SPEAKER_03 0:15

Everybody. Making sure my mic isn't muted. Welcome to the Cool Cats podcast. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Happy Saturday.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

I'm in a new spot. I'm the cat dad alongside the other cool cats. We got Cameron. We got Jelani. Hello, everyone. Hi guys. What's up?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Good afternoon. How you guys doing? Just another day in paradise. That's a great way to say it.

SPEAKER_04 0:49

You so very, very low level. Just a great boomer man.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Look, look, it's literally my job on this podcast to be the one that is angry slash exasperated with our current means of existence. I'm just doing my job. I thought you were gonna say you're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

I didn't assign that job to be the boomer man.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

You took that role of your own volition. That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Well, what else does, you know, what else could he bring? I know you maybe you have some other things to bring to you.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

He doesn't need to bring anything else.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

He just has an amazing energy.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

I have a whole lot to bring during my section. I'm just I'm saving up the energy. Even though I know I'm gonna end up expending some before anyway.

SPEAKER_05 1:38

So it's a it's a low sizzle, I would say, right now. So like just a slight, small low sizzle. And then we're gonna we're gonna rise above. It's gonna be great. Rise above.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

Hand's definitely on the knob. The hand is definitely on the knob.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

Turn in the screws, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

This is what they're called.

SPEAKER_05 1:57

Well, it's good to hear from you, boys. How was your guys' weeks respectively?

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um the chat was blowing up. I was trying to figure out everything.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Oh, you got a chat?

unknown 2:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:14

We got chat out here. Alright, hold on, I gotta be a little bit more.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Always. It's the fucking Discord. Should be good now. It's for the stream. Uh, if you don't know, we live stream the podcast at twitch.tv slash dot i the cat dad i, or whatever. Is that what it is? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:40

Why not?

SPEAKER_03 2:41

That's what it is. Right? Yeah. I don't know anymore.

SPEAKER_05 2:46

It is what it is. I was literally trying to like look our look us up, and I was like, why the fuck can't I find it? So I should know it too. Right. Oh hey.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Am I the only one who has that memorized even though it's your channel name?

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Well, the thing is, I think I changed it at one point and then I changed it. So yeah, so it's like I gotta remember which one it was. Alright.

SPEAKER_05 3:13

Oh, I have I have twitch sound in my ear in my ear. There we go. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Anyways. What's up, guys? How's your weekend? How was your week? How's everybody?

SPEAKER_05 3:24

My week was actually kind of rough. Um not in like nothing bad specifically happened. It was just work stuff. It's just a long week. So I am super happy to be with you boys here chatting on the weekend because just software companies, man. Man, that shit is like people think like, oh nice to work from home. It's a nice cushy, you know, job. And they're like, yeah, it is. It's nice being able to work from home, but like you also can't, like, I feel like you never get to separate from it really. And so like I get off work at five o'clock, and that shit is still just like linger with me because my computer's like four feet away from me. So that's that's my week. But uh we also had some good gaming. We did some Mario 64 last night. That was fun. Oh yeah, we um we're at like 50 something stars, Saminche. We we just did the second Bowser fight where you go into like the lava area and you gotta like that's the second time you gotta like grab him by the tail and like swing him around, make him hit those bombs or whatever. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So we did that. That was a lot of fun. Um and then just other than that, Power World. I feel like I mean we'll get into this a little later, I feel like, because I feel like that's on the literal like podcast episode notes, but like Power World launched. Love it. Super, super good.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

Yeah, I guess we haven't recorded since it launched, right? No, we haven't.

SPEAKER_05 4:45

Yeah, I think it's been about three weeks because I think we missed a week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Mm-hmm. It's been three weeks. Yeah, you're ready.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

So the holiday to everything else for.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

Did you guys see that PowerWorld is currently beating out Counter-Strike 2 for concurrent players?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Yeah, oh I mean, that's believable because I mean, you know, everybody plays Power World.

SPEAKER_05 5:06

Yeah, but briefly is Counter-Strike 2. Like, I feel like one consistent thing I've like noticed throughout the years is that Counter-Strike's fan base has not one time weavered. I don't know why, but like ever since ever since like Source came out, I feel like there was like CSGO, and then it went to like Counter-Strike 2, and that's just well, like it's just been growing. Like, because I think right now it's like 550,000 concurrent players. And I think back when we were like originally playing Connor, like when we met Brett and all that kind of stuff, I feel like it was like around like 350, maybe like around that. So it's like it's just gotten more popular over the years, which is crazy because they haven't changed the formula at all.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Counter-Strike has become one of if one of if not the chief game when a new game comes out, and it's like, wow, a lot of people are playing this. One of the first games they compare it to are the Steam numbers on Counter-Strike.

SPEAKER_05 6:01

Yep, it's the very first thing, yeah. It's crazy, which is like exciting to see Power World doing that well, because like they they they won their um their lawsuit, didn't they?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Well, it's not necessarily that they won, but it has been scaled back to the point where if even if Nintendo won wins, it is still a victory for Pocket Pair pair. Pocket pair.

SPEAKER_06 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Uh they just like Nintendo gets a pyric victory at best.

SPEAKER_05 6:33

Yeah, I mean they've just really like they've figured out a really, really great formula in terms of like because I feel like there's when I'm playing Power World, and you know, let me know if this is the kind of the same experience for you guys, but like I feel like there's two different like gameplay loops of Power World. There's there's uh the base building, like pal aspect of like, you know, survival, you gotta keep your resources going, but then there's also like the really, really good like exploration, like Pokemon level style, like game, obviously pal, but like going out, adventuring, catching all these different pals. Like literally every single time I see a new pal I don't have, I get like this just little dopamine hit of like, ooh, new pal. Gotta go catch it. I need five of you.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 7:13

Like I got a bunch of experience off of that. It's like they they really figured out how to like get constant stream of just small little dopamine hits, and it's just so fun. Yep. It's been a long time since I've been so like plugged into a game like that. But anyway, sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

I'm gonna make a slight swi slight swerve and hit it has been three weeks since we've recorded. I am going to say this for me. Uh, if you're what's it called, if you're a long-term fan of the podcast, you know me and Connor do work together. I'm saying this from my point of view. It's been three weeks. It's been a long three weeks, and we and I am glad to be here to separate from the past three fucking weeks. As far as like work goes, but like gaming. Before I get into gaming, I'm gonna let Connor like, how do you feel about that statement?

SPEAKER_03 8:16

Um, it's definitely like a good like reset for the week from the weeks prior that I'm here doing what I'm doing because uh we've been in it different person during the week normally. I feel like hold on.

SPEAKER_05 8:35

I feel like as the person who does not work with you guys, I feel like I am sort of sitting in the the same seat as like the audience of like you guys have like an inside joke right now, and I don't get it. So just elaborate a little bit for me.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

Well, it's more okay. Can't really The inside joke is exhausting. Maybe you can't really elaborate.

SPEAKER_02 8:54

Inside joke is exhaustion. All right, that's it. I mean, that's about it.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

I can't do what I was saying.

SPEAKER_02 9:01

So any more would be any more would be a little are if you are like 30 and up listening to this podcast. Shit. Now with the way capitalism is running, if you are like 22, 25 and up listening to this podcast and wondering what me and Connor are on are on about, nigga, you get it. You understand already. Sitting in that chair listening to us on the you get it. I just need you to think about like you understand, because we're just tired. And why are we tired? Capitalism. Because it's 2026. I mean it's it, nigga. I don't think 2026.

SPEAKER_03 9:43

I don't think I've not been tired. Yeah, I don't think I've not been tired since 2020. I think from 2020 onward, I've just been tired. Thank you. I'm just tired.

SPEAKER_06 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:57

Shout out to those full-time workers out there. We appreciate y'all with you.

SPEAKER_03 10:00

The essential aka me for fucking years.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Bruh. That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

But hey, you know what? That's that's good for a segue into the first topic here. A good way, a good way that I find to to unwind from from prior um exha exhaustion and whatnot and burnout is a good a good way for me is to go back on some old classics. Um, I believe Cameron already mentioned some Mario 64 classic that he's been slabbing on. Have there been any other um older games that you've been picking back up just to uh get that familiar familiar feeling about when you were a young gamer, a young gamer at heart. It gives you that that cozy warm feeling.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

Ooh, can I go first? Sure.

SPEAKER_03 10:51

Go for it, man.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Do your thing. Alright, so check it out.

