Unprofessional Fridays: A Relaxed Friday Stream

Wrestling Empire looks like the game we don't want, but we need.

2nd.

Seems like playing through the Metroid games before Dread comes out is a (rightfully) common thing among fans. Very excited for it myself.

Hooray for Jean-Luc bringing some Metroid love to the site!

Regarding the conversation at ~1:31:00 about the continued lack of info about PS5 SSD expansion:

I have to wonder if it's in Sony's best interest to delay any sort of firmware update and compatibility list for as long as possible. No matter what Sony does here it's hard to see how that news is going to reflect on the PS5 in a positive way. The list of drives that will be supported will likely be small, which means you're going to see a run on whatever stock that's available as soon as the announcement is made, and scalpers/speculators will cause prices to skyrocket. Sony will have no control over MSRP, so the media narrative will be carried by whatever the prices are on Ebay, and that'll be contrasted with XBox's SSD expansion MSRP and availability that has presumably had the chance to stabilize since launch.

I'm interested to try out a Steam Deck sometime. I'm concerned by the size and the location of the joysticks - I feel like my thumbs might have to stretch to far to be comfortable.

That said, like you all said in the video, the timing of this is great. Obviously there's the announcement of the Switch OLED, but it's also striking at a time where I feel like more and more people are feeling underwhelmed by the performance of games on the Switch. If Steam can get some of that indie market, perhaps people who want to play Boomerang X on a controller but know the Switch version performs poorly, this could do really well.

"What it lacks in gameplay prowess and visual fidelity and being good... at least there's a lot of it."-- Jeff Gerstmann on Wrestling Empire, and also my epitaph, probably.

Has anyone said where Jan is? Feels like its been a long absence and I’ve not really heard anyone say anything.

@jeff The MDickie game with limb loss is Wrestling MPire 2008.

It also should be noted that all MDickie games are a one man operation. He does all the coding, graphics, writing and music.

I'm one of those who loved Metroid II. As a kid I had the patience and time to learn the whole cave system layout. While I missed having a map, I finished it several times without one. I liked the control too, which is much tighter and more responsive than Metroid 1 or Super Metroid. Samus could stop on a dime, and I think that tighter control actually spoiled me on Metroid games going forward, which leaned more in a momentum direction. That works for most fans of the series, but I miss the snappy movement from 2.

Plus the last boss was really fun to cheese: a missile to the open mouth makes it freeze in place, so you can stand point blank and wail on the B button unloading dozens of missiles, and making it refreeze as soon as it tries to move again.

But yes. I agree that after Super Metroid introduced the series to self-mapping, it became difficult to go back to the first 2 games.

@sammo21: A wedding, according to his Twitter

I’ve never played a Metroid game but this looks fun.

You can get AM2R from archive.org

I don't know. I think GBA audio is kinda charming. It's got a stank to it.

"We're bound to hurt each other from time to time."

Ah yes, Video Games, I agree.

@antipode: Same! I actually bought a copy a couple weeks ago and am playing it through again, after 20+ years. It’s gotten this weird reputation through the years as being unplayable and like there’s no screen real estate, but I think it plays and fits perfectly on the GB, very snappy. I much prefer it over Samus Returns too which I felt to be kind of dull by comparison.

@humanity: Investing in an SP (with a good backlight) and a copy of Fusion and Zero Mission is 100% worth it. Such great games.

I had no idea people were having issues for that long getting a Steam Deck! It only took me 10 minutes of refreshing through error codes frantically.

Not sure if Jeff was joking about the cough but if he's had it for a week he should get a test. The vaccine doesn't stop you getting it, just means you get less sick.

Jan mentioned on Twitter than Jean-Luc was covering for him while he was on vacation and going to a wedding.

Metroid Fusion is my favorite Metroid by far. It has the best atmosphere and just the right length.

@larmer: I'm glad you got in! When is your arrival estimate? Mine is Q1 2022, but I would imagine it'll slip.

I went for the mid tier and I was less frantic about refreshing because I was on the fence about how much I want one, but I completed the order about 20 minutes after they became available. Now that I've had more time to think about it, I'm actually way more excited for it. I plan on using it as a JRPG machine to play before bed or in front of the TV.

@elby:You just blew my mind. I didn't realize the dates were different for everyone. Mine says Q2 2022. I did preorder the 512 version though. go big or go home

I was not sure about Jean-Luc at first cause he was mostly quiet on the Podcast (and i dont hold that against him) but I slowly warmed up to him. He definitely has its place with the other duders now.

@elby: it says my expected order order availability is December 2021. Not sure how much I trust that, as I would be amazed if it arrived before Christmas. I too went for that mid tier one cause I’m not particularly well-off and the 512 is over $800 Canadian. I had to be frantic in ordering it cause I was working. Had to drop my line trimmer and pull out my phone at 10am without getting in trouble, haha.

Speaking to the weight of the Steam Deck, the specs say that it's about twice as heavy as a regular Switch with joycons attached, and I find that to be too heavy.