Sony Is KILLING Physical Games... | Objectively Bad Podcast #91

 Welcome to the 91st Episode of the Objectively Bad Podcast! In todays episode we're discussing the bombshell news Sony dropped about their plans to stop all physical disc production in 2028, GTA's new DLC and our plans for it and finally our thoughts on the World Cup as it comes to a close! Click Here To Support Us By Becoming A Member ➤ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXEOeprv2BPPq-SMtxf1arg/join Follow Us! ➤ Twitter - https://twitter.com/ObjBad_Podcast ➤ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/objectivelybad_podcast/ ➤ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@objectivelybadpodcast ➤ Spotify - https://shorturl.at/UHxrB ➤ Apple Podcasts - https://shorturl.at/XS5OO 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome everybody back to the Objectively Bad Podcast. It's your boys, Dan and Chad, back again, and also I'm back in Australia. Very sad times. Yeah, you are. No longer in that room right next to you where I want to be. True. Ah.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

I I can still feel your warmth every day, and I think about it. It's because it's hot there, isn't it? Summer. It's been fucking hot, dude. I'm so sorry. I just heard my cat fucking yelling outside the door. I also slightly heard.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I will say, Jad Squad is a loud, yappy girl. She is shh.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I love her to death. It like I I think you didn't expect it. Like you like, I talk about like my cat's talkative. Yeah. And then the first day you were there, my cat was yapping. You're like, oh, this cat is talkative. Yeah, she's a she's a serial yapper.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Because um, most of the cats I had growing up were like not very talkative at all. Like the only cat I had really that was a meower was my cat Splodge in Germany, who you have met. And it only really do it when it was food time, and then he turned into a fucking demon. But apart from that, most of my cats have been pretty silent. So meeting your girl Pretzel, I was like, She's a yapper, dude. Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Yeah, she uh she's just a talker. It's not even like it's like, oh, like is she okay? It's like, yeah, she's fine, she just likes it. She likes talking. She also hates that I close the door on her. Because I feel like she's like part cat, part like hurting dog. Right. Like when like people are in my house and we're not all in the same room, she's kind of like in the middle, and I can tell she's like, Okay, let's all get back together now. And it's like, cats chill.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Yeah, I remember in the mornings when like you and your partner would leave for work. Uh-huh. Uh, she'd like pore under the door trying to get at me. And I'm like, girl, I'm sleeping still. Let me be.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Yep. I love the little just like paw under the door and like a nothing else. It's so funny. It's especially funny when cats do it and the door is open, or like I have a cat door on my bedroom door. Um, and every once in a while she'll be behind it and just kind of stare at me through the cat door, and I'm like, I know you know how to get in. What do you want from me?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Uh I I think cats just like to remind you that uh you are their peasant, you are their slave, so she wants you to open the door for her rather than having to go through.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I would not be surprised. Um she's a she's a funny little goober.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah, do you love it?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

I I do. That's very true.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

So uh we do have a few things to talk about today, a lot of different topics. Uh you have a list. Honestly, just pick one and we'll start with it because there's a few interesting things.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Um, that's such a good question. Um, we can start off with the uh GTA heist that is about to come out. Sure. Yeah. Um, Dan, uh give us your thoughts, give us your opinions, give us your knowledge on kind of what's what's to come.

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Well, I think we did mention it last podcast briefly, because I think that's when the I think last podcast, the day we recorded it, was when the news dropped about the new heist and also the pre-orders. Uh since then, there's not been too many more details from what I know off the top of my head. Basically, DLC's coming out, this release is today, Thursday. Uh it's coming out Tuesday, so the 14th. Uh, new DLC, I'm assuming there'll be new cars to buy, new outfits and stuff. I don't know if this is going to be necessarily a new business because the heist takes place outside of the mansion. It's a new, like, I think we have to buy like a new like art showcase room or something, and from there we can do the heist. Gotcha. Apart from that, I don't know if there'll be any extra missions or things. I would love for there to be another new like early game moneymaker. Because that would give me a reason to do like the oppressor mark 2 speedrun again. Because people ask for all the time, but I always just say, like, it's gonna be the same thing as last time because the method has not changed since the uh no way out missions got released a year ago or so. Like the method has not changed at all. So obviously, this heist won't be a part of it because seemingly you need the mansion for the heist, and the mansion costs like 10 mil minimum. So it doesn't really go into the method of getting to there. Maybe it'll be the new best moneymaker in the game, which will be cool to make a few videos on. Um honestly, what I'm more excited for about this heist is obviously playing it first time blind. This is the first heist that I've been a creator for releasing because Kayo came out like I think a year before I started making videos or two years. But also playing with you. We have another another idiots video to make on top of the criminal mastermind challenge, which we're working on.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah, which is exciting. It's kind of nice to know that there will be. I mean, obviously, criminal mastermind is something we've been working on for a while. Um, it's nice, it's like, oh, there's just like a heist that we can like record in one sitting um before GTA 6 goes. Yeah, hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

