Transcript

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the next bookmark episode of the Gaming Backlog Book Club.

Every once in a while, life responsibilities overtake the time that would otherwise be used to advance far enough in the week’s segment of the book club season to actually complete it and have the conversation we want about it. Or in this case, we just bit off a large portion of the story of Cyberpunk 2077 for one episode. So we pushed it out a little bit.

So in those moments, we’ve decided to put a bookmark in the game for just long enough to touch on other topics related to our shared love hobby of playing video games. Discussing them.

This week we’ll be talking about video game events, experiences, activations, etc. Basically everything related to encountering or experiencing something related to or associated to a video game franchise or studio or brand outside the confines of a store that sells physical games or consoles, and especially outside of playing video games on some sort of screen.

And yes, I’m also including Skyrim ported to Alexa as part of this. Off limits.

I guess we should also say something like an arcade doesn’t really count here either because you’re still playing a game on a screen. Now when I bring this up, Alex, is there anything in particular that comes to mind, things that you’ve enjoyed in person? I can actually kick you off with one because we did it together a few years ago. We went to the Halloween Horror nights at Universal Studios where they had a full on haunted house based on the Last of Us.

[00:01:28] Speaker B: Yes, that was a lot of fun.

That was a really good time.

[00:01:33] Speaker A: You know, in comparison to the other kind of haunted house experiences in there, it was relatively small and short. But it had a very long line because obviously it was a one and done and everyone seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.

But yeah, I mean like they recreated various parts of the first game, which was awesome.

And even had actors outside standing in front kind of reenacting some scene, you know, over and over again when you get in the curly line.

[00:01:59] Speaker B: But yeah, they had people dressed up as Joel and Ellie just out there. Yeah. Reenacting a scene.

[00:02:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I did a good job.

It was very well done.

You know, waiting in that hour long or more line was definitely worth it if you ask me.

I think we got there basically right at the start of this. I mean, I guess the beginning of the Halloween Horror nights being available, which is at like 3, 6 or 7pm Maybe.

[00:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:02:29] Speaker A: But yeah, it was super cool, especially just seeing like the clickers wandering around in there and obviously they’re Trying to jump scare you and all that.

But being kind of immersed in that experience was great.

[00:02:42] Speaker B: No, it was.

It was a really good time. It was cool to see that they adapted the Last of Us into that type of horror night house.

And I hope they do more video game type experiences in the future.

[00:03:00] Speaker A: I know they did. What was it last? I think it might have been last year they did one based on the Fallout, but on Fallout, the TV show?

[00:03:07] Speaker B: Yeah, the TV show, yeah.

[00:03:08] Speaker A: Which I’m, you know, I guess that’s easier to kind of zero in on one particular part of the franchise that varies so much, but supposedly that was pretty cool too. I don’t necessarily see Fallout as a horror property per se.

[00:03:21] Speaker B: Neither do I.

[00:03:22] Speaker A: It has some. Some elements of it. But hey, you do what you can with what you got.

Maybe that’s the license they were able to get.

[00:03:31] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. I think one.

One that I would love to see, absolutely love to see as a horror house or Horror Nights. If someone beat Dead Space, if someone did the Dead Space one, oh my

[00:03:43] Speaker A: God, that would be good.

[00:03:45] Speaker B: It might be too intense for people, but it would be so good.

[00:03:49] Speaker A: The other thing is, it’s a lot easier to reenact a clicker or a zombie or whatever than it is to reenact a base monster that crawls in the ceiling, but I’m sure they could pull it off.

Yeah, I mean, I think the other thing that makes it difficult for Dead Space is right, they had the remake a couple years ago of Dead Space 1. Otherwise the franchise is, for lack of a better term, dead and probably won’t get revitalized based on.

On, you know, the fact that it didn’t make tons of money, that remake. And also the original creator of the Dead Space series, I think just retired this year from making games altogether after the not so great Callisto Protocol. I haven’t played it, but it didn’t. It didn’t sell a ton of or as well as they wanted it to, to make it worth it.

[00:04:45] Speaker B: Now what I’d also like too though is if. Because right now there’s an explosion with Sony and other studios and then Amazon, all that doing video game collaborations and making them shows or movies like.

[00:04:58] Speaker A: That is true. That is true.

[00:05:00] Speaker B: Someone bring Dead Space back and make it a.

I know they did like an animated. I think there are a few animated ones for Dead Space, but like a full blown, like movie or TV series,

[00:05:15] Speaker A: like, I think that definitely helps, especially for a company like Universal. Right. They are a movie and TV media company. So the fact that they chose the Last of Us, which is an HBO series, and Fallout, which is an Amazon series. Makes a lot of sense. So maybe to get your dead space Halloween horror night haunted house, you need a dead space show or movie.

[00:05:40] Speaker B: Yeah, maybe.

[00:05:41] Speaker A: Which also doesn’t leave me with a lot of hope for mine, but my number one on this list would. Obviously, you got your favorite game of all time as a haunted house. I want a BioShock haunted house.