SPEAKER_02 10:54

I oh I did not get to play the same games as everyone else growing up because like, you know, rate of T for T means you can't play it until 13 type shit. But I grew up you know, you know what, you know what? I don't do that. Look, not in my parents' Christian Minecraft server, alright? Wow, yeah. Yeah. Fair enough. So I grew up basically tied to my Game Boy, and one game one game series that like I loved on my Game Boy Advance outside of like the ever-present Pokemon was the old Mega Man Battle Network games.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Dude, yes. We were talking about this.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

And they were on they were on sale during the Steam Summer sale, and I bought the Legacy Collection because like why not? Like, it's honestly my favorite rendition of Mega Man. Because like I don't think so. But I picked that I picked up the Legacy Collection Volume 1, Volume 2, and I never played Star Force, so they released the Star Force Legacy Collection. So I'll try to get through that. But Mega Man 1 Mega Man Battle Network 1 is a fucking slog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:35

I remember. I did like I think that actually I only I think I only actually played the first one. And I remember being I can't remember what like I must have been like 11 or 12, like around that area. And I it was definitely very different because around that time I had really only played like Mega Man X and like the the mainline games where you get a little bit of like zero and that kind of it's just a side scroller. And it was the first time they had introduced, I think, that sort of like tile top down isometric, yep. Yeah, and it's like your tiles versus their tiles, kind of it's almost like battleship in a way. And yeah, um, yeah, I remember it being really, really hard, but very cool at the same time. It was just so new, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:16

Yeah, it's really fun. I enjoy the battle system. Honestly, I feel like it is one of the best like card battler games out there.

SPEAKER_06 13:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

So I love it for that. The first game kind of breaks your patience with like certain things, but like I skipped up to what's it called Mega Man Battle Network 2, and we're smooth sailing. I I love this shit. I love this shit. Yeah. The fact that like just the concept of the internet and like the net navvies and everything, it's really interesting. And they set up uh they set up really good lore for it because like at some point Mega Man is just what's it called? Lan's twin brother turned into a digital format because what's it called? The twin died really younger. Spoilers, if you haven't played Mega Man Battle Network, it's like an almost 20-year-old game, if not more. Yeah, like, but yeah, Mega Man is just the like main kid's twin brother who died really early, and the dad being crazy, awesome scientist dude was like, I am going to digitize my recently dead young son.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

I think it's funny how like older games like treated the internet or like older like cartoons and shit when they were like for whatever reason, they were like, Yeah, dude, but people like people can just be transported, their whole entire existence could just be transported body and everything into a video game online. Like Digimon was the same way. Just like that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

The worst part is you say that like it's just a thing that was trapped in cartoons in the 90s, but I need to remind you fucking the Zuck tried to convince us that that was going to be real with the meta with the metaverse. I need people to remember the reason Facebook and Instagram in them are called meta is because Suck the Zuck was what's it called, was trying to push the metaverse as a thing where people could actually go and have real lives in VR.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Listen, it's because he read Ready Player One and he was like, I want that to happen on my stuff.

SPEAKER_05 15:42

And then he just ended up doing. Here's the thing about Mito. Oh I would love that shit. Oh, okay. If there was an actual digital space that you could just be like, I'm gonna go into the digital space for a little while, I'm just gonna hit the uh the old worldwide web for a little bit, and you literally will just like jack in like the fucking matrix, and you're just like there, that would be super fucking cool. Like the problem just I'll be real here. It'd be super.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

The problem with that is that it's just another opportunity. No, it's gonna be another opportunity to see ads on top of ads on top of ads for bullshit. Because who else is gonna fund that that sort of fucking universe? Just a bunch of millionaires who are like, how am I gonna get my product into people's faces if they're in this virtual world? Let's just fucking look.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

I'm not jacking my brain into any network owned by a billionaire.

SPEAKER_05 16:40

Yeah, they're gonna put like fucking ads directly into your brain and shit like that.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Like a joke, dude. That's just gonna happen soon. Um, but yeah, back to Mega Man. I remember playing one of the battle networks. I I think I was talking about it with Johnny a couple of days ago. I can't remember which one it was because I didn't own it. It was like my dad, it was like a friend of mine that my dad was dating his mom. Complicated, whatever. Don't don't want to get into it, but he had like every video game possible. Like, I'm talking like every single knockoff bullshit. But he had it, and I was like, yo, what the fuck is this? Because like Cameron, all I played was Mega Man like Zero at the time, you know, like was like on Genesis or something, right? And then I fucking or whatever, I don't even remember, but I played as a kid and I was like, yo, what the fuck is this fucking tile shit? This is kind of dope, and then I would watch him play, and then I would I would secretly grab it when he was playing some other bullshit, because like I said, he had a billion fucking video games. So like while I'm on the couch and doing whatever, I was like, I'll put try this out. But obviously as a kid, I'm like, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, and I don't want to read all this dialogue. Who gives a fucking I sort of dude click buttons and shoot him out?

SPEAKER_05 17:56

That's kind of how it was. So just to get a little, and this is a little like I don't want to say it's off topic, but it's like it's kind of going back to like when I was younger and the the way that I got like introduced to first person shooter games. Like the very first one I ever played was Soldier of Fortune 2.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 18:12

And I don't, you know, shout out to anybody who's ever played that because it's like super fucking old and it's like the predecessor to like I honestly I feel like kind of kind of like Counter-Strike. Like, I feel like obviously Counter-Strike one was pretty early. Um, but at the same time, I feel like just that team versus team sort of gameplay style. Um but anyway, like the my introduction to it was I went over to her my uh aunt's house and she had been like dating this dude named Wayne, who is now her husband. And so I go over there and he's playing this game. And the cave the caveat to this entire story I'm sorry to put you out like this way, he was fucking hacking. He had a whole hacking setup for like aimbot on his computer, right? And I have no idea at this point uh what that is. Like I'm just a child, right? And so I said at his computer's like, hey man, check this out, try this, and I'm like, okay, and I'm just like killing people non-stop. And I specifically remember I have the actual like fucking memory of like the the actual map that I was playing on, and I remember being on top of it and just like killing everyone around me, and like everyone in the like the lobby was like having a meltdown about it, but like I I wasn't like it just wasn't phasing me at all. I just wasn't putting two and two together because I'm a kid. And like I remember like specifically going home and like asking my dad, I was like, Dad, dad, please give me this game.

SPEAKER_00 19:33

I want this game, it's so cool.

SPEAKER_05 19:34

And fuck it next day he went and got me the game, and fucking the rest is history. I've been playing shooters ever since. But and then he realized how bad he was.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

How bad he was when he blew it up, like, yo, I'm struck in this game.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

Like on that day a Vendetta was born. Like, no, I will recreate that feeling I had.

SPEAKER_05 19:59

Maybe that's why I get so upset about video games, so I can just never recreate that moment.

SPEAKER_03 20:04

I'll never be as good as when I was a hacker. I'll never be able to manage it.

SPEAKER_02 20:16

Have you been touching anything with the boss?

SPEAKER_03 20:19

I mean, so if I ever go back, it's been a I try to go back almost like every other year or so, but I I'll boot up the the Crash Bandicoots if I need to, if I feel like taking a trip down. And luckily for uh the gaming world, they've been uh re-released HD and all that in the um the Toys for Bob version where they have like the insane trilogy. Umce those are like super well done because they just took the fucking the bones of the older game and just threw like a fresh coat of paint out. Yeah, it just feels exactly how it felt when I played those. And then the same thing with the Spyro's. I don't play those as much because I played the the spy first spyro more than I played any other Spyro. And from my understanding, like Spyro 2 and like the third one are like okay, like fine.

SPEAKER_05 21:12

I feel like there was one that came out, and it I mean it could have been 10 years ago at this point, but I could have I feel like there was one that was somewhat most recently that had come out that I think people were saying was actually pretty good, but I hadn't played it myself. I mean, I'm coming out of the conversation with no fucking information.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

But Spyro Yeah, it was definitely specifically Spyro, but I can't remember what the Spyro remakes were pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Same deal, same people, yeah. The same people that did the the uh Crash Bandicoot Insane trilogy came out with the Spyro and then they reignited trail the trilogy. Like I said, I only played the first one more than or and then the other two I didn't really play because I wasn't super into them at the time. But Crash Bandicoot two is probably one of my favorite video games of all time, and I'll play that like all the fucking time and I can I can probably I should you know I should I should really become a speedrunner for that game see how how well I do in the in the speedrunning game because I know it so well and I know every little nuance to that shit. You should do that's nah give it a shot I have a job I have a job side hustle. I also don't want to bang my head against the wall and fuck up every fucking and then have to restart every time just because my time is like a second off. I already do that enough like when I play Forza and I have to do like a time attack I'm like I'm like two seconds away from hitting gold dudes I gotta rerun it back all I'm hearing right now is you just don't got the juice. I don't got the juice yes I'm 35 almost 36 years old now. I don't have the juice anymore I got the juice for that bullshit right fair enough fair enough I got juice for Power World right now.