We don't know how intense the heist is gonna be. I can't imagine it will be any longer than like Kayapariko or something. Maybe the first time either will be long because it'll probably be extra cutscenes or maybe starter missions you have to do. But I would guess a competent run, start to finish, shouldn't take more than two hours. Obviously, the idiots are not competent and it'll probably take longer. Yeah. It also depends how that works. Exactly. It also depends heavily on how much like variety or like variance in the approach methods there are, because obviously we did we did doomsday together, which doomsday it's pretty much the same thing every time. Like there's no change in how you approach it, really. Diamond Casino and Kayapariko, very much a lot of variants and different ways you can approach it, and those are the two most recent heists. So you would assume this being five years on from those would also have the similar level or hopefully more levels of like different approaches, like maybe again, like a silent sneaky and aggressive, a big con, maybe other ones like that. So the plan is when I initially play the DLC, because I'll be streaming it the night of release. I'll go ahead and just do whatever initial approach sounds appealing to me for my first run through, make that as a video, and then possibly do the others myself as well. Maybe not all of them. I feel like I want to leave at least a little bit to uh guessing when I do it with you guys. But then again, we could do it like how we did Kayaparico and the Diamond Casino, whereas I I know kind of what I'm doing, but I just ask you guys to sort of lead the mission to see where it goes, and I think that'll be fun, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah, I think it's a good way to do it, and you know, makes it a little more spicy, a little more interesting.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Yeah, because then you get to see like it's similar to how we're doing the criminal mastermind challenge. Like, I know what I'm doing in the heists, but trying to like it's like me trying to is Wrangle the right word, round up the hounds and try and fucking tell you what to do. It's it's a it's a fun uh vibe.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

It's a good time, yeah. I'm excited. I mean, like you said, it's been so long since we've actually had a new heist. So I'm curious to see what they do. I'm curious to see how long they've been working on this. Because there's a part of me where I'm like, you know, if it's been five years in between, I doubt they've been working on it for five years, but let's say we've been working on a heist for five years, that'd be a crazy fucking heist. I'm sure there'd be lots of different options, lots of missions, bunch of different cool things you can do. Or it was like a year ago they were like, hey, we're gonna end up delaying GTA, someone make a heist, and they've been working on it for like a little bit. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So that was my big like line of questioning when the news got released is that GTA 6, everyone thought, and even the company seemingly thought it was gonna come out like last year, November, September time, and then this year, May, and then November this year. So the yeah, the thought is like, did they release the mansions and the heist as sort of like, we're sorry that game got delayed? Here's some cool updates, or the other alternative option, which almost seems more likely, is that the mansion and heist were already planned like a year or two in advance to be the final updates. But then when the company realized that they had to delay the game, they ended up doing the I don't know, I can't remember what the last two DLCs before that was. It was the um Money Fronts DLC, which was like a car wash, a helitours, and a weed business, like money money front business. Um, and I think maybe it was like the no way out missions, I think, or that was with that. There were two DLCs before that honestly weren't that big or that good. That I'm like, maybe those are the ones that were rushed, and these are the ones they've been working on for a long time. Because it would make logical sense to end GTA online with two massive updates like a mansion and a final heist made with Michael involved, which is what it's looking like it might be. Yeah. So that could be the case. If that is the case, like you said, they may have had this in the books for three, four years and have just been waiting for the right time to release it, which means it could be really fucking good, which is what we're obviously hoping for.

SPEAKER_02 9:26

I feel like it's such a 50-50 split of it. Either is that where it's like working on it forever, they just keep pushing it back, it's super good, it's gonna be awesome, or it is kind of a constellation. Like, hey, I know uh we didn't put a game out when we said we would. Uh, here's a little something extra for you. Yeah, I I'm 50-50 split on whichever one it is. I could not tell you, but either way, I am excited for it.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yeah, because another thing I've always been saying this on stream, whenever people ask, like, oh, do you think there'll be a new heist? I personally didn't think there would ever be another heist because um my line of thinking was always like if rockstar have a great idea for a heist, why not just save it for the next game?

SPEAKER_02 10:07

Right, put it in the next game. Yeah, I mean, realistically, it hits the point where it's like you should just be putting most of your effort into the next game.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Exactly. So that also if that is how Rockstar thinking, that also like helps the uh the version of this thought we're having where like this has been in the works for like four years, but they just keep pushing it back because GTA 6 is getting delayed. Um we'll have to wait and see. I'm I have yeah, I always have like low expectations when it comes to DLCs and GTA nowadays because like like you said, they're working on six, we can't really expect too much. But I know a new highs is a big thing, so let's hope we get a good although I will say it is weird that we're we're less than a week away and there's not been a trailer yet for the DLC. Yeah, it's kind of weird. Usually you get it like a bit before it, but who knows? Who knows? Yeah, um well, speaking of GTA, GTS 6 pre-orders came out. One of the uh big talking points about that is the fact that there's no disc in the physical copies. Correct. You order the physical copy of GTS 6 and you get a code, and then you basically just have the digital version. So apart from getting the box art, which I will be getting because it is nice, there's no real reason to buy the physical version like at all. Yeah. Um, people have asked me on stream a lot, have I pre-loaded the game yet? I said no, because again, if it's all digital, it's not like they're gonna run out of copies. So I'm just yeah waiting. Mainly I'm waiting to see if they do a PlayStation Plus bundle with the game because then I want to upgrade, so it just makes sense. Um, but the no discs is it was a big talking point for a few days, and then like a week later, Sony came out with their big fucking bombshell of news that in what 2028 is it, all physical discs are being discontinued for like future games. Yeah. How do you feel about that?