[00:05:53] Speaker B: That would be.

[00:05:53] Speaker A: A Bioshock haunted house would be so good. It put me in rapture with the little sisters and big daddies running around, walking around, stomping around.

You know, have the kind of fake windows looking out into the ocean.

Get some Splicers. I mean, you can hire the same actors that did the clickers to do the splicers. Most likely the weird movements and all that. That. That would be my choice, obviously. But it’s not going to have. I’m actually supposedly BioShock somewhat. It’s been in development hell in various rounds. But if we’re lucky, we’ll get some visual media of it. I still am in the camp of make it something else in the world of BioShock. If you’re making a movie, though, don’t make it a recreation of the game.

[00:06:39] Speaker B: I get that. Yeah.

[00:06:42] Speaker A: Moving along.

So I have this very vivid memory back in around 1995, right. When Pokemon was just sort of releasing its red and blue versions in the US Maybe like a couple months afterwards, I was invited by a friend and we went to Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco and it had a.

Just parked in the middle of Ghirardelli Square.

Was. There was a VW bug with the Pikachu skin.

[00:07:26] Speaker B: Nice.

[00:07:27] Speaker A: With a trunk popped open.

And I believe it had a CRTV in the back with Pokemon Stadium running.

[00:07:37] Speaker B: Awesome. Okay.

[00:07:38] Speaker A: And the fact that this is 1995 and not 2026 is that while popular, Pokemon was not anywhere near what it is now.

And I don’t even remember waiting in line.

I think we just kind of walked up, waited for a couple other kids to get out of the way, and then got to use this playing and play Pokemon Stadium there. I wish I had a photo of this moment, but, you know, my memory will have to serve for it.

So that was. That would be very cool.

[00:08:13] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:08:14] Speaker A: And supposedly there are. I looked it up. There’s only a handful of those Pikachu Volkswagen bugs in existence in the first place.

And also you can still buy them.

Like you can buy the original ones from back then if you really want to drop that much cash. But that’s for the.

[00:08:37] Speaker B: That’s going to be a lot of money.

[00:08:39] Speaker A: That’s a chunk of change there. Yeah.

But hey, you know, some people are that into it and it’s interesting because I, you know, you think of the largest cities in the world and all that. San Francisco by population and geographical size is nowhere near any of those.

And yet it’s surprising that after New York is the number two city in the US to get a Nintendo store, a dedicated Nintendo store which opened a little bit ago.

And there was this Pokemon event there back in the 90s.

I don’t know what the connection is, but hey, kid me was happy for it.

[00:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. No, I bet I haven’t. Yeah, those are a couple things. Just like the Nintendo stores I’ve never gone to. I’d like to go to a Nintendo store.

[00:09:33] Speaker A: So. Yeah, I now that you. Actually this was further down my list, but it’s a moment for it. I visited the Nintendo store in New York a few years ago.

It had a bunch of obviously merch for all the things you would expect.

Did it sell games? I think it had like a wall with some games with the games you could buy.

But it had a bunch of obviously like plushes and stickers and keychains and all those kinds of normal trinkets and clothing, like apparel and stuff, which I was very disappointed by their lack of Metroid gear. It had like one hoodie that I didn’t like.

And then there’s. It had. What was cool, was just a giant. It had a couple of like museum style display cases with one of every console they’ve created.

And then also also had like a museum style display case of every single Amiibo that existed up until that point. Which I haven’t seen all those in person because there’s so many of them.

So that was cool.

Thinking back on it too. I’ve also.

What was it last year?

Went to the Nintendo store and the Pokemon store in Kyoto.

Um, yeah.

[00:11:01] Speaker B: I’m very jealous. You got to go to a Pokemon center.

[00:11:04] Speaker A: Yes, I sure did. It was very busy.

Very, very busy. I think it, I think that store is quite literally like 60 to 70% plushes, like stuffed animals of Pokemon, which I brought you one.

[00:11:21] Speaker B: Yes, you did.

For me and for my wife. Yeah, Brought us our correct.

[00:11:25] Speaker A: Yeah.

[00:11:26] Speaker B: Favorite Pokemon, which we appreciate.

[00:11:29] Speaker A: So that was a very cool store and very much. You see the absolute degree of fanaticism of Pokemon fans because that like every single day has lines out the door just to get in for Starters. And then to actually pay for it, you kind of, you might as well be at Disneyland.

The Nintendo store was very cool as well. It was in the top floor of random mall.

On the ground floor. Right when you walk into the mall in that particular section, there’s a giant, I guess you would call it a statue of Mario’s like nose up to his top of his head sticking out of a giant green pipe.

And then you get into the actual store and there’s you know, all the stuff. Basically a much larger, more expanded version of what I just referred to for the New York one.

Very cool. I think they also have both of those stores have locations in Tokyo which I didn’t go to. But hey, if you’re in Japan, check it out.