SPEAKER_05 22:59

Do you guys remember sorry I was just kind of gonna pivot there. What were you gonna say? You're good no good I was gonna say do you you guys remember uh this game because every single time I literally every I they must have been built on like the same fucking engine or something. Do you guys remember a game very similar to Spyro but like rated infure or whatever Gex enter the gecko do you remember that game yeah they remade the game I remember Gex.

SPEAKER_02 23:23

I remember Gex. I remember the side scrolling Gex.

SPEAKER_05 23:26

Yeah he's there was one that was like the there was one that was very similar to Spyro where it was like a full like I don't say platformer but it's kind of just like a Lexathon bullshit.

SPEAKER_03 23:37

Yeah yeah exactly oh god I loved that game I played so much of it when I was a kid yeah he was just a little like wisecrack an asshole if I remember yeah I played the Gex game on PSX yeah yep Playstation one yeah Gex enter the gecko enter the gecko where he was like look like a spy on the cover yeah I remember that specifically they're basically trying to do they're trying to rough like a golden eye yeah yeah yeah that one was fine it was just I think probably as a kid I was not you know and not that my parents like limited my uh you know exposure to rated T 14 and all that shit or you know my mom was like as long as you're not doing drugs that's fine the only I would say the only true game that my mom was like a hard no on was Grand Theft Auto. Oh dude my dad and I played that together my grandpa had Grand Theft Auto dude well my mom my mom was a my mom's a prosecutor though so she works with like a lot of cops and so it's like I think growing up she's like it's not a joke so I'm like alright whatever like it's a game but but uh if I can't get extra health by getting a blowy from the hooker and then kill her and get that money back that is real life though mom I know but God you just don't understand did you guys know that the Steam also has a Gex the Gecko trilogy?

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Yeah they remade them and ported them or whatever pretty pretty recently too I won't say like in what's that the year June 25 25 June 1625 they made that one uh Bubsy the fucking annoying ass cat who talks all the fucking time is another platformer from like divided I pay I play I remember playing Gex.

SPEAKER_03 25:25

I did not play Enter the Gecko I played the kid some kid I went to high school or who high school wow elementary school named Rodney had Enter the Gex. I remember at his house I saw it and I played it for a little bit Brett's asking about a game called Road Rash. Yeah that's the motorcycle uh combat game I played that that was on M64 PlayStation I almost just google the name Brett I was gonna go Google Road Rash and I just fucking put Brett in there. Thanks Brett Um Oh yeah I do remember this game like Motor sometimes you get a chain you just you would just be driving on a road and people would come next to you just fucking whap them someone tried to remake that recent like not recently but like in the last ten years or so called like Road Redemption. It should be on Steam it's like the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 26:22

Road Redemption successor it was released in 2017.

SPEAKER_05 26:28

Oh yeah wow I have too much I mean that does seem fun it's kind of like it's like some fucking like Mad Max level stuff seems fun.

SPEAKER_03 26:36

Yeah it was it wasn't bad it was definitely you know like it was violent enough where people were probably like I'm not gonna buy that for my kid because I don't want them to be a murderer and and uh and you know whatever else they thought video games did to most people.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Look the worst I could see this game doing is giving making a kid really want to ride a motorcycle but at the same time you know what living where we live that's also really fucking dangerous. So mom might be right.

SPEAKER_05 27:09

My dad my dad always tells me like don't ever buy a motorcycle and I'm like but don't you have one he goes yeah don't buy one you live in Florida and I was like all right fair enough yeah I have one and I write it somewhere safer than you live fuck off kid I mean I as much as I want to like say that like media doesn't affect us as like we're children and stuff like that like I could definitely test the fact that it did like I used to play fuck was it it was Tekken I used to play Tekken with my brother back in the day and this is like this was like a small insight into my just like my brain's inability to handle losing. And so I would like when I was a kid I wasn't and there was a certain point where I literally wasn't allowed to play Tekken anymore because my parents were like you get too turned up when you're playing this game and you get you get too mad where you're not playing anymore. I'm like fucking but like so I can definitely attest that that shit like does kind of like and not even that but like movies too where like I I don't think you were there Connor but like me and our friend Mike from that we were like we grew up with we went to go see Gone in 60 seconds and I swear to god for like three months after that all I want to do was boost fucking cars. I never did it but I was just like we would literally talk about it all day we were like we're gonna fucking find this and shit and we're gonna fucking boost that shit and like we we got super into cars for a little while it was super fucking funny. And we know we were just stupid little kids.

SPEAKER_03 28:33

Never mind the illegal nature of boosting cars. Like I could see like we didn't think of it like that. I know I know right but like I could see like getting out of a Star Wars and like going into your yard with like a stick pretending you're a Jedi but like I could just see like young Cameron and Mike coming out of the theater like all right let's go get Angelina Jolie we're gonna go get that Mustang over there I guess.

SPEAKER_05 28:55

That's basically exactly what happened it's the same thing happened with like 300 where like all I wanted to do was just do some crunches after I watched I just wanted to get fucking fit and like lift stuff and kick things so yeah as much as I don't want to say that media affects us media absolutely affects us.

SPEAKER_03 29:14

Yeah I mean you're right when I saw the obsession the last thing I wanted to do was is be in the dating pool and I'm like well I think it did what I needed to do that that'll be that's moved to Greece Brett exactly yeah when I watched 300 I wanted to go hang out with King Leonidas or whatever his name was Gerard Butler's name yeah King Leonidas you were right and Ramsey's yeah keep King Leonidas seems like he'd be a bit much to hang out with um just off top things every time he talked well off topic I hate now that like the Spartan helmet is like a clear sign that that guy's a fucking douchebag when they have it on their car it's like the Punisher skull you're like I hate that guy already like I'm sorry I hate you like the only reason you can get away with having a Punisher sticker on the back of your car anymore is if you also have Daredevil and Spider-Man stickers.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Right.

SPEAKER_05 30:15

Then I'm oh okay you're cool you're cool right uh I'm going to see the Aussie tomorrow but but dude just speaking of like stupid cars like that though like fucking there's a cyber truck that lives in our neighborhood and I don't I don't know what habit to it but like because I it must they must have like switched it out or something.

SPEAKER_02 30:32

But they it was like literally painted like pure like pearl white right but then they had like three little like Anubis like or uh sorry not Anubis Cerberus head like logos like all over it and I'm like dude you have a cyber truck with a bunch of Anubis like or uh Cerberus heads on it like like do you think you're like super fucking cool I mean like who I can just imagine the guy getting in that car just like hell yeah bro um immediately insufferable but at least he's in a cyber truck because you know if cyber trucks were weren't real he'd probably have the same paid job same stickers on some huge lifted f250 yeah making all kinds of noise and shit when people are trying to sleep.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

Well wow I sound really old I'm still I'm still shit I am impressed that he's using Cerberus heads and not a fucking Punisher skull so that's like a I mean I still feel that like that's like I feel like that kind of falls into like the quote unquote like affliction shirt like type like archetype person you know yeah look my favorite my favorite human being to hate is anyone with a blue lives matter Punisher symbol anywhere within their facility I had to explain to a family member why blue lives matter is stupid so I don't want to get into it here but yeah I'm just saying I was just I had to explain it which is already bad enough.

SPEAKER_05 32:03

Yeah we are gonna actually go see the Odyssey tomorrow though that sounds fun I've heard great things about that movie dude yeah I dude I've been like all of like the hype before it I saw so much just like neg negative shit about it. And I think it kind of goes back into that kind of like conversation that I've had with Connor of just like I feel like the trend is to just hate shit for no fucking reason now. And like new games come out. Everyone hates it for no fucking reason. It's like it it's almost like you you have to like beat this fucking level threshold a badassery before otherwise I'm just gonna talk endless shit about it whether I played it or not. And it's like that's why fucking sorry go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

I think it's less of a an instant something comes in everybody immediately wants to hate it. I feel like it's more people are so entrenched in certain like whatever it is that when something comes out that's new if it even slightly somewhat tickles something that they don't like it is immediately hot garbage and disgusting.

