slash Patreon.

Jon

Mm-hmm.

Mo

As little as a dollar a month, shoot me a question. The odds are we’ll answer it right here on the program.

Jon

Yeah, no doubt. And I want to thank two more folks who have done exactly what you said, Mo. Both Kevin S. and ZizforZander is his username. We see him around YouTube and and over on Discord and stuff too.

Mo

OK. Yeah.

George

Oh, yeah.

Jon

So ZizforZander. Both headed over to Patreon. set up a regular small recurring pledge to support what we do a little bit every month. And it all adds up because we have so many kind people that just do a couple of bucks a month and it really helps makes a huge difference.

Mo

yeah

Jon

So thank you, Kevin, as is for Xander. We certainly appreciate you. That then is going to wrap it up for this episode two 12 of the gen X grownup podcast. Don’t worry though. You should not worry because we will be back in two weeks with another edition next week though, is our backtrack. We pick a single nostalgic topic and dig in deep. And I think, George, I’m going let you do the honors and let our fourth listener know what’s coming their way next Thursday.

George

Yeah, it’s time to jump on the Pork Chop Express with Gracie Law, Egg Shin, and Jack Burton.

Jon

yeah

George

Go chase down David Lopan as we talk all about the great movie, Big Trouble, Little China.

Mo

I am so excited. Yeah. Always fun, man.

George

ah there is so like It’s another one of these movies that we love so much from our youth that we could probably do an entire series on. it One podcast may not be enough to contain it, but we’re going to try next week.

Jon

Yeah. Yep. Join us for the seven hour extravaganza. That is big trouble, a little China. You do don’t want to miss that one. I hope you’ll join us for it until then. I am John George. Thank you so much for being here.

George

yes sir

Jon

Mo, you know, i appreciate you.

Mo

always fun man

Jon

Fourth listener. It’s you. We all three appreciate most of all. And we cannot wait to talk to you again next time. Bye-bye.

George

see you guys oh good

Mo

Take care, everybody. And I’m good.