[00:12:30] Speaker B: Yeah, that’s, that’s like one of my big, big key things I would like to do. I would love to go to a Pokemon center in Japan or at least to a couple of them to different, some of the different cities because they’re all over Japan in all the different cities. So I’d love to. And they’re all different, they all have like different mascots, little different themes.

So I’d love to go and check

[00:12:50] Speaker A: out a few of those worth checking out and I suppose I might.

You know Wes, sticking on the topic of Pokemon, you are a big fan of the Pokemon trading card game. I was back when Pokemon was really, you know, during that red, blue, yellow, silver, gold set of generations.

And it definitely had a lot of good memories playing the Pokemon card game and the Game Boy version of the Pokemon trading card game.

And yeah, I mean like, I don’t know, I’ll never forget on Easter, got a pack of cards in my Easter basket and it had a shiny Blastoise in there and that water based deck crushed it for a long time anyway.

But you continue to play or have re picked it up in the last few years, right?

[00:13:42] Speaker B: Yes.

[00:13:44] Speaker A: Do you, you’ve mentioned that you go and play sort of in like card game places.

[00:13:49] Speaker B: I have, I haven’t in a little bit. But yes, I have like gone. I’ve gone to some of the pre release events of summer. Not to some of the most releasance recent sets, but a little bit like about a year, six months, a year ago, last few sets.

Yeah, I’ve gone and played and done those. I also went actually.

Cause we’re on the topic of Pokemon. I went not this year because it just occurred, but last year I went to the Pokemon worlds in Anaheim as a spectator. Like that’s both myself and My. Yeah, both myself and my wife went.

So we went to the Pokemon Worlds which was a lot of fun. We also got into because you had to get like a ticket and a time slot into the Pokemon center pop

[00:14:34] Speaker A: up store that they did there to

[00:14:37] Speaker B: buy all the like where all the exclusive merchandise and everything was.

So we got to go into that which was awesome and extremely expensive. But we got a lot of cool stuff. It was really, really fun to see like all the exclusive like skateboards that they’ve come out with the exclusive merchandise for the Anaheim like Worlds there. They just had it this year in San Francisco.

But yeah, but we went last year in Anaheim.

Since it’s only. Since it was only like an hour, hour 15 minutes away. It was easy to drive up to for the day.

But then we were walking around like the floor and you could watch them like watch the tournament going of people playing. You could also sign up and join some of the tournaments that were going. So I did like a.

I did like a pack and play like event where I got to open up some packs and then build a deck and then play. So I got to do that, which was fun.

[00:15:38] Speaker A: So you like build it on the fly based on what’s in your packs? Yeah, like you know, bring it in your packs.

[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yep. Yeah, that’s sort of like a pre release event.

But it was fun.

It was a really good time and I wanted to go to the one in San Francisco. It just didn’t work out also. Yeah, I don’t know, I’m not as big of a fan of the city in San Francisco, but I saw some videos and it actually looked really cool. So I was like, oh, I kind of wish I did.

But yeah, I don’t know. I think they said. I think the next one.

I don’t know where the next one is. I feel like. I think I heard Singapore which would be. That’s too far away.

That’d be too expensive.

[00:16:19] Speaker A: That’s a ways to go.

[00:16:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that’s what it was. I don’t know. But that was a really fun experience.

Like I, I was really glad I got to go.

I’m glad my wife got to go with me. She had a lot of fun too. Like looking around.

They had like a little Pokemon museum too there of like some of like the previous like event cards and the games and. Yeah, they had a lot of stuff. It was, it was a good time.

[00:16:41] Speaker A: Sounds entertaining for sure. At least for a weekend.

What is your.

If you don’t mind me asking, what is your. You said you haven’t played in a little bit, but most recently, what is your kind of main deck look like as far as what kind of star cards do you got in there? What kind of.

[00:16:58] Speaker B: I don’t know what is.

[00:16:59] Speaker A: I don’t really have.

[00:17:00] Speaker B: I don’t really have a main deck. Like I’ve kind of just done the pre release. I haven’t been able to go as much recently to like just play weekly with a main deck. So I don’t really have.

Have one right now. I was running, I don’t know, I was running something with Tyranitar back on one of the sets, but otherwise, yeah, I don’t, I haven’t done it as much. Unfortunately I haven’t had as much of the time as I’d like to. To do it.

[00:17:26] Speaker A: But it’s a good anchor. I mean. Yeah, but I’m still like podcasting takes up a lot of time.

[00:17:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I still like collecting the cards. I’m collecting the cards. I’m collecting the cards with my nephew as well. Like he loves looking through the cards and opening packs and so I get him a few cards as well, which is fun. He’s. He’s really into Pokemon.

[00:17:43] Speaker A: So I also, now that I’m remembering in that Japan trip last year, I went on a little hunt for a specific box of cards that you were looking for that were hard to get in the US or had not released there yet. What was that?

[00:17:58] Speaker B: Yeah, they hadn’t released.

[00:18:01] Speaker A: Had the. The box itself had an image of one of the legendary birds from Gold and Silver. Right?

