The Giant Beastcast: Episode 207

Yey Beastie.

Happy Birthday Vin Dogg

What's going on Internet?

word of the day is... bivouac

Happy Birthday, Vinny!

Edit: "New York Crime Machine" would have been a fantastic alternative title. I do still like GB CrimeCrew though.

Ah yes, the bubble where "no one owns an android except children and old people." I'm in my mid 20s and I don't know anybody with a single Apple product, iPhone, Mac, anything. Because they're, ya know, stupidly expensive.

I lost it at the Candyland discourse. That game is so bad! I played it with my nephew exactly once a few years ago, put the game away and refused to play it any time he asked.

Also Happy birthday Vinny, happy two years Abby!

Regarding the bethesda bottlecap tax: Having money sinks in multiplayer games with a player economy is a completely normal and necessary thing -- you need to be subtracting currency from circulation (taxes on trading, upkeep/degradation on items, etc) at the same rate you're adding it (via quests, loot, etc), otherwise you end up with runaway inflation.

Inflation is a problem because it results in prices being arbitrarily high, and if you happen to be a new player you're basically priced out of most of the player economy.

coats are jackets. the end.

Happy Birthday Vinny!!!

@shrinerr: do they talk about breakpoint? I watched the reveal 6 times so yes bivouac to you too.

Oh, interesting. I didn't really put together the part of money entering through quests and selling items being offset by siphoning it out with that tax. Thanks for the very clear summary and for putting it out there without getting very angry at my ignorance.

Happy Birthday Vinny ??

Hope you have a great one, Vinndawg!

In terms of what a coat is vs. what a jacket is, here is what my interpretation is based on modern interpretation:

A coat is an outerwear that is more formal and typically long in length, while a jacket is more casual and technical in design/material. Both can be very thick/warm, so neither is a measure of warmth.

Also: happy birthday Vinny!

Happy birthday Vinny, have a good one! :D

I know like 3 people who own an iPhone.

A Culver's opened up here recently in Northern Ohio. Haven't been to it yet though.

Happy Birthday Vinny! Also Culver's talk on the Beastcast? Nice!

Happy B-Day Big Vin!

Happy Birthday to Vinny & Bjork

Culver's is a midwest chain, they are pretty good as far as fast food goes, but their fried cheese curds are the /best/!

I live in NYC and everyone I know has an iPhone except maybe 5% and it’s always a chore to text with them and they don’t have reciprocating emojis

Why does Alex act like Days Gone is excruciatingly bad?

Every Culvers I've been to in Iowa was very clean, and the burgers and frozen custard are tasty. I think the butter is only on the toasted buns, so "butterburger" sounds scarier than it is.

@vinny: WELL THEN I WILL GET VERY MAD OVER YOU NOT KNOWING EVERYTHING ABOUT EVERYTHING I AM SO ANGRY! There, now that's some proper internet discourse. Happy birthday Vinny!

Happy Birthday Vinny

Happy birthday Vinny!

Happy birthday, Vinny!

Happy anniversary, Abby!

The video game industry only has their selves to blame for the loot box law proposed in the US. This has been gaining momentum for awhile with several countries studying, proposing, and enacting legislation. Video games have historically avoided government intervention for mature content by successfully self regulating. They had plenty of time to do the same thing here and failed to act.

They ESRB could have required publishers to put out drop rate info. They could have required blind boxes be restricted to Mature rated games. But they've done nothing other than argue over semantics of the word "gambling." From what I read, this proposed law doesn't seem great and I doubt it will pass, but this issue isn't going to go away. If the video game industry doesn't do something, Uncle Sam will come in and do it for them, and that is going to be a whole lot worse for them.

Maybe I'm just feeling good tonight, but the chemistry among ya'll on this one seemed great. Happy birthday Vinny!

The Google Play store never fails to disappoint.

Why is Abby being recorded in a room full of loud whirring fans?

I will maintain that the assassins creed movie is not that bad! watch it with low expectations and you will have a good time. The first and last 10 minutes are bad, the rest is perfectly reasonably entertaining. its was the assassins creed 1 of assassins creed movies, too bad they probably will never make the assassins creed 2 of assassins creed movies.

Also happy birthday Vincent.

Also it must be a real bummer living in a country being left leaning and pro regulation, while at the same time not trusting the government with anything. Seems kind of a snake eating its own tail situation.

Culver's does not only have the best burgers... but also the best fish sandwiches and chocolate shakes! A little pricey, but worth it. I get them up here in Minnesota. @danryckert

@steveurkel: Not really but then again only Rorie really ever played Wildlands and Breakpoint seems like a decent albeit very self-serious 1.5 upgrade to that. When one of the big selling points of your new game is the option to have "bloused boots" you know this is a somewhat niche audience you're catering to.

@dougielee: I love Alex, but that's just something he does from time to time (example: WWE2K). There just seems to be no middle ground or acknowledgement of something not being for him in regards to some games and will verbally turn his nose up at any opportunity. I haven't had a chance to listen to this week's show yet, but his "why would you want to play this?" comment last week was slightly annoying, regardless if there are better made open world games out there. Days Gone setting was appealing to me and despite it having legit technical issues and dated presentation, I've been having a great deal of fun with it and that seems to be the general consensus outside the critical bubble.

Also, while I wouldn't call the writing top notch by any means, I've found its story and characters more engaging than something like Horizon: Zero Dawn (if we're not counting the backstory on that world's creation) despite it not being very original. The game's seriously pretty darn good even in its current patched state, and really finds its groove once you reach the third camp. Hopefully folks continue to support it and further updates iron out some of its issues, specifically its unfortunate frame rate.

In what world are older people the people that have Androids? Androids are widely considered more popular. The ONLY reason I have an iphone after having an Android for about 10 years is my mom begged me to get one this time for some apple thing she wanted to do. I only know one other person with an iPhone. I miss my android..

I kinda feel like the Netherrealm stuff is worse than it was made out to be here. That variety article paints a picture of systemic sexual harassment and discrimination, on top of the issues with crunch, and with contract labor.

Seems pretty rotten.

Happy two years to Abby. She's awesome and has brought a lot of great comedy and perspective to the site. I realize some people get irked by some of her hot takes but to me she is just so entertaining that I find it hard to care that much about always needing to agree with her.

Happy birthday to Papa Vinny, a man with a heart as big as his MASSIVE hands.

Though I'm sure it's a common inquiry I've never considered the whole celebrity birthday thing myself until now so I looked it up out of curiosity. There are a few notable ones but the one that stood out the most to me: Jackie-effin'-Chan. And we were even born on the same side of the international date line so yeah, pretty dang cool.

@fawkes The game isn't out on Android.

"DAN LEARN! MAKE YOUR WIFE'S LIFE EASIER!"

But the site likes their games

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

On John Wick, "There is a story there, but it's all lore." Oh, so you're saying John Wick is the Dark Souls of movies?

Happy Birthday Vinny!

Now that Dan's into books, he might like to know he was born on Bloomsday. See James Joyce's Ulysses for deets.