SPEAKER_05 33:10

Yeah there's like no mercy anymore for like any sort of like failure or not reaching par like that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

It's crazy there's no like well I don't like this particular problem but let me give it a shot see how it comes and like I know that's often something like said in bad faith but at the same time like we need to be more conscious of our media biases and whatnot and how they jade us towards things that might actually be decent or be able you might be able to learn something from. I'm not trying to tell anybody to go out and read what's it called what's the name of that book? The Thompson Diaries or whatever but I am going to say like yo something's coming out that you but I am going to say if the new God of war game focuses on homeboy's wife rather than homeboy it might still be worth checking out because is it literally named after her?

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Right but here's the thing Johnny your opinion is wrong and it doesn't matter anymore.

SPEAKER_02 34:33

Yeah my opinion is often wrong and you know what at least I'm willing to admit it unlike some of these dickheads online.

SPEAKER_03 34:41

I agree I mean that's the thing is like I we became we become a society where like everyone's everyone's just mad about everything and everything that's supposed to piss you off doesn't piss you off but like shit that shouldn't piss you off matters more for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_05 34:59

I could go on about it but that is maybe it is just sort of just like a psychosocial reaction of just like the fucking world's burning up what could we hate on that is tangible that we can just like say something and crush it putting that heat out there.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

Probably something like that.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

All I'm trying to say is yo like let me let me go down a tangent real quick all this energy you guys put towards like hating shit like God of war or whatever you could put towards like hating shit like you know corporate greed and stuff like that and we'd probably be a lot better off like you like there was a boycott of Target earlier this year through through last year and into this year. Still active target is still feeling that and that's just target that's not even their the entirety of their customer base. It's just enough of the customer base for them to be losing value. If we actually focused our ire on the people who are legitimately hurting us we would do a lot more damage.

SPEAKER_05 36:20

I agree I super agree with that like there's I mean we don't have to get like super into politics or whatever but I mean I do agree I do agree with you. Like it's I think it's definitely something where like a lot of people just put their sights towards shit that just doesn't matter and like things that like there's so many things I see of like people getting open arms about stuff that just like at the end of the day like it's not life or death. It's just like nitpicks. And like to a degree I kind of get it because like we are living in an era of like a level of shrinkflation like we're dealing with it with our movies, we're dealing with our games we're not getting discs coming in 2028. Like there's this just like growing and growing like of or growing and growing kind of like trend of products being less and so our expectations because we're spending more for less our expectations for what we're willing to like spend and like get back for are much much higher because if something comes out and it's dog shit like I'm gonna be mad that I wasted my money on that. Like it kind of goes to the same talk we were talking about last week where it's like um early access games coming out and like you know they get your money out of you and then they never fucking release. And that's why I think Powerworld is so fucking successful because it was the I feel like it's the one the game that came out early release that like I mean just proved that it like can actually go to release and do a good job of it and like that they cared about the game and like I think that's why it's so popular right now is because they kept going at it and not I haven't seen one single fucking microtransaction in that game. Not a single one that I've seen. And it's like and it is the most popular game in the world right now.

SPEAKER_02 38:00

I am going to give you slight pushback well I'm not slight pushback I'm gonna give you a slight color it is what one of if not the biggest original IP to come out of early access and do this. Yeah we for what's it called Baldur's Gate 3 hit early access and did the same thing Palroad is doing right now. Was that early access? That was early access wow I don't know why I thought it came out and okay interesting okay Baldur's Gate 3 came out in early access and that it stayed there that was only supposed to be there for a year and ended up being there for two years came out did gangbusters. But once again that is Baldur's Gate 3 yes I know that is Larian Studios they can do no wrong they always make awesome games but that's crazy I didn't know it was in early access I am going to say it is slightly less impressive than what Pyle World is doing specifically because Pile World is an original IP that came with built-in haters that came with built-in and what's it called toxic haters because the second something looks like it's starting to touch Pokemon's lunch not only Nintendo but what's it called I don't understand how you can suck this much billionaire dick but the most rabid defenders of everything Pokemon come out of the woodwork just to let people know that this is a ripoff it's dumb and it shouldn't exist.

SPEAKER_05 39:37

That's my thing like I don't understand the whole like brand loyalty thing at least not to that degree like if you have a brand that you like and they're doing a good job and like they seem like they're actually like they care about their employees and they like they seem like they're doing a great thing that's awesome. But like I'll live or die by that company. I'll give them props but I'm not like oh my god game freak like I don't I just don't do that. Like I don't understand like and I literally have seen stuff a bit like people saying they don't want to play power world because just like you said it's affecting Pokemon. But it's not though because in reality if Pokemon is doing so exactly if Power World is doing so good, which it is it needs to be a fucking wake up call for Game Freak because Game Freak I've seen it for the last several of their games consistently people say that there's the Pokemon games are getting worse and worse and worse because there's no combat yeah so it's like I think they realize that Power World is gonna get more successful as they go. That's just gonna happen. Like you said it's the it's the first real IP to come out and it's just like unique and like yeah it's not unique in that like yeah they kind of ripped off Pokemon to a degree but like they still have a lot of like very unique you know sets of different pals in there. And one thing that I particularly like about Powerworld is that they they will take one type of pal and then basically make the exact same pal but a dip of a different type. So you can like do different like you know what I'm saying? It's just very cool where the way that they handle things versus like I feel like Pokemon is just like you have your evolutions but outside of that I really don't feel like there's anything crazy you can do with your Pokemon outside of fighting you know so anyway that's my rant oh here we go Brett's saying some stuff he says well yeah going back into the politics stuff he said not to get too political but holy pal holy cow oh okay I'm not gonna read that one.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

Yeah let's let's let's let's save the chapter let's let that yeah yeah I will say I will say on the POW world like people just hate in general is that the problem originally that happened is when it was announced the the pitch was and if I remember correctly it was oh this is Pokemon with guns right that was the original pitch I don't think that was the pitch I think no no no but like community pitch like yeah that's what the community was yeah also the problem was craftopia the people or pocket pair whoever pocket pair made this game called craftopia that was in early access that got stuck into early access limbo which was also a blatant rip off of Breath of the Wild in the because Breath of the Wild had just come out and they had just tried to capitalize on the whole almost exactly the same exact thing. Oh you're right it really does something that's still in early access if I recall so when they announced PAL World they were like oh here we go another slop early access um from pocket pair who knows what's gonna happen with that and they may have they probably you know after the Nintendo shit and and whatnot they pro I would like to think they thought internally as a company um they were like look we have an idea that we're building upon that we may have taken um inspiration from other IPs but why can't we just take ideas and make them better and combine them all?

SPEAKER_02 43:03

And then everyone was like sure I like that idea and then they capitalized on it and literally what Pokemon did because Pokemon isn't even the first to do Pokemon.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Right. I was gonna also say it's true okay yeah all right is it more is it more Pokemon's issue is it more of the Pokemon company as a whole and how they do business and not necessarily game free because if I remember also correctly Game Freak has a new game coming out that's a complete shift from what Pokemon games and it looks pretty fucking badass.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

I'm pretty sure it's out in like August Yeah I think we talked about it last year when I said this is this game literally looks like oh this is Game Freak putting out a game to say look this Pokemon shit ain't us. Right. This Pokemon shit is not us. Y'all need to talk to the Pokemon Company and Nintendo, but leave my name out your fucking mouth. I can make good games.