[00:18:07] Speaker B: Yeah. On it. Yeah, it was the. What was here known as Destined Rivals was the set.

I forgot what it was called in Japan, but it was the Destined Rival set where it was kind of the back to like Team Rocket type stuff.

[00:18:22] Speaker A: Okay, okay, cool.

[00:18:23] Speaker B: Which was cool. So you had like back in the day where you had like Team Rocket’s Mewtwo or Team like those types of cards.

So there were cards in there on that set that was like Giovanni’s Mewtwo or it was the character Ethan’s Ho. Oh, and some others which I loved those types of cards back in the day.

[00:18:41] Speaker A: Uh huh.

[00:18:41] Speaker B: So yeah, I was like wanting to do some of those and collect it.

[00:18:44] Speaker A: Out of curiosity. Did you open that box?

[00:18:48] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:18:48] Speaker A: Do they have like, is it in. Were they in kanji in Japanese characters or was it in English?

[00:18:56] Speaker B: No, it’s all in Japanese. All those are. They’re all Japanese boosters.

[00:18:59] Speaker A: It’s a cool collector’s item for sure.

[00:19:01] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I was.

[00:19:02] Speaker A: Hopefully you Pulled out some good ones from there.

[00:19:05] Speaker B: I did. I actually pulled a few cards that I was really looking for. I really enjoyed the artwork on some

[00:19:10] Speaker A: of those, so I don’t know why I haven’t. Haven’t actually asked you about that. I’ll need to see some photos here.

[00:19:17] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:19:19] Speaker A: All right, well, we can shift gears off of Pokemon a little bit, I guess.

Oh, except for the one. The one fact that. Okay. You got one more thing, too.

[00:19:27] Speaker B: No, no.

[00:19:28] Speaker A: We are in the 30th.

[00:19:30] Speaker B: Yes. We are in the 30th anniversary this year.

[00:19:33] Speaker A: Right. I. I heard that this week. I’ve seen in the news that this week was a 30th anniversary card drop. Because they’re old school. Whatever.

[00:19:41] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:19:41] Speaker A: And it’s just causing pand.

[00:19:44] Speaker B: Yeah. It’s been. I haven’t even tried to go and buy. It’s just crazy, the videos and stuff. Other things I’ve seen is just nuts. I saw like, a video of, like, a little 70 people inside of Barnes and Noble and Temecula waiting.

[00:19:56] Speaker A: That’s. No, no, no, no, thanks.

[00:19:58] Speaker B: I know.

[00:19:58] Speaker A: And people get violent over it. And then there’s a scalper issue. And, like, it’s just not a thing to be a part of.

[00:20:04] Speaker B: No. Now I just kind of buy singles, like, the singles cards, and I get like. My nephew likes a couple cards. I’ll give him some.

[00:20:10] Speaker A: So smart.

[00:20:12] Speaker B: But my last thing on Pokemon was just one place that I haven’t gone to, but as a real life experience, I’d love to is in Japan. They just opened, like, a Pokepark Kanto.

[00:20:20] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.

[00:20:21] Speaker B: And I forgot exactly which region of Japan it was.

[00:20:23] Speaker A: No. Yeah, you’re right. It’s part of an actual. Another amusement park. And I don’t recall.

[00:20:27] Speaker B: I think in videos.

[00:20:29] Speaker A: Yeah.

[00:20:30] Speaker B: I don’t. Oh, I want to go so bad. Like you.

[00:20:32] Speaker A: It’s like a bunch of statues in a forest kind of thing.

[00:20:35] Speaker B: Yeah. But, like, you can walk through, like, Vermilion Forest, like, the first parts of the original. Oh, it’s so cool. And they have, like, little Pokemon statues of the Pokemon are there, and they make noises like they’re making their poke. It’s. I was like. It just is like pure nostalgia and everything. I was like, I would love to. Just hopefully one day, I would love to go there.

[00:20:51] Speaker A: Well, just see all that. Take that into your trip. Just make sure your whole Japan trip is not only focused on Pokemon, though, because there’s so much more to it now.

[00:20:59] Speaker B: There’s a lot of stuff I want to do,

[00:21:03] Speaker A: and there are Actually obviously various developers of games have their stores throughout Japan. They actually just recently Capcom just recently released a. Or opened up. I don’t know if it’s a pop up or a permanent store in Little Tokyo in la which may or may not go to eventually but whatever.

So speaking of other stores and I suppose this is halfway between. It’s more experience than store although you could buy things there back. I. And I don’t know the exact timing but it was back in the late 90s, early 2000s probably there was a store in San Francisco called.

Well it’s not a store. The building itself and it still exists. It’s called the Metreon. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of or been there. No, it’s like close to the San Francisco Convention Center. It has a large park there. There’s. That’s where at least the first IMAX Move theater that I ever went to was and saw that Everest movie, like an Everest documentary.