SPEAKER_02 12:05

I uh don't like it. I I mean we've talked about it multiple times. I'm a big fan of physical uh media in in many different ways. Yeah, I mean, like you have a giant vinyl collection downstairs. I got I got a bunch of vinyl records, I've got Game Boy games, like I've been trying to get as many Pokemon games uh physical as I can without spending everything I have, uh, which is hard. Um, I'm a big fan of it because you know, we're finding where I'm like, oh, I want to play Pokemon Yellow. There's emulators, sure. We can get into our whatever. Yep. Let's say, you know, there's no way to do it, there's just no way to do it. Whereas if I have the physical game, I can go back and it's like you purchase it once and then you have it until either you lose it or break it. Yep. And like those, especially things made back then, like it's a 30-year-old cartridge, it's working fine, got no issues with it. I mean, it's old, but like it works. So I think, yeah, I mean, I'm obviously pro-disc. I think more and more I have been buying games digitally. Me too. But that's also just because that's the direction this has been going in. It is. Um, I mean, I remember you guys. Um the good news is is like digital libraries are getting better. So like Steam is great. Like, I've had my Steam library for like a decade, and I haven't lost any of those games. Those games are still there. I'm not really worried about those games going anywhere, and there is a convenience of not having a physical thing. What I don't like is the idea of lack of ownership. It's like, well, I spent money on this game. What happens if Steam just up and decides to not let me play this game? Yep. What happens if I buy a PlayStation 6 and I buy Spider-Man 3, and then all of a sudden, a year or two later, they go, You don't have access to that anymore. It's not to say it'll do it, but I could definitely see a thing where like you have to pay a monthly subscription to keep just playing PlayStation, period. Not even just online, just period. Playing PlayStation, you cannot touch the games that you spent money on. You purchased the PlayStation, you purchased uh the the game. There's nothing stopping them from just throwing a subscription on there if you can't buy physical. I I I don't know if it'll happen, and I don't know if it does when it'll happen, but it gives companies the ability to be scummy. Yeah, I and as we know they love doing it.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

I think I agree with you fully. I made a tweet uh about this issue. I'll read it, it's a bit long, but I'll read it out because it's basically what you're saying. Um, so I made a tweet saying if Xbox confirms that physical discs will still be in rotation for their games, I might make the switch back after all these years. I know Xbox are also doing shitty stuff at the moment. I tweeted that before, I realized that. Um but then someone responded to that saying, genuine question, why is no disc a deal breaker? So then I then I ranted. My response was firstly, it's more so what it says about the company rather than the issue of having a disc itself. They clearly don't care about customers and our right to own what we purchase. It might not, it might be no discs now, but in another five years it may be purchasing a game for a limited time, or only until you beat it and then you don't own it anymore. Companies are getting too comfortable and taking away things that were seen as standard 10 years ago under the guise of saving money when it's really about control. Secondly, having physical discs was a large part of the bonding experience between my friends and I as kids. Trading games, bringing over games you had but your friend didn't to his house, lending them to others, that just doesn't happen without physical media, at least nowhere near as easily. And I think that's really sad. And finally, sort of going back to point number one, with physical media, at least for single player games and some multiplayer, as long as you have the disc and the console, you can play the game. PS1 games are still playable in 2026. But what if we don't have discs anymore? Then games are solely reliant on the console and cloud storage. If that gets corrupted, or say PlayStation shuts down in a few decades, then all of those games become lost media since you won't be able to access them uh and their servers. Unlike with discs, because it can be played as long as they are in good condition. Now I know that's an extreme end of it, but PlayStation is taking small steps like this, just shows what their goal as a company is to kill games.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

Yeah, no, I I agree. It's it's not about the step they're taking, it's the steps that they can continue taking from it. Exactly. And it's also like I I don't see the issue in giving a digital and physical copy because we've had that for years. Like, some people prefer digital, some people prefer physical. Why not just give both options?

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Um, it's it's it is at its simplest form, cost cutting. They don't have to spend money on a physical thing, but here's the deal they're cost cutting, and then the digital games aren't cheaper, they don't give us a discount on the digital games. That's another they make the physical games more expensive, but they don't give us a discount on the digital games. So it's like, okay, you're cutting costs, but not again, just for the company, not for the sake of the user.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Exactly. That's a great point. I just want to say I didn't see this before, but the same person replied to that big tweet of mine, and I understand what he's trying to say, but I think he's just wrong. So he responds and says, understood, and thanks for the detailed reply. Unfortunately, your point, your point one, owning the game for most instances isn't accurate. Most games these days require an online connection due to terms of service. The company has a right to remove you from accessing the game even from story mode. Okay, cool. I also think that's bad.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Yeah, that's that's like that's like being like, well, sure, this guy murdered one person, but this other guy murdered two people. So is the first guy really that bad? It's like, no, they're both bad things. It's um we'll probably get into a discussion about at some point, but a lot of talk has come up about uh in the World Cup the red card that got overturned. And again, we'll go into detail um for the US player. There was also an instance prior to the game where that where Ronaldo got a red card, like right before the World Cup, and they suspended his suspension, um basically with no explanation, they can just do it whenever they want. They suspended it so that he could play in the World Cup. People are like, oh well, this happened with Ronaldo. Why are you mad at the US thing? And it's like, no, we can be mad at both. Yeah, just because it happens in two separate instances, like I don't think a company should require if it if it if the game doesn't have the necessity for an internet connection, it should not be required.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah, yeah. I like live live service games. Oh, absolutely. Live service games are a big issue in in their own sense. Like, if your game is built to be a live service game, sure. But like if I'm playing again like Spider-Man 3 on the PS6, I shouldn't need to be connected to the internet or PlayStation Plus to play that.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah, all I might need is updates, but even then, that's not a need. You can play the game as is and still play. Uh yeah, no, I I see their point, but it's like bringing up a bad thing with a bad thing and being like, Well, here's a bad thing, what about this bad thing? And it's like, well, they're just two bad things now. You're just adding to the point, not uh, I guess like going against it.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Yeah, like it's not like saying saying like he said, unfortunately, my point of owning the game isn't accurate. I'm like, it still is accurate that if you have the disc, you own the game. It's just that other factors make it uh difficult to use it. Live service and internet connection, which shouldn't be necessary. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