SPEAKER_05 44:07

Oh yeah. This is this is one that looked kind of like Ghost Tsushima a little bit. Right.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

So I mean, to kind of uh you know, to kind of segue into the next thing here, the the problem the problem I have with like companies as a whole. A good example is uh Ubisoft. Ubisoft is a terrible company, right? I think I like them as a company, but I like to play their games because I like to support the developers because they're trying their best, and you know, they do what they can up until a point, and then there's some big hat motherfucker, you know, really with the reins or everything, like, yeah, but we can go here, but we're gonna go down this this way because it's what I say and I make the most money. So, like, in instance, like Assassin's Creed Black Flag uh Recync came out, and it it did great numbers, it's because this is probably the most beloved Assassin's Creed in the series, from what I understand. And as a person who played the Assassin's Creed O game is major. Right, yeah, yeah. Uh, but as the person who played the original, I was super hyped, and then now it's like uh yeah, they did really good numbers with the re-release, and then now um you're looking at Ubisoft just like, hey, I know you guys did like a like super good job at like doing what you did, and I'm I'm really proud, but we're gonna fire half the we're gonna fire the squad who like came up with all the new shit because we're Ubisoft. So um I fucking hate Ubisoft, bro.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Like I ugh they're like the Netflix of game designers or game publishers, like literally will just like release something that's successful and then cancel that shit immediately, or you know, like you said, just get rid of the developers is so fucking stupid.

SPEAKER_02 45:58

Whenever Ubisoft puts out news, it is almost guaranteed that if it is not a new game announcement, you will be soft.

SPEAKER_05 46:08

Yeah, wow. Wow, you release that.

SPEAKER_03 46:12

Quote him, quote him, put them on TikTok, quote him, put 'em.

SPEAKER_05 46:15

That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 46:16

That's TikTok right there, baby.

SPEAKER_05 46:18

Fuck, I had a thought in my head and then I lost that stupid idiot.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

Fucking Ubisoft.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

But yeah, um, yeah, I could read a little bit of hey, we got news for you guys. Um, I did pull up some article about the layoffs. Um, they're basically Barcelona, the Ubisoft Barcelona who was in charge of the making the newer content. There's like newer underwater shit. Um, all this, like it's a list of things um on the article, but they basically revamped a whole part of the story that wasn't in the actual original, and now they're all being uh laid off. Um so now they're outside. This is uh Ubisoft Barcelona, um, which is one of their, you know, they have a couple who I forget how many sub Ubisoft they have around the world, but like they're all out there protest, yeah. They're all out there protesting uh these layoffs. Um good, and I think it's like up to like 90 people. 90 people out there just defending their honor because it's horseshit. You just released a game, I think it was like two weeks ago, right? And it was successful. And it was very successful, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:34

It kind of reminds me of like I add.

SPEAKER_05 47:37

Yeah. Like that's it kind of reminds me of like the the it's almost like I wanna say pump and dub, but like you know this like the shit that like rich people do or like to to like raise the value of their company, and then they just like they I don't know exactly what the term is, but they basically were like you're cutting into my you're cutting into my section.

SPEAKER_02 47:58

You're cutting into my section.

SPEAKER_05 48:00

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just saying, like, it's just crazy how like it just reminds me of that kind of situation. It's a rug hole. Yeah, Ubi start doing that shit of just like we just had this hugely successful game, and let's just like it's it's a it it kind of just falls into that shrinkflation shit again, where it's just like all of this stuff we want more for less, or or like we want more from you, and we're gonna give you less for it, and we're gonna give less to our developers for it, and we're just like it's just like greedy little leeches just in the shadows. I fucking hate I can't stand it.

SPEAKER_02 48:29

What's it called? I heard an article on uh I heard uh I heard a cast from NPR that basically said, like, hey, the only people whose wages are going up and have been going up for the past little while are at the top end of the earnings spectrum. Any stat you hear about how well the economy is doing, it is not doing well for us.

SPEAKER_04 49:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

The economy all the numbers, yeah, all the numbers that like they like to tout and talk about on the news and everywhere, those are numbers that do not reflect our quality of life.

SPEAKER_04 49:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:19

And it's only becoming more and more drastic as we go forward because people are going to have harder and harder times affording things, more and more people, and the the what's it called, our captured media is going because the billionaires own it are still gonna be playing in our faces saying the economy is getting better and better. It's gonna be great. We're heading into a French Revolution, what's it called, state of being, and it's if you not yeah. The wealth gap in the United States right now is worse than it was the before the French Revolution. Yep, or arguably. All I'm gonna say is like this gun, this comp this country, this country has way too many guns for them to be letting it get this spicy, and it's not going to end well for anyone involved.

SPEAKER_05 50:16

I mean, a lot of us are just like accepting it though. Like that's how it just like pe like you know the whole like concept of like pay with your or uh your use your wallet as your voice kind of thing. Just don't just don't buy stuff. But like people again are so like brand loyal that no matter what they are gonna buy a an inferior product uh like game uh for more. Like we're spending what eighty dollars for games nowadays? Yeah, and and why actually why why are we spending that much MSRP considering we're gonna losing discs? So what's the point? Why are we what are we paying 80 bucks for? Like, because I thought the whole point was that we were like spending money on the physical media, and that's why you had to spend that much money. So it's like, what are we even getting anymore? I don't know. Buy a strip flip.

SPEAKER_04 51:03

What is that? Strip flip.

SPEAKER_03 51:06

I think I think the problem, and uh, this kind of segues into the next thing is that you're gonna announce so Sony announced the physical discs disappearing by um what is it, 2028? 2028. Yeah, yeah. The problem they're gonna have in the future, unfortunately, is that people the the normal the people who are physical media um purists purists, um, they're not gonna buy your new system at all, even though we're already probably not gonna buy it because it's probably going to be astronomically expensive for the common person. And by the time it's gonna be we're gonna flop back to when video games were more for um hobby, yeah, hobbyists, like dedicated group of people. Like, remember when PC gaming was almost it wasn't even necessarily like it was rare to find like your friend with a PC game. It was like when that kid had the PC gaming or the gaming PC, you were like, yo, that kid's kind of fucking rich, dude. Yeah, over there. Yeah, I gotta go to that kid's house. Like, I remember like someone had a gaming PC uh early on in my life, and I was like, yo, that's crazy. How much did you spend on it? I'm like, you know, I don't remember how much, but like in my mind, people who buy consoles are people who buy consoles, they're never gonna buy a PC, especially nowadays. If they refuse to have a gaming PC, you know they're just like your average, you know, maybe construction Joe, work road worker Joe who wants to play Madden on his fucking PS5 when he gets off work and his wife and kids go to bed. Those people are not gonna buy your thousand dollar gaming console already. And now you want to take away people who are into like collecting physical media. Um, you're taking that away from also from a preservation point of view, which is another thing I keep uh a lot of people don't really talk about, is that once that game comes out on digitally, you don't own that game already. That's already a thing you should be. If you have a digitally owned game, you don't you don't own that shit at all. Especially on a console right, yeah. Right. And then they could take it console buy, you don't have it anymore. The best thing about physical media is you can take that media and preserve that media for you know for history gaming history, you know what I mean? Like, and now we don't have we're not gonna have that, and that's gonna piss all sorts of people off on top of the people who just want to buy a disc and not fucking buy things digitally and and not own it, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 53:39

I mean, just think of like the the resale industry of like conventions and shit like that. Like just think of that all of that is going away. There after 2020, you can't do that, except for like retro games and things that things that came before that time, like you're not gonna see that shit anymore. It's just crazy.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

There's been a concerted effort by the big wigs in gaming to move us in this direction for at least the last five to ten years. Yeah. Okay. They have been it's the attacks on what's it called, emulators, like it's the attacks on ROMs, like and pirating games all of these they do not like they do not like allowing people access to like collect games, trade games, especially older games. And it's mostly because they're running us to a point where they want you buying new games. They want you buying almost exclusively new games and triple A games. And if you're not buying it, they want you to pay them monthly for access to it. So if you have your own backlog and cat back, it's harder for them to get you into that gaming subscription. It is harder to get you into that, what's it called, whatever, what have you.

SPEAKER_05 54:55

I mean, it's kind of like a little bit what like what Call of Duty does, where they they seemingly purposefully bloat the fuck out of their game size, like the the installation file, so you can't have any other games on your fucking heart like hard drive anymore. Because it's like if it forces you to play that game. And it's like no, it doesn't. It just makes me not want to play the game. I'm not gonna put 400 gigs on my computer.

SPEAKER_02 55:17

I'm I'm gonna hit you with the nah Call of Duty, you're gonna lose that because buying a new SSD with more capacity is more expensive than uninstalling your game now. Maybe five years ago, I could just run down to the store, get a two or four terabyte as uh NVMe SSD, throw that in the bitch, and fine, whatever. Now that that's like five, six hundred dollars just for a couple of terabytes, nah, you losing that one. You're losing that argument heavy.