So a very like cool place. It had a full on movie theater. It had this like other experiences and inside of it on the ground floor there was the one and only ever PlayStation store

[00:22:28] Speaker B: lucky.

[00:22:29] Speaker A: So it had obviously you know, kind of similar to any other game store but it had stations where you could play the.

Whatever the latest games are on whatever the latest generation of PlayStation was which I don’t recall but I had a bunch of other experiences too. And the one that most vividly sits in my memory is there was a bobsled simulator which makes no sense in San Francisco. But you know it had a screen up there and you would be sitting in this bobsled and kind of like steer with the handles and had relatively recently seen cool runnings and want to try that out.

But that was.

It was such a cool kind of concept. And then here, you know again another video game related store in San Francisco or experience.

It’s too bad they don’t release another one of that. But based on the way that the public perceives PlayStation in this particular moment, I don’t think it’s part of the plans.

[00:23:29] Speaker B: Yeah, well maybe it should be to try and get them back on site.

[00:23:33] Speaker A: That’s true. Just do it smaller scale and in more places.

I’m also curious and it’s not always necessarily video game focused but I know some of them are. You’ve attended a number of conferences over the years and so I’m curious for more info on sort of which ones are game related or you do game related things there?

[00:24:01] Speaker B: Conferences man.

[00:24:03] Speaker A: Let me. I think one of Them’s like a retro gaming conference. I think some of them are more shopping.

[00:24:09] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, Yes, I do do. Yes. I’ve gone to SoCal Retro Gaming Expo.

Where?

[00:24:17] Speaker A: That’s the one in Pasadena.

[00:24:19] Speaker B: Yes, that is right now within Pasadena. Yeah, SoCal Retro Gaming Expo. So that’s gotten like really big now. It’s the big one here, obviously for California or California.

I would go there because I’m a big retro game fan. So I’d buy some games. Usually I haven’t now gone in the last couple years just with work and finances and stuff, but usually when I go, I try and pick up, I’m looking for one big ticket item.

[00:24:46] Speaker A: You’re trying to get one grail per visit, huh?

[00:24:48] Speaker B: Yeah, it’s one grail per visit. So the last time I went, my grail was I got a complete pristine inbox copy of Pokemon Ruby on Game Boy Advance.

[00:24:58] Speaker A: Here we go. We immediately failed the mission of not mentioning Pokemon again.

[00:25:02] Speaker B: I know, sorry. That was my last one.

[00:25:04] Speaker A: That’s fine.

[00:25:04] Speaker B: Before that, though. Before that, though, it was a complete inbox of Harvest Moon 64. Because that is another one of my top favorite games of all time.

[00:25:15] Speaker A: Oh, okay. That’s. That’s a solid pickup right there.

[00:25:18] Speaker B: And I just like the Harvest Moon, like, box and everything is just so nostalgic to me. Like, I was like, I have to own this.

[00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I hear that in my collection. I can see the art behind my eyes.

[00:25:29] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

But, yeah, I do that. I’ve gone to like a few other. Yeah, definitely conventions that have video game related things. I’ve met a few video game related characters. I got. Oh, my gosh, the gentleman.

[00:25:44] Speaker A: The voice actor from Far Cry 6.

[00:25:46] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:47] Speaker A: Giancarlo Esposito.

[00:25:48] Speaker B: Thank you. John Kostaspazito. Yes, I met him.

[00:25:50] Speaker A: I got him Breaking Bad fame.

[00:25:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes. Of. To sign a copy of Far Cry 6 for me.

I have met Troy Baker very briefly years ago.

Just like kind of going up and saying hi.

I now kind of wish, like, I. It was just like a very quick high. I wish, like, I kind of met, like, him and I would love to meet Nolan north because I have now I have stuff where it’s like I want them to sign like I met him before I played the last of us.

Oh, so.

[00:26:21] Speaker A: Well.

[00:26:21] Speaker B: Yeah, Well, I played the last of us late, obviously, as you know.

[00:26:24] Speaker A: Yeah. Right. Still, though.

[00:26:26] Speaker B: But yeah, but like, there’s now I was like. I was like, I’d love to meet some of these people again at Expos or somewhere. To get some autographs.

[00:26:34] Speaker A: Did you meet the voice actor for Roadhog from Overwatch once too?

[00:26:40] Speaker B: Did. Yes, way back in the day. I did meet him. Yeah, he was. Yeah, he was very nice. He was cool. That was.

I have since fallen out of Overwatch but when I was back in the big Overwatch days, Roadhog was definitely the main character of mine and I love like the voice and yeah nice guy. So I did, yeah, I got like an autographed photo of Roadhog from him and he signed actually a Funko pop for me as well. I had a Roadhog.

[00:27:03] Speaker A: Oh yeah, I remember that Funko pop

[00:27:05] Speaker B: with like the Frankenstein skin.

Yeah. I’m trying to think. I feel like I’ve met.

Trying to think who else I’ve met. I mean I know actors wise, but I’m trying to think I met. I’m sure he’s done video game voice. I met Jim Cummings.