But it goes back to what you said, you can still play a PS1 game. Yeah, because they never were doing those restrictions. And that and these restrictions, on top of getting rid of disc is what is giving us this indication of like, no, we want them to keep having disks because we're slowly seeing ownership go away. It's not there yet. Like, I don't know, I don't know if I've heard of anything where like you just can't play a game anymore, but I feel like like Nintendo's been kind of subtly threatening it for a while. Um well it's a big at least there have been talks.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

It's a big debate in the MMO RPG community because almost every MMO uh is just purely like on like an app on your computer, they very rarely have discs. So obviously the big ones are still thriving and doing well, but a lot of the older ones, once a lot of the player base dies down to the point where the company can't afford to run the servers anymore, they just go away. And yeah, it's a really sad thing because I think I mentioned him before there's this YouTube I watch called Josh Josh Strife Hayes, uh, and he's like an MMORPG creator, and he does other things as well. But he's a big facilitator of the don't kill games movement, which is about like not letting games die, because especially MMOs, more so than any other genre, act as almost like a second life for people playing them because you put so many hours into them, like hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands for some people. Um, and what whatever you think of that, whether it's sad or not, doesn't really matter for them. It's like a second life or an extension of themselves. So when you know an old server shuts down because there's not enough people playing it, it literally like kills a part of them. Now, obviously it would be extra work, but like most MMOs could be easily made in a way that they could be made single player. Like I play RuneScape, yeah. There's absolutely no need for RuneScape to be an MMO, you could change a few things about the way it's played, and it could be a single player game pretty easily.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

So again, even with like that stuff, there's ways to or like download the local server to your computer. To keep playing or something. Yeah. There's ways to get around games not being playable anymore. It's just that companies uh either don't care or don't want that to be the case a lot of the time, which is just a bit sad. Because you know, I I'd love to go back and hope like I hope there's no really a game at the moment that I can think of that's been like killed, but who knows, 30 years from now, may maybe there are things that are no longer playable that I'd love to go back to see for nostalgia that just won't be there. Yeah, and the direction we're heading in, it's definitely looking like it. Like, I know um there is uh what is it? It's one of the GTA games. Someone was telling me about this in a GTA server. One of the older GTA games, you can no longer play um if you have the digital version only, you can only play it if you have the disc. Because in the game, there's a music artist that was on like the radio in the game, and Rockstar only signed a contract for them to be able to use their music for a certain amount of years, say 10 years or something. Wow. So when the 10 years ran out, no one could play the game anymore because the the artist had copyrighted it and not let people played it. I can't remember which game this is, but it's one of the original like GTA like games. You're like, unless you have the disc, you can't play it now. Dang.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

It's a weird contract to sign. But I don't know if I mean if it's an earlier game, they probably weren't. Let me see if I can figure out which one. Um while while you look that up, I did at one point own the discs for ESO. I was gonna say, I do remember those. Kind of funny. Um and I and I say disc plural. I believe it was like four discs to download everything. And I barely played it.

SPEAKER_00 23:57

Yeah, I can't find the exact thing, but I remember someone mentioning it in a GTA Discord server. Um, it might not be exactly how I'm saying it, but there's something along the lines of like the music contract ran out after a certain amount of years because at the time Rockstar didn't expect the game to last that long, I guess. Sure. So when it ran out, uh it wasn't playable or something along those lines, which is like a very dang interesting contract to sign. Yeah. Very weird thing. Um yeah, it just kind of sucks. I feel we see like like you know the term insidification. Yeah, I feel like we're seeing a lot of things in the world going that way at the moment, things just getting worse for no reason whatsoever. It happened with streaming a lot recently, where prices are going up on streaming. Obviously, uh we had this experience at your place where your parents have YouTube TV. Oh, yeah, but because you're not in the same house as them, sometimes it doesn't let you watch it because you're in a different location.

SPEAKER_02 24:58

I have to like log on as my mom's account on the TV, because if I try to log on as my own account that is on their pro like, it's one of the profiles on their account, it won't let me because I haven't been in their hometown in and I haven't logged on because I don't I don't go visit them and go, I gotta log on to YouTube TV. Like I don't spend time with them. Um, so I can't log on on there. I've saved my mom's log on login on my uh TV, but like I try, I think I I went to the gym and I was like, Oh, I'm on like a bike, I'm gonna go for like 30, 40 minutes. I I think like NBA finals are going on. I was like, Oh, I'm gonna try and watch this, and I I couldn't. Yep. And it's like I know it's their way of it's it's the stupid streaming way of like, oh, we don't we want everyone to have their own individual service so we make more money, and it's like then don't allow more profiles, yeah, exactly. Like, so it's like I have a profile, but they're like, Well, you haven't you haven't been there, you haven't been in the same city, so can't do it. It's like then what then why do you even let me like every and I think it tells you it's like you have to log in like every three months or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