SPEAKER_05 55:48

Brett says in the chat, if you buy a game on GOG, isn't it DRM free? I believe they did just come out with like a statement saying like anything you buy through them, you can like burn to a CD, or they even like I think put a thing on their website showing you how you can go about that process. So yeah. And that's that's like what gives me hope sometimes is like there are companies out there who see this as a problem. And like one of the and not even just like really a company, but there's like high-level people in gaming in general, like Kojima, for example. Like, he thinks this is a massive problem. He agreed. Like just the it's just such a greedy move. And I cannot like I feel like they're Sony's gonna I don't think they thought it all the way through. I have a feeling they're gonna get sued like fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_03 56:35

They didn't think bigger picture because like I said, so you're gonna get rid of his physical media, it's gonna be expensive. So $80 for fucking Grand Theft Auto. Let's just let's just go with Grand Theft Auto because that's gonna be like the top the hot the hottest game in the next five years, probably for PlayStation in general, and whatever gaming in general, but play state what's single out PlayStation. So you have to buy that. It's probably gonna require online only. Guess what? You have to buy online for PlayStation, so that's another however much they because they upped the price. PlayStation Plus number and it was right. And then also you maybe they'll they'll probably put it on the PS, whatever they're gonna call their next system, right? And then now you gotta pay for that to make it look better because it's gonna run better because your PS5 is gonna fucking chug along and no one has a PS Pro because it's fucking stupid to have a PS Pro because it's the same shit, it's just plays a little better. But they don't think long term, they're like, how do we they're like, oh well, we're just gonna save money this way and then we're gonna make a profit anyways. Who gives a fuck?

SPEAKER_02 57:32

But then maximizing right. They're maximizing quarter to quarter, what's it called, profit while not keeping in mind what's it called year over year or decade over decade survivability.

SPEAKER_03 57:48

Right. And I mean, people are voicing their opinions already. I posted um in the notes I had for today were a lot of they did a um Digital Foundry, which is a YouTube channel that uh um you know shows off video game performance.

SPEAKER_02 58:04

If you don't know who Digital Foundry is, please, dear God, I love you as our fans. If you don't know who Digital Foundry is, please look them up and become a fan of them.

SPEAKER_05 58:17

Please move Africa to the rock.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

They um they did put great work. They put a uh a poll out, and and seven uh there was 76,000, over 76,000 votes for this specific poll. And everyone, 45k plus agreed that PS5 will probably be their last console due to this this news after and that's 86% of their viewership saying that just over them announcing physical media going away. Like that's that's a crazy amount of people for just one little like someone one little section.

SPEAKER_02 58:54

You want to know what's wild? I Morgan has a PS5. We do not have the disc version, we don't have any PS5 physical discs here. Yeah. Because like it's the it's the third, it's the tertiary system in the house. The PC is number one, the sw her switch is number two, the PlayStation's just there to play co-op games with crossplay. It's literally all it's there to do. But at this point, like I don't use I don't use physical discs, but the fact that you're doing this, and I know Sony has a history of deleting digital content that they what's it called? That they like they've whole ass removed movies from people's accounts. No discs, plus your history of playing with the licenses, the licenses that you sell people means I'm not buying shit from you. Uh Morgan can get an Xbox or uh or when I do a platform refresh on my computer, I'll get another graphics card for her and make this motherboard RAM and processor into a secondary computer for her. She d we've already agreed as a couple, like, nah, this PlayStation's the last one. If they take the we don't have that much in the library, I don't really care if we lose all of that. We're gonna get we're gonna but get her into something that's at least a little more sustainable as far as holding on to the media.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:26

Cheaper to buy the digital too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I get that for sure. Like, I don't I don't know if I'll get the next uh like because I do have a lot on our PlayStation, like that's it's one of our like it's a it's our uh it's not the tertiary, like the primary device that we use, because I usually use my PC mostly, but like if we're out in the living room, we're spending time together, we use the PlayStation 5, like that's that's our primary hangout device. So like we have Elden Ring on there, that's like one of our like big things that we hang out together on, and just like all this other stuff. And like, yeah, we've been like doing more emulation and stuff lately, and that's been a lot of fun, but like at the same time, like we if we do have a lot of games that are digital as well, but I the biggest thing is I just don't like the option of not being able to, because I I bought the physical fucking like the console that allows for the physical discs. Like me buying that and then saying no no no no, not anymore. And like after the fact, it just pisses me off. It's like when Sony like adds movies to the fucking thing and you go and buy a movie and then they lose the fucking copyright to that movie, so they just take it away from you. And it's like what did I buy that movie for? Like, I didn't I I don't know, it's just anyway. It definitely gets frustrating, but I mean, I don't know, do we need a little palate cleanser? Because I didn't make I didn't intend to be so hangy for half the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:46

Well, problem is that half our podcast is angry stuff. I mean, we can get to the happy part, but that's gonna be at the end, and I'm not gonna spoil that yet, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but if I'm reading the notes correctly, I think we have one more tangent for somebody to go on today. Um, in regards to uh SpaceX, this should be a fun one. I'm gonna step away because I use the bathroom real quick, but Jolani, take it away.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

Alright, cool. So I am going to run rampant. So SpaceX. SpaceX recently had their IPO, their initial public offering. Then on June 12th, the initial share price was $135. Almost immediately, Elon Musk was named uh the first trillionaire ever. Which is wild because like I don't know how you valuate that versus some of the what's it called figures in history, like specifically like Mansa Musa and like King Solomon. Like I don't know. I don't know. I feel like that's a statement that is may just uh puff him up a bit, but like 90% of any discussion surrounding that shithead is designed to puff him up and make him seem cooler than the Nazi saluting little dickhead he is. Yeah. But either way, be that as it may, what we don't know, like what's a little bit less covered. Well, it is covered, but what is less understood is what happened to g what happened to get them to IPO on Nasdaq. So normally you have like uh three-month waiting period to get into the Nasdaq 100. The Nasdaq 100 are the 100 most performant companies, the biggest and longest lasting companies on the Nasdaq exchange. Um they are important because of their status and their reliability, a lot of ETFs and what's it called, financial firms are they trade in that and fiduciarily they are required to buy a certain amount of stock of every company in the Nasdaq 100. So, like every company, each of us, if you have a retirement account, you own a little bit of NASDAQ 100. Because that's where you the an int they take money out of your paycheck, they don't put it into a bank account for you, they invest that money and then it grows to create your retirement account. Be that as it may. NASDAQ gave SpaceX, uh, they cut down the three-month rating period to 15 days. And normally you have to float 10% of your stock. You have to allow 10% of your stock to be bought and sold on the general exchange to be considered. Um SpaceX only had to float five. So that means they get listed on the in the Nasdaq 100 almost immediately, with less stock in circulation for people to actually buy. And the reason that three-month period is there because a lot of stocks hit IPO, they spike, and then they fall, and then they settle into where they're supposed to be, where they're gonna sit. Some of them don't up mm, obviously it's the Nasdaq 100. Most companies don't maintain that spike into their what's it called? That spike is just the initial public offering everybody trying to grab. You Want to let it settle and see where it's going to be because it's not necessarily going to be at that spike. That spike is almost never where they settle. Right. So they are allowing what's it called? SpaceX to get to the nine, what's it called, to get into the Nasdaq 100 during that spike, so that all of our retirement accounts buy into it.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:27

Uh so it's like a forced kind of like yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

This is the forced rug. This is a forced rug pull. That's cool. So that and we are all we are all going to be the we all are the victims of it. Because we were because all of our investments account were scrambling for fewer shares than would normally be available. As the stock price drops, the bag holders, so Elon Musk, those long tenured, employees who were there from the start, and the venture capitalists, they can what's it called, cash out and dip during that. And most of them probably did sell most of their stock during that spike. And as it comes down, where all of our retirement accounts now bought it from them, that spike in is now tanking our retirement accounts instead of like actually hurting the people who overvalued the fucking stock. And like this isn't like doom and gloom, this is like actually happened. Yeah, like that. This is like because the stock dropped it initial IPO'd at 135. When we were discussing this episode like two days ago.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:55

Thursday, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:57

At close of trade, it was at 131, which is not very necessarily very good and not expected for an Elon Musk, what's it called, an adventure, with how hyped and bullshit that he is. Right. Should I keep going?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:14

Yeah, I'm good. I sorry, I needed to wipe my eyes. Sometimes I yawn and it makes me look like I'm crying, and I don't like look it just weirds me out.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:22