I know he obviously like Winnie the Pooh, Darkwing Duck, like all those voices. But I’m pretty sure he’s also been in games and I’m just can’t like.

But yeah, he was extremely nice too.

He was very cool.

I’m trying to think. But yeah, I’ve gone to a few of those like expos and they’re fun. I’ve gone to a few like the SoCal Retro Gaming Expo is the big one.

There’s one in, there’s one in Arizona which I would love to go to. I think it’s called Game On Expo.

I would love if like, if there was a chance like me and Yuki just to go road trip out there and do that.

[00:27:56] Speaker A: It’d be fun. What is that one about?

[00:27:58] Speaker B: Game. It’s another retro gaming one and other games. But they also usually have like big well known voice actors from games.

[00:28:06] Speaker A: Mm.

[00:28:06] Speaker B: Um. So like there was one year they had a Christopher Judge Kratos and, and the kid who played Atreus as well. And I was like, oh, I wish I had gone out there because I was okay.

[00:28:18] Speaker A: That’s pretty cool.

[00:28:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, met them.

I think that’s in Phoenix or Tucson. Yeah, there’s a few of them across. There’s, there’s, there’s a lot of those video game exposure that like across the country that I’d like to go to. I’ve just seen a lot of like YouTube videos.

[00:28:37] Speaker A: But yeah, there, yeah, there’s. Yeah all that sounds like a good enjoyable experience. I think another thing that we’ve, you know, kind of in that same vein that we haven’t had a chance to do or didn’t have a chance to do is even while living relatively close, was.

I would have loved to go to E3.

[00:28:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Yes.

[00:29:00] Speaker A: And they only opened it to the public for the last couple of years before it shut down.

But I know someone that was able to go to one of those that said they had a good time. I absolutely would have loved to go to that one, E3, where I think they revealed Ghost of Tsushima.

I think I very distinctly remember they were. I don’t remember which games they all were, but I think there was like four. Four games in particular.

Four PlayStation games in particular that they were either first announcing or, like giving big updates on that had big feature showcases. And one of them was Ghost of Tsushima. I think that one of them was the Last of Us 2, when there were two others. And being at. That would have been fantastic.

[00:29:45] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, that would have been good. I remember sitting at an old job, like E3. Tickets went on sale, and I think it was actually.

I don’t remember what the last year was, but I think it was four. The last one, which would have been the last one ever.

[00:29:58] Speaker A: Yeah.

[00:29:59] Speaker B: And I was like, wanting to get tickets, and I think me and you were talking. I don’t know. And we wanted to get tape, but it just unfortunately didn’t work out of us being able to, like, make it or mean tickets. So. Yeah. And then. And we were like, oh, hopefully we’ll go like next year. We’ll figure it out. And then unfortunately, I think that was like the last one ever. Then after that, they just kept canceling it. And I was like, no.

[00:30:19] Speaker A: Yeah, no fun. Yeah. I just kept canceling it. Made it digital. Then everyone did the directs and. I understand. But come on.

Um.

Another, like, another thing that would be awesome to go to would be like the Game Awards.

Although I don’t know how you. I don’t know if they pro. I think they do sell tickets to that maybe. But I almost thought about going to that IGN Live event a couple months ago, but didn’t happen.

[00:30:48] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah, we were talking. Yeah, that would have been.

[00:30:50] Speaker A: And then the other.

So my mom actually worked at Razor for a while and she went to. I did not go. She went to a Street Fighter 6 tournament at a theater in LA, which in hindsight, sounds like it would have been very fun to go watch because I know the people that are very good at fighting games can show off crazy levels of skill that I don’t get out of. Button mashing.

[00:31:21] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:31:21] Speaker A: Or educated. But mathing.

But yeah, I think that kind of.

There’s a lot of stuff out there that would be entertaining to go to.

There’s. This is. I don’t. I suppose it’s a video game experience.

I worked for a summer at Electronic Arts before I met you, actually.

Summer during college.

And while there were some very cool games being made there at the time, like the first dead space before it released, and I think it was Rock Band one or two, I was placed on my Sims Kingdom.

Yay for the Nintendo ds, which is.

And this is as a QA tester, mind you.

So the job was to replay it over and over again and find and log bugs, which is totally an admirable task. And anyone doing QA for these massive games, I tip my hat to you many times over.

But you probably get more variety out of it like that. So you have to basically find a bug, recreate it and then log it. If you can do it more than once, which is all well and good, but when you’re staring at two, I don’t even know what they are. Like three inch screens.

[00:32:51] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:32:52] Speaker A: For eight hours a day, for five days a week. Yeah. I literally felt my eyesight get worse after that summer for a time. I think it’s improved again since hopefully.

But it was. It was definitely an experience.

The game last. The game itself you could complete in like maybe an hour and a half once you knew how to do it.

So good times, good times have had by all.

I think that’s a lot. And then otherwise some things that you know. This is not related to any specific video game, but there are some virtual kind of experiences that were like used as birthday parties.