Yeah, it's it's dumb, and then obviously there's other things about streaming that like streaming is just very slowly turning back into cable TV with the amount of different services there are. Uh, I believe as well. We talked about there not really being too many games at the moment that are unplayable. There are a lot of TV shows that you cannot watch unless you pirate it or get the disc because you have like a one-season show on Netflix that they cancel and they take it off the site, and there's no way nowhere else to watch it unless there is a physical copy or you pirate it somewhere. There's a lot of those, like a lot.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

There's movies where I'm like, damn, I'm really there. I think I really want to watch Rush the other day. Um, it's like a 2013 F1 movie. Um I keep getting clips of it on YouTube Shorts, and I was like, I really want to watch this movie, it's just not on anything. Yep. I was like, cool. I have like five streaming services that I well either I pay for or someone else pays for, and I am using their password, and it's like it's not on there, and it's like cool. Yeah, I can rent it for eight dollars on Amazon Prime or some shit like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

It's probably not that much, but yeah, it's the same with uh Psyche, which is a show we both like. It was on Netflix here for like six months, and then they removed it, and now it's on like no streaming service. I have to like buy it on Prime or something for like every season for like 20 bucks. I'm like, I'm not doing that. Yup.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

But I have like spent 20 bucks on a thing I don't physically have.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

I'm generally I like I've been tempted to like go and get DVDs of it because like I like the show and I would love to have to watch it 30 years from now if I can.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

I got really tempted, and I still might do this. Of I like a lot of like animated Batman movies, yeah. Um, and I've debated buying just like a there's like box sets of like 20 of them for like 40, and I've gotten really close. Um, if you're in a place that has thrift stores, I know uh the US pretty uh thrift stores are pretty popular. I don't know how they are in Australia, yeah. Um decent. Very if you want to build up a DVD collection, a lot of thrift stores will just have DVDs for ranging from like a dollar to like I don't know, four or five dollars, like pretty cheap. Um, obviously it's luck of the draw, but like you can get some good stuff, and then you know, if you find movies you really like, you don't have to get it on streaming. You also don't have to watch ads. Um kind of usually there's movie trailers at the beginning of these guys, uh, but like once the movie starts, you just get to watch the movie. Yeah, it's really cool. It's really annoying watching like a two-hour long movie, and then every 30 minutes there's a three-minute long ad, and it's like yeah, I I think I pay for the higher version, so I don't get that.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

That's fair. I caught it awesome.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Um I don't, yeah, but that's the other thing streaming services make it so that like you have to pay extra for no ads, and it's like I'm already paying you a lot of money. Didn't used to be a thing, didn't used to be a thing. Streaming service never had ads for like a while. That's the thing. There's like a golden era where like Netflix just had fucking everything, and there's like no other streaming service, and it was great then, and then it's like okay, well, everyone else got their streaming service, so everything else is like separated in how much like each streaming service has like different things, and then it got more expensive and worse.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Yep, yeah. I find myself like very often, like, oh, I really want to watch this watch this show, so I have to go ahead and buy fucking a month of Stan just to watch it, and then oh, I want to watch this one, so I have to go buy a much of a month of binge with Australian services. Um, so you end up just like, and if I'm only doing that for one show, it's kind of like why don't I just pay for the fucking season on disc because it'd be about the same amount, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

And like, I don't know about you, but I have my PS4 connected downstairs to the TV. That is my DVD player, yeah, and it works, works great, it's got a decent interface. I have got a controller, like I occasionally watch movies on that thing. It's yeah, I don't know. There's a there's a lot going on. Um gonna switch topics a little bit. Dan, since coming back from the US, uh has started streaming Red Dead Redemption 2. Dan, how is that how's your experience with the game going? And how's your experience with specifically streaming it going?