I mean, Jelani's words are very moving. I don't see why. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:27

Look at that. So right. It's over 5,000. Why are we even here? Yo, so at the time of the notes, it was at uh 131, so below initial offering, so we're already losing value on it. And it was it was falling after close that same day. So theoretically, if it was still if the exchange was still open when we were writing that note, it would have been at like 120, 125, 126. Because they skipped, and this is another thing that we should be aware of. This is a company that is on the Nasdaq 100 whose stock price can vary wildly like this. Like, I know the rest of them aren't a hundred percent steady, but the sharp fall we saw over them delaying a rocket launch on Thursday.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:33

Dude, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the stuff that Elon got access to when he was like working for the government is what uh enabled him to become the first trillionaire. Like, I almost wonder if there was like some I'm not trying to be like conspiracy theory or whatever, but like I almost just wonder if like all of that process was part of the plan to get him to this point.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:54

Yeah, he was directly involved in what's it called, the partial dismantling of the ATF, and then almost immediately spakes uh SpaceX offer contracts to fill in the gap.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:07

Yep, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:09

Like I feel like it's just actually, yeah, that's what happened. That's that's actually, yeah, that's what happened. But we just have a lot of people can see it, it's happening. It's just I don't know, the corruption that is run rampant throughout this country during this administration is staggering, and part of the reason that it has been able to go on is because it is so it is so large in scale and so constant that it is hard to keep track of the m like the Trump family alone is between the crypto coins, um what's it called? Weird land deals or whatever. They're gaining billions of dollars while in office while trying to tell. I'm not take I'm not I'm not taking salary as the president. I do not need the people's I'm already a billionaire with a B that's billionaire.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:17

I'm the best billionaire. Everyone knows. Everyone says it.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:21

Wildly enriching himself via what's it called backroom deals that like no one has access to, and uh and an obvious crypto two, because the Trump coin and the Melania coin both fucking happened.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:39

I heard that the the Trump phone finally like fucking hit people's doors too.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:44

Like it's it's that's a thing, and like and that circles back to like my silver lining for the SpaceX thing, because while we are all actively being taken for a ride, and like most millennials I know have already accepted the fact that we will be the generation that probably doesn't get to retire because the boomers are like currently raiding Social Security just to stay alive and fuck us even longer. Um on the bright side, Elon Musk is currently under investigation by the state of Wisconsin for election for election interference because those a million dollar checks he was handing out are actually fucking illegal election interference.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:37

Here's my question though, like what power, and I'm not saying they shouldn't, but I'm saying what power do does the state have to put this motherfucker in jail, if anything. And I don't I don't know that they do, because like one, he's not he's he's not a US citizen, is he? Or did he become like a partial US citizen or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:55

I know he was I think he is a citizen, his citizenship was uh tamed by dishonest means because I think he went through like a student visa or some such shit and almost immediately quit school. Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:11

Well, which makes me wonder like yeah. It helps that he has a lot of money, so it doesn't fucking matter, right? Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:17

Like at what point him and Melania are low-key illegal immigrants. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:23

Well, like my my point is like, so say for example, like if Wisconsin does find him guilty in all these investigations and then they subpoena him, like I don't know that he has any like he's just gonna not show up. And like he's gonna do the same thing that Trump's been doing. Yeah, because I feel like it's you know, and it's been getting proven more and more this year of just like I feel like laws for regular people don't matter. And for like folks like Elon Musk, Trump, and all that kind of stuff, they can just do whatever the fuck they want. And then people are just gonna make excuses at the end of the day of like why you can't do anything. And it's like, dude, where the fuck is where's the law at anymore? Where's justice? Where's like why are these big name people able to just trample on everyone else and no one cares?

SPEAKER_02 1:14:06

Like CI released a study um about a decade ago now warning us about right ring, what's it called, infiltration in all levels of law enforcement?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:16

I remember that. I remember that coming out. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:19

And right now we have a right wing fascist government in play. So where are the police? Those that work forces right horses like what's it called? You it's burn crosses.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:42

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:43

A lot of the time, those who work forces burn crosses. It is a historical fact you can look back on. A lynchings, what's it called? Why did lynchings happen? Why did extrajudicial killings of black people happen in the south? Because the cops were involved, the cops were at the lynchings. People think lynchings were like, mm, this is just gonna be me hitting history for a second. Think all see, people think lynchings were always angry mobs with pitchforks and like torches. A lot of the time a lynching was treated like a st a town fair.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:24

Yeah, like a like a social gathering event of sorts.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:31

You had the kids there with the candy and music and everything. Literally barbecue, and like at some of the worst ones, po pieces of flesh of the lynched human would be handed out as good luck tokens.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:47

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:49

Like those that and what do you where are the police? Like, I don't understand. Yeah. I genuinely don't understand, like, how this country is so surprised that when I actually starts running around looking like vigilantes in the street, but where are the police? Why aren't they stopping them? All the all all the mayors and the governors are banning the police from working with them. Why why aren't the police listening? Why are the police still helping? Why is this what's it called? Why is this cop in Minneapolis seen on camera, fist bumping ice like they're best friends? Because they are. Because they are. The police aren't beholden, like the pol The police have always been the enforcement the enforcement branch of whoever is in power. And whoever is in power isn't necessarily the people we put in power. For the police, they are the enforcement branch of who they think is in power.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:03

I also think that they took didn't they take out the whole like protecting quote unquote serve like the official oath and stuff like that?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:12

They have no legal obligation to protect people, they have no legal obligation to put themselves in the line of harm to help people.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:22

Yeah, it's all about like protecting property and shit like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:24

It's all if you are in a life-threatening civil uh uh situation, you know, the man with a gun who can save you if he is a little too afraid of the life-threatening situation you are in, he can just let you die legally, and that's perfectly fine. Why and they will do this while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars of overtime that we pay for once again. But like, I don't um you know what the that is why nothing will happen to Elon Musk. He will go if anything, he will fly into Wisconsin after he is convicted in absentia.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:07

He will fly into Wisconsin and have what's it called? Have uh host a dinner for all of the state's police chiefs and have it go off swimmingly and go home.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:21

That is how this will end. That is exactly how this there will be zero consequences. And on that note, please, dear God, Connor, tell me about something that will make me laugh while feet making me feel slightly uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:40

Well, folks, you heard it. It's the best time of the podcast for me. Uh this is the steamy steam review. Okay, that's a little jingle.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:59

There's just a little moon. There's that there's that discomfort.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:05

Found it. Found it. Found it. Uh great discussion, guys. Let's end the podcast on the uh, you know, slightly perverse note, sometimes oh happy note, like our first game here. Happy endings. This was released on the 13th of July. Um an adult pixel art massage parlor in a tycoon arcade sim. Hire hostesses where clients through pressure point mini games unlock 40 plus explicit seeds of grade rooms.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:44

Hold on. Can you stop for one second? What the fuck is a pressure point minigame? Can you what is that?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:49

Uh you'd have to click the game itself if you dare. Um what's it called? It's basically just like a bunch of d it's called happy endings. Come on. We're a massage parlor. It's it's actually trainer. Little dots show up and you click them. So basically, um but yeah, so you basically just want to be the uh the naughtyest massage parlor in the town.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:13

Um It's the simplest, most basic aim trainer. Right.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:20

But you get rewarded with I don't see it. Yeah, with with hot. This is great. Yeah, this is this is the new hotness. And people love management games, so make it perverse, and you got a fucking golden egg, bro.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:36

Immediately spreadsheets, and that's just what really brings people together.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:41

We love spreadsheets and titties in that order. Yeah, spreadsheets first, maybe then titties. Uh yo.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:48

What's wild to me is I'm looking at it on Steam and on the more like this underneath it is a call game called Scale the Depths. Scale the Depths, which is literally just uh I think it's literally just a fishing game.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:07

Oh, I thought it was maybe some sort of perverse game as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:11

Uh no, it's just a cute little it's just that's the worst part. It's like, okay, underneath happy ending. More like this.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:21

Excuse me. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:22

Sex secrets and used text. And then scale the depth, dwarf eats mountain, and then we're back to part-time witch, which is a spicy worm. I think we've covered.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:33

Um scale the depths does have a picture that looks like a sandworm that looks like a penis.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:39

It sounds like that's just what that worm looks like. It sounds like I'm going deep somewhere. Um of the reviews are as follows. Um, this is from Spinach. He had about four hours, they had about four hours in the game. Um simple, uh, efficient review. Came too fast.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:01