There’s a place in the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area, called Magic Edge, which is basically a fighter jet simulator. So you’d get into this cockpit and it would. You basically be surrounded by a screen and the cockpit would like kind of move around physically while you’re sitting in it with a bunch of noise and. And lights and all that stuff. And you just basically have these dog fights. That was a lot of fun. There was also a one that I think I only went to once for someone’s birthday in San Francisco called. Actually, I don’t know even know what it was called, but it was basically a giant virtual mech battles simulator. So like Gundam is what comes to mind for me because that’s the one I was into, but.

Or like Neon.

Is it called Neon Genesis Evangelion? I think something. It wasn’t associated to any of those in particular. It was more of a generalized. I Think like metals. Super sweet. It was basically like that. But you’re just like inside of a cockpit of a mech. Assault of a mech. Yeah.

[00:34:39] Speaker B: That’s cool.

[00:34:40] Speaker A: And you, you similar to the dog fighting fighter jets thing. It would a lot of fun. I wish those things still existed because I would enjoy those now and then. I guess the last couple tiny things that are less experiences and more just things. Activations I guess I would call them. Or things that I’ve seen in Mexico City right before. And as the first season of the Witcher TV show, Netflix TV show came out, there was a giant statue in a park very close to where I was of the monster called a Kikimora.

So it’s like a giant spider thing with a weird face.

So that was awesome.

You just walking through a plaza or a park or whatever and there’s a giant monster hanging out.

No, don’t necessarily want to be one of the kids that lives there in that neighborhood. But you know, I also there saw a mural of basically the Super Mario World map, but as if it was the map of. Of Mexico City.

[00:35:47] Speaker B: Okay.

[00:35:49] Speaker A: Which is a cool interpretation. And I also saw a mural of just Kratos and Atreus right. As God of War 2018 was coming out.

[00:35:56] Speaker B: Oh, nice.

[00:35:57] Speaker A: So I have pictures of all those, of course. Good fun.

And then I guess there are a couple missed opportunities. Is there anything else that you’ve done that you can remember?

[00:36:09] Speaker B: No, I was just going to say that we both did Super Nintendo World for the first time together when we did the Hollow Knights as well at Universal.

[00:36:17] Speaker A: That’s true.

Very good point. Yes.

[00:36:19] Speaker B: We were already there, so yeah, so we did that. Which was a lot of fun.

[00:36:23] Speaker A: Yeah, it’s cool.

[00:36:24] Speaker B: Go back.

[00:36:25] Speaker A: Yeah, it’s cool. I think I was a little. A little tiny bit underwhelmed. Both because you have to have a reservation and you can’t do it ahead of time. You have to be there like the first person in line to get a reservation at the rest the Toad picture Toad Restaurant inside there.

Which is a shame, you know.

Gonna be hard to ever get into that. Even though I don’t necessarily think the food’s gonna be any good. It’s just kind of the novelty of it.

[00:36:50] Speaker B: It’s just the novelty idea. I get that.

[00:36:52] Speaker A: Like there’s. That there’s like some cool ghost adjacent Nintendo franchise discoveries to be made there. If you have an eagle eye, what’s up is I guess what I’d say when you’re standing in the middle, I don’t want to Spoil it.

And the ride we didn’t do because you can buy a wristband and then you do these kind of like, AR activities around there that are just Mario themed that I don’t think are very interesting or they don’t sound very interesting.

And the ride, the Mario Kart kind of AR ride is cool enough to go on once or twice, and that’s about it. I have heard that the Donkey Kong Country Ride Barrel ride in the Osaka Universal Studios is awesome, though, so that sounds fun. Hopefully they bring that over here, I think.

[00:37:42] Speaker B: Yeah. I thought I read somewhere that they’re going to be expanding it, which hopefully means that they’ll bring that.

That over, which would be fun.

I also heard. No, go back into it, that here at Universal, that Simpsons Land is going away and it will be Pokemon.

[00:38:00] Speaker A: Really?

[00:38:01] Speaker B: They’re changing the Simpsons to potentially Pokemon here at Universal Hollywood Studios. Hollywood.

I remember reading that, like, a few months ago. I’ll have to double check. But yeah, that it was. They were looking to change it.

[00:38:13] Speaker A: I mean, it’s certainly not in its heyday, but I feel like Simpsons still has some staying power to it. Well, yeah, not as much as Pokemon, I guess. So you just swap one out for another.

[00:38:23] Speaker B: I remember, though, before the Simpsons ride, that was there. There was the Back to the Future ride, which was also a lot of fun.

[00:38:29] Speaker A: Well, I mean, you also got rid of what. So, okay, Simpsons gotta go. But Fast and the Furious gets a new ride.

[00:38:35] Speaker B: Yeah, whatever.

I’m not a Fast and Furious fan. I know.

[00:38:41] Speaker A: Neither am I. No,

[00:38:45] Speaker B: but I get the Pokemon thing because it’ll bring in a lot of money.