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Oh, it's been it's been good. I I was hesitant going into it because it is one of, if not the highest rated game of all time, and like a most beloved game of all time. And I personally don't really care for westerns all that much. Like they're fine, but they don't they don't intrigue me as much as like a fantasy game would. So going into it, I was like, I'm sure I'll be good. We'll see how it goes. The first day or two, the first like chapter or two, because the game's broken up into six main chapters and two epilogues. First two chapters, I wasn't really feeling it, I'm gonna be honest. The story was like fine, but there wasn't much there. The gameplay was alright. Yeah, it has a lot of I'll get into it, but it has a lot of typical rock star jank. Got some rockstar stuff, yeah, for sure. Um I was playing on mouse and keyboard, which maybe is a bit worse, but the horse controls are absolutely abysmal. I was like losing my head sometimes. The horse would just like randomly like turns left or do 360s when I don't press anything. Um, because it like it sort of follows your camera and your mouse and the path all at once, so it ends up like in like fucking it up like really easily. Yeah. Um, and then sometimes it will like when you ask it to turn, it won't really turn. So there'd be multiple times I just like smash into like a bridge or pole when I'm clearly trying to avoid it. That was quite annoying. Um again, a lot of typical rocks are interactions where if you're not facing exactly the right way, you're not able to press something. So there's a lot of that which is pissing me off. Gameplay wise, I think rock I think it's like a 7 out of 10 personally. Like the actual like gameplay is it leaves a bit to be desired, in my opinion, compared to at least the way I like to play games and the games I've played before. It wasn't as smooth as I was hoping it would be. Story-wise, it picked up around chapter three, uh, was getting a lot better, and then chapter four, five, and six were like brilliant. Like what much, much, much better. I finished chapter six, and I'm on to the first epilogue now. So I finished like the main part of the story really. Now it's just like a final short two chapters that I guess sort of lead into Red Dead 1, since this is a prequel, yeah. It helps set up that story. Overall, I think if I had to rate the story so far, it would be like a 8.5 for me. Now, I think I'm sure people in the comments are gonna be like, oh, it's the greatest game of all time, you're just being uh dude fucking bitch. It just it was like a lot of it was really good. I think the start of it was way too slow for my liking, and I don't even mind slow starts, but it just didn't really feel like there was much purpose to what anyone was doing. There's a lot of talk about ah, this job that went wrong in Blackwater, blah blah blah. And it was never throughout the whole six chapters, it doesn't really mention like what the fuck actually went wrong. You don't even go to Blackwater at all in the first six chapters, apart from like a quick view of it. I'm assuming we might go there in the epilogue or something. Um the main part of the story really comes with like inner conflict within the gang towards the end, and that side that side of it is really good. I think the last few chapters get up to like a nine out of ten story-wise, but I think the start of it is just a bit too slow and a bit too disjointed. It feels like a lot of like filler stuff before it starts getting really good, in my opinion. Uh, also, just for me, when I talk about story in a game, for me, the narrative matters just as much, if not a little bit less, than the overall world building and lore. Like, I really care about that a lot, which is why Skyrim is my favorite game ever. Because the world building in lore of the Elder Scrolls is like unmatched by anything else in fiction, I would argue. Um, I'm not gonna say it's as well written as something like Lord of the Rings, but just the vastness of the amount of shit in the Elder Scrolls is ridiculous. And so far, Red Dead didn't have too much of that. It's more of like a very tight narrative story about this gang in this area at this time, which I respect, but it just doesn't capture me as much as some other things, like even like The Witcher got me more setting, is very important. But yeah, no, it was a really good game. Um, I think uh a bit of it was sullied by the annoying controls and and shit. Um, but it was it was pretty good. I I I wouldn't put it as greatest game of all time, personally. I'd put it it again, like an 8.5, 109, or like 8 to 9, 8.5 in that range, depending on how I'm feeling on the day. Um another thing that may have sullied in my experience was the fact that I did stream it rather than just play it myself. So not only was I under a bit of time pressure with the DLC coming out to finish it quickly, but I was under the pressure of trying to make it, I guess, entertaining for people to watch. So I definitely didn't uh interact with a lot of the general world as I would with other games. Like I didn't do as many side, I didn't do every side mission, I didn't do every collectible and stuff. And I'm not necessarily the type of person that does that anyways, but I probably could have taken it slower and been more been more immersed if I wasn't streaming it. So that definitely had an effect. Also playing it, I tried not to look at chat after the first day because within the first day people were spoiling stuff and backseating, which is really annoying. I found out. Um, I already knew the biggest spoiler in the game, which I I won't say in case you haven't seen it, but I already knew like the biggest thing that happens towards the end. So people spoiling that in chat didn't affect me because I already knew it, but I was still getting pissed off because it's like, what if other people haven't seen it yet? Just be considerate. Yeah. And then there was two other instances of people spoiling things. One was like day one, someone spoiled who like a big traitor was in the story, and I'm like, cool, I didn't know that. I think I would have figured it out towards like chapter four, but they just said it like in chapter one the first time meeting them. I'm like, great, dude, that's sick. Um, I hate to the character, anyways. Like he was made out to be a traitor, so it makes sense, but it's just like why?

SPEAKER_02 37:04

And then it takes you out of the story. I mean, a lot of times a big point of the story is like the twist. Yeah, and if you take the twist out, it's like okay, well that what that was a big part that you just ruined.

SPEAKER_00 37:18

So yeah, a big part of like what could have made the story more enticing or interesting to me was just like taken out. Um, same, same with like the big spoiler at the end of the game. The fact that I've known that for years, obviously I've had the game came out in 2018. It's bound to happen that I was spoiled on that. Yeah. Uh, but that obviously would have changed a little bit of stuff of how I felt about the game. The other time someone spoiled something was, I guess, inadvertent. It wasn't deliberate, so I'm not too mad at them for doing it, but it just was like use your head a little bit type thing. So there was a point in the game where a character gives a speech, and it's a character I personally really wanted to kill in at the end of the game. I was like hoping I could kill them. And then people in chat are like, oh my god, he gives this same speech in Red Dead 1, which happens after this game. So I'm like, oh now which means you don't get the doesn't die. Cool, dude. Sick. Yeah. So that was like obviously I know they didn't mean bad by that. They're just like, oh, he that's a cool speech he gives. But I'm just like, dude, this game's a prequel. Don't say shit about what happens late in the story. Yeah. You dumbasses.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

I kind of wonder, I mean, you stream a lot of GTA, so you're not streaming a lot of story games. I'd be curious how much this is uh par for the course for a lot of streamers of story games. No, it absolutely is.

SPEAKER_00 38:42

Spoilers are a big problem. Like, because obviously 90% of people are great. They're they're in the chat trying to say, like, hey, don't spoil stuff, they're not saying stuff. Yeah, but then there's like that 5% of people or even less, they're just they're just a vindictive cunts. I don't know how else to describe it. Some people just like to make other people unhappy or ruin things for people for no reason, really. So it just happens.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Uh, it's because they live sad, miserable lives, and they can hide behind the anonymity of a computer.