Damn it. Fuck! Again, god damn it. Rolling time on that one.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:07

He spent how much money on it? Let's see. I mean, five dollars. He got he got he got his money's worth of a dollar.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:15

I thought the whole point of these games was like a continuous experience. Oh, no, I'm done with that one now.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:21

Look, I don't know the mind of these people. You know what I mean? I don't I can't get into the mind of these people. Even all I'm gonna turn on the mind of a jerker. Not even that, just the the game.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:33

Oh, you could turn their skin blue.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:35

I understand why it's not it's not showing me this game.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:38

I'm looking it up and it's it's do you have your Steam settings set to allow you to see the game? Yeah, you gotta be careful. Yeah, don't that is that is the thing. That is why I created uh what's it called? Uh Cool Cats Podcast. Specific, what's it called? Steam account. There's no games in the library that because the recommendations on this account are wild.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:06

Um I don't I'm not sure how to fix that, but whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:10

The uh one of my favorite reviews that really got me to click into this was great game. I drained my balls completely after the first five minutes. By the first half hour, I was shooting shooting straight dust out of my tip.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:23

Just straight up dust, just dry as a canyon out there.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:30

That is actually beautiful. I actually love that review. That's a great remote. That was a good one. That was a good one. Like, what more do you need? It's like they hit him with a I know why you came to this game. I just need you to understand it'll do it. It'll do it to you. You knew why you came to you.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:53

Gets the job done. Uh, this guy also put uh a dick ting. Okay, you're just not as funny as the other guy. Yeah, that one that one was like the best one. That's what really got me to click it.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:07

Some some folks just can only rely on puns and shit like that.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:11

I mean, I like a good pun, but when it's that bad, I'm like, I like a pun.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:15

I like a pun. There's some folks who only rely on puns for their comments.

SPEAKER_06 1:24:21

Just fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:22

Um but you better have like a dictionary level, what's it called, vocabulary to make that kind of punnery work.

unknown 1:24:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:32

The next thing here, if you dare uh dare want to look it up, it's called Inflation Inc. Um the synopsis. This was released uh beginning of the month. Uh, you're a lewd scientist from Inflation Inc., a research corporation tasked by the government to experiment on women in the name of science. Their goal is to unlock the secrets of female growth, and you must help them achieve this goal. Um I'm gonna go with the most sincere review that I saw right off the bat. He goes, It's all right for five dollars. My only two complaints are one, instead of the arrow keys, it was W and S for up and down. I guess maybe he's never played a game in his entire life because that seems like the keyboard, it seems kind of logical. I guess I can I can only assume he's using the arrow keys while he's using his left hand somewhere else, or they are, excuse me, I should generalize. They. Um he also had a complaint, they also had a complaint. Um, a bunny girl would be nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:36

So a little bit of the uh I have I found a review that I uh that I I think I've fallen in love with. It's it's a negative review. No. Okay. It's like negative review, 0.2 hours on record. And this is so relatable. It's a goon game that needs two hands to play. Sure, I can macro a month button or two, but is it really worth it?

SPEAKER_03 1:26:05

Yeah, that's the one that got me. I was like, and he has one review, and it's the only game he's reviewed, is this one.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:11

Like, he feels he feels very strongly on the like, what the fuck are we doing here? These games are you're making a game that you want to play one-handed, but you have two-handed controls. Do better.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:26

Okay. I I got my Steam figured out so I can look up these steps. Your your your recommendations are gonna be fucked from. Well, I'm a visual, I'm a visual person, so it's like hard to me to track what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:39

Good luck explaining to your fiance when she walks in with Shenk.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

Just let Shay know it's work related. It's for research.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:54

I do have uh one more review. This is a repository review, it's very sincere. More angles and more characters, please. And the belly of some characters isn't really good. I don't know what he means by belly. Yeah, belly of some characters isn't really good.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:13

You know what? You know what? Looking at the screenshots, the artist really does not know how to do a cute chubby belly at all. The bell uh uh that review is fucking fool.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:30

There's only like yeah, I can see yeah, I can see some of these.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:34

Uh someone's posting stuff on a banana.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:41

He's taking uh the the artist is taking some liberties and maybe he just they sorry, I keep saying he. I I only assume and uh this is bad with me. I assume the people that are actively playing these games are probably a good percentage of male.

SPEAKER_05 1:27:55

I would like to I mean it's probably a good ninety nine percent. I'm sorry I've missed it. What was the name of this game again? The most recent game.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:03

This one's Inflation Inc. Inflation Inc. It seems weird, like a just a clicky-click game, but people, you know, like, hey, you can play it one-handed. That's like a number one, number one uh plus for these games. Um it seems they have a couple different women. Um look at the game.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:22

Look, all I'm trying to say is if it if you need two hands to play it, it it's a deal breaker. Yeah, it ain't worth it anymore.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:31

Um I will just before we get out of here. The women uh are named in this game Shark Girl, Demon Girl, Gamer Girl, Fox Girl, Angel Girl, and then Cowgirl.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:47

We can't give we c we couldn't even give them names.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:50

No, we couldn't even give them names. Also, that's why that guy was complaining there wasn't um Oh, that was a different one. I got him mixed up. I got the porn games mixed up. I thought they Oh no, I was right. No, the bunny girl. He wanted Bunny Girl, and he didn't get it.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:07

Well, leave Lola LC for Leave Lola.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:12

You know that's where it came from, too.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:13

He's like, we were just saying it the other day we were just saying the other day, Lola Bunny made that it changed the thoughts of many a young boy when Lola Blade came out.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:27

You're not wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:28

People wonder why furries are like a millennial and onward phenomena. And my response is my response to Gen X and the boomers is you made our cartoons. You made us this way.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:42

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:43

You did this. Oh, I want you to look at what you've done and feel bad. Look at what you've done. Nobody is. You can't, you physically cannot be.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:00

I am who I am today because of Lola.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:04

Sam.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

And uh one thing before I get off this game, um, for the developer here, Kane Escape Games. Please release the bunny DLC for your one of 15 reviews on this game, please. He's really asking for it, please.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:19

Hey, he took the time to review your game, and only 15 people do give the man what he wants.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:26

That's valid, honestly. Like, you gotta you know, if you have a small base of fans, you gotta cater to him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:35

Well on that note, give him the bunny girl. Just leave Lola alone.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:43

That was all. That's all the Steam's I got Steam Easting reviews today. So I think we could I think we're safe to maybe close this out.

SPEAKER_05 1:30:54

This was an intense one, fellas. This was an intense one. We we talked about some ideas, some concepts. We got anggy, but you know, I think that's kind of the intention. Because I got I got angry. A little bit of a downer. I guess I got I got angry. So angry.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:06

Welcome to the show. Right. I'm always angry. It's it's my job.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:12

I mean, dude, um it's for me. I I sometimes like I I've been getting in this whole like eat the rich kind of like mentality over the last year because things are we've said it a million times, things are getting harder to fucking afford. Right. And not for rich people, and so yeah, I've just been up very much of that mindset. So I was just like slowly getting riled up as I was going throughout the episode today. But anyway, go ahead, Connor. Let's do that outro.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:37

You're good. Uh that was the cool cats podcast, everybody. If you want to watch it live when we record, we try to record every other Saturday at twitch.tv slash iTheCatDad I. Um, I'm Connor. This is Cameron, that's Jelani. We've been the Cool Cats. Thanks for tuning in. Feel free to follow the Twitch channel, follow our podcast on whatever podcasting uh site you use. Leave a review if you want. I would love that. If you can get enough reviews, we'll read them. Reviews would be great. Um tell your friends, maybe not tell your fiancees and your spouses, unless you want us to fill their ear holes full of porn reviews at the end of the day. Uh actually tell them. Tell them something.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:24

You know what? You know what? I want this to be a family experience. You should listen to this show. You should listen to this show on the radio out loud with the entire family. Get grandma in, bring the kids in, light the fire. It's gonna be great.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:44

What was that game called? I'm gonna make a Steam account to play. Happy endings. I wouldn't play Inflation Inc. That's my favorite. Where's the money girl?

SPEAKER_02 1:32:55

It's been real, everyone. We love you. And yo, Mr. Musk, stop fucking diddling our retirement accounts. We have this bitch. All right, bye.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:07

Okay, bye.