[00:38:49] Speaker A: Yeah.

[00:38:49] Speaker B: If they do that. So.

[00:38:51] Speaker A: Yeah.

And then. So. Okay. I have a couple notes here for missed opportunities.

One of them, back a couple years ago when I was in London, I was in the neighborhood of. But didn’t have time to do it. This.

I think they. It’s like an escape room, basically all themed over Tomb Raider.

[00:39:17] Speaker B: Yeah. I remember you sending me this and seeing I was.

[00:39:20] Speaker A: I think I even, like, walked by the entrance to it, but it wasn’t gonna make sense, so I skipped it. And. Yeah, but it sounded very cool. Like you would do, like, there’s a statue of Lara Croft out front. And then you’ve got the. Like, everything’s themed on the outside. And then you go inside and do this escape room experience. Sounds fun. Sounds kind of on brand.

You know, the other one that comes to mind is we talk about music a lot on this podcast since we both really love a ton of video game soundtracks, so I guess it’s. It’s one topic, two different incidents. I had tickets to go to a Latin American music festival in Mexico City basically right before the pandemic.

And because of that, you know, mostly a lot of cancellations. Gustavo Santalaya from, you know, the creator of the Last of Us soundtrack, who is magical on a classic guitar, canceled.

So I didn’t get to see it, which totally makes sense because it was good to not get Covid. But that is a shame because I’ve never seen the opportunity to see him again since. The other one is that you and I got tickets to see the PlayStation Live concert, which would have covered a bunch of different games in Los Angeles. I know they had gone through some in Europe and it seemed like it was never, you know, packed house, sold out.

So that. Think that’s why they ended up canceling the shows over here?

[00:41:08] Speaker B: Yeah, they did. Which was new because it was like.

[00:41:10] Speaker A: Would have been cool. Yeah.

[00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:41:15] Speaker A: So yeah, there’s. You know, after this long conversation, I’m realizing there’s actually a whole lot that you can engage with in the world of video games by even by not being on your couch.

[00:41:26] Speaker B: Yes. A lot of video game irl.

[00:41:31] Speaker A: Yes. Thank you.

[00:41:34] Speaker B: I don’t know.

[00:41:35] Speaker A: Gen Z.

Gen Z. You know, I don’t even know what gen it is.

Next gen.

[00:41:42] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:41:44] Speaker A: Well, Alex, it’s been interesting to reminisce and explore some of these game experiences in real life.

I know I’ve enjoyed these kinds of events whenever I’ve seen or been to them and will continue to seek them out if they’re nearby enough. I’m sure you will too.

[00:42:02] Speaker B: Oh, I will. I just remembered very quickly one more missed opportunity that we both missed. There was that Final Fantasy pop Up store by Unla. Whatever it was.

[00:42:12] Speaker A: That is correct. I think that’s right in the same area where the Capcom one is.

[00:42:15] Speaker B: Yeah.

[00:42:16] Speaker A: Oh, and it’s.

[00:42:18] Speaker B: We didn’t get to go to that.

[00:42:20] Speaker A: There’s also a. There was. When Silent Hill F was releasing last year, right. When we were playing Silent Hill 2 Remake for the show, there was a full on activation where like the metro was adjusted somehow or they had some kind of stuff going on. They had a bunch of like. I don’t know if it was fungus or plant in some mall, you know, details are hazy. But if you look it up, you can see it seems pretty cool. Like you could go into different places and kind of unravel some mystery. I don’t know.

[00:42:54] Speaker B: Yeah. So it’s just me, sir.

[00:42:56] Speaker A: Yeah.

[00:42:58] Speaker B: I’m gonna have to look up to look up how long that Capcom one’s there because I don’t. I potentially don’t want to miss that one since I missed the Final Fantasy one. It’s quite Enix. Maybe they’ll bring that one back in the future. But I’ll look at the Capcom one, see how long it’s there, see if I can make it up there. We can go.

[00:43:12] Speaker A: Yeah, wouldn’t be surprised so.

Well listeners, we want to hear about any video game related moments in real life that you’ve experienced.

Let us know on Discord as always, the Discord link is in our description here.

If you’ve had the pleasure of interacting with any of these or other types of video game related things, let us know. Yes, please do.

If you’re looking for something else to listen to, check out our current season of the Gaming Backlog Book Club, which is covering Cyberpunk 2077 or one of our previous game seasons. And hang on for our next bookmark episode about some other interesting topics related to the video game world that aren’t just about the latest news and reviews.

[00:43:55] Speaker B: Yep, thank you everyone for listening. I hope you guys enjoyed this time of just talking about some real life video game experiences that we’ve gone through and hopefully we can hear some great ones from you guys. Again, thanks for listening and have a good one.

If you want to follow along and discuss our playthrough of any games on the Gaming Backlog Book Club Podcast, please give us a follow on your podcast platform of choice, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Amazon Music or Pocketcasts, as well as our Discord and Instagram under the same name. Thanks.