SPEAKER_00 39:14

Yeah. Uh, and I guess this is I like I wanted to stream this now, and I'm also probably gonna stream a GTA 5 and GTA 4 probably story before 6 comes out. I'll do my best. Because I want to get an idea of like what it's gonna be like when 6 comes out. Yeah, obviously, that game is going to be an absolute fucking cesspit to stream. I don't really know how to approach it. Obviously, I want to interact with chat and be entertaining, but at the same time, the like there's gonna be thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people speedrunning to be the first one to beat the game. As soon as that happens, everyone's gonna spoil the ending everywhere over all social media and every chat ever. So I don't know what to do. Maybe like the first day I can have chat on because no one's gonna beat the game in one day, probably. Um, and then after that, not look. I don't really know what's gonna happen. I just feel like this there's no chance in hell this game just doesn't get spoiled for a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 40:09

Probably. Um, I almost wonder if there's a way that you can have like limited chat or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 40:14

Look, I can you can you can make chat like emoji only, you can make it members only, so it's only people who pay you money. I could also just like have chat on the screen like below my face cam so people can read it, but I can like physically not look at it at all.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:29

But the thing is, I'm gonna have to physically not look at and react to chat for probably like two weeks, realistically. Yeah, which is tough because I also want to be entertaining and be like kind to my audience and like interact with them.

SPEAKER_02 40:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:41

And then obviously it's a weird line to tell. Yeah, and if I have donations on as well, like donations have text of speech in them. If someone pays me 50 bucks and spoils the game, like you know, yeah, what do I do? So that's gonna be an interesting one. I think it's I I think I'm just gonna have to prepare for spoilers. Like, personally, spoilers don't bother me as much as some people, like, I can live with it happening. It it does still suck a bit. But oh well.

unknown 41:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:12

Yeah. What what are you gonna do? Well, sounds like you're at the very least having a pretty fun time.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Yeah, it's been it's been nice uh playing something different for once, even though it is still a rock star game and there's still uh GTA jank that I notice. It is it is good like refreshing and not just being stuck in Los Santos, especially because I'm gonna be playing the shit out of it for the next few months with this DLC and other plans I have.

SPEAKER_02 41:38

True. Very true. Well, um, I think I mentioned it a little bit earlier, uh, but there I don't I don't know if you know this, Dan. There's been this little uh little tournament going been going on um called the World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

So that involves just like the American teams playing each other, right?

SPEAKER_02 41:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why it's the world. Exactly. That's why it's the world champions.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Yeah. I'm trying to think, I know obviously the MLB has world series. I'm trying to think of any of the other competitions actually say world champions.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

I don't think officially, but I know I feel like a lot of American people do call like the Super Bowl winners like the world champions. Ah I wouldn't, I feel like a lot of people probably don't.

SPEAKER_02 42:21

I feel like they maybe, but I feel like they're just so unserious people. Either they're joking or they're stupid. Have you? I mean like I think most people have you said a lot of people like the right. Yeah. I like to not associate with them if I can help it.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

Well, unfortunately, it's like half of you, so you kind of you kind of have to. I can still do my best.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

Um, speaking of my nation that I am from and live in, um, there was an interesting series of events that happened. Uh, for people that don't know, in the round of 32, so this is at the point where we are in knockout games, um, the US played Bosnia, won two to two to zero. Uh, but there is a red card on one of the players. Now it was a controversial red card because the the ref did not give, I don't even think he gave a foul. He might have given just a foul and nothing else, but he didn't give like anything for this challenge. Because there kind of wasn't much to it. Um, and then like two minutes later, VAR pulls him over and they slow it down in super slow mo, and then he's like, actually, that's a red card, which again, I don't know how much any, you know, uh, depending on how much our viewers know sports. A red card in soccer means you're immediately off the field, your team is now down a person. Um, you don't get to replace him, and then also typically means the next game, if d if not multiple next games, you are out. So not only are you hurting yourself in the current game, you also are Aren't eligible to play in the next game. Now you can still field the normal 11 players, but you are not eligible. Well, like I striker got a red card. Appreciate it. We're not a sports podcast. I know. I at least know what I'm talking about. Uh Alexi Lawless fucking sucks.

SPEAKER_00 44:18

It's just really funny watching Fox Sports and them having to explain like soccer terms and like excruciating detail because no one knows what's happening.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

It's so funny because I feel like NBC has been doing uh the Prem in the States, obviously, for ages, and I feel like they put on a really good broadcast. And then Fox picks it up and it's fucking terrible for the World Cup. Anyways, um, it's a controversial red card. A lot of people after the game are like, ah, it's not really a red. Like when you zoom in, he hits him in like a certain angle of the foot, and it can be dangerous. But if like you look at the play as a whole, I think he was like coming down from the ground. Like he didn't like go in to stab. It's clear there's no intention, it's clear like it wasn't on purpose, he wasn't going for his leg. I think he was coming down from the air, like there's no intention. So a lot of people are like, that that kind of sucks. Like it was a stupid red card. The US won, so at least it didn't stop them there. But it's like, okay, they're going as the next game without you know one of their best players. And then an article about a day before the next game. So US uh was set to play Belgium, yep, and they did. Um about a day before, we're getting there. Uh, a day before, an article comes out from multiple news sources. I know New York Times posted pretty quickly a bunch that Donald Trump himself called the president of FIFA and said, Hey, you gotta overturn this, and then he did. What actually happened, I don't know. It could have been that, it could have legitimately just been that. FIFA is corrupt enough, and I know Donald Trump and Infantino are are real buddies, yeah. So it's very possible that did happen. Whether they were kind of looking to appeal it, and then I whatever happened happened.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

I think it's one of two things. I think it's stupid or it happened, and Trump is just taking credit for it because he likes to do that.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

That is so possible. The thing we do know is the US men's national team did not appeal the red card. Interesting. Um, or at least from what I've seen. I could be wrong with that, but I'm pretty sure I saw like they didn't appeal for it. So essentially what we're seeing is just straight up corruption. Um, which is which is cool. I mean, again, it's not the first time FIFA's done this. They uh what they did was they didn't take away the red card, they suspended the suspension. So instead of him taking the the red card suspension now, he'll take it later. They did this for Ronaldo. Again, more corruption. Ronaldo got a red card like right before the World Cup started, and I think it was supposed to give him like a three-match ban, and they just pushed that back because they're like, Well, we gotta have Ronaldo playing the World Cup, and it's like, cool, so what does this even mean?

SPEAKER_00 47:06

So funny that Ronaldo having that ban would probably have helped Portugal.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

That is so true. I think Ronaldo has held Portugal back with his ego and his kind of lack of showing up. Yeah, I mean I think the show up in the world.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

I kind of was a bit shit this tournament, but I definitely still think Ronaldo's at a level where he can play in the team, but the fact is that they try and do everything for him, and he's not at the level where he can carry the team by himself anymore. I think he can still play a pause in the Portugal team. I don't think he can like why is like Bruno being brought off in the fifth 60th minute, but Ronaldo's on to 90. Like, it should be the other way around. Yeah, does it make any sense?

SPEAKER_02 47:46

Yeah, it it's it it didn't look like they wanted to win, it looked like they wanted to satisfy Ronaldo, which is yeah, look, maybe eight years ago, I kind of get it. Now he's shown us kind of time and time again, he's not really at that level. He sometimes can be, but he's not quite there. Whereas you take Messi's Argentina, and like Messi is that focal point, but it also happens that Messi's really fucking good.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Yeah, and also I don't wanna I don't wanna say anything too damning, but I don't know. I feel like there's a bit of corruption behind Argentina, I can't lie. It's sure the Egypt game specifically, we talked about how when they did the VR VAR check for Balogun's red car, they slowed it down really, really hard, like really, really slow. Egypt scored a goal uh against Argentina that came after a foul on the other side of the pitch, and they went to VAR and sped up the clip like 500 fucking times to make it seem like the time between the foul and the goal scored was really short when it was actually really long, and then they took the goal away and it kind of fucked over Egypt. Also, I don't know if you saw, but there is um in the World Cup, there's always five referees, three on field, or two, three on field and like two VAR referees who are like digital refs. Every single game at the World Cup, the three on field are from one nation, and the two in VAR are from a different nation. For the first time ever, the match against France versus Morocco, which is a very big game, has all five refs from Argentina. Why? Why has that happened? How have they managed that?

SPEAKER_02 49:26

Like they clearly have enough refs. It's not an issue of like, oh, we ran out of refs. No. So that's a bit sus. 1000% you could argue so much corruption just across the board.

SPEAKER_00 49:39

Oh, I think uh I'm pretty sure there was like an audit done by a company and they found FIFA to be the most corrupt country uh company on the planet. Yeah, like I'm pretty sure I've seen that recently.

SPEAKER_02 49:51

Which is crazy. It's a shame they put on a damn good tournament because they're terrible. Yeah, they're so evil, they're just making so many deals with just like evil nations. And amongst many, many, many other things.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Yeah, like I mean, the whole like Qatar World Cup with slavery building the stadiums and a bunch of other shit.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Yeah, it's not good. It's like FIFA can't FIFA can't sponsor the money to build some stadiums. Like, does I'm trying, I'm trying to think if Qatar is kind of like this, but like you take like Saudi Arabia and like uh like UAE, they have so much fucking money because of oil. Yep. Again, I'm trying to think I don't I again that we're getting into some geopolitics that I am not qualified for. But does Qatar have that kind of money too? Because if so, I feel like they didn't need slaves. Oh, they definitely I don't think you need slaves.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

No, they definitely didn't need slaves, they just did it to make it cheaper, of course.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Sure. I mean, hot take of the day. Slavery bad?

SPEAKER_00 50:51

Possibly.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

I don't know. We can let that one sit, but yeah, a lot has gone on. It was yeah, the the US red card was very interesting. Obviously, I am a fan of the team, a little less so of the country. Uh, but it's a weird thing of like I rooted for them against Belgium, but I also kind of didn't want them to win because then it would have felt like Trump would have taken like the uh the victory on that one. Yeah. Um, so in a weird way, it's like kind of cool we lost. Uh, I did see a stat that was like, I think every time um Trump has gone to a New York sports team in the playoffs, it's like every time or like one out of like 12 times they lose. The Knicks went four and one in um the NBA finals, and the one game they lost was the one Trump was there. So it kind of feels like, well, he put his he he put a little effort into this game, and then we played terribly.

SPEAKER_00 51:52

I will say, kind of kind of off topic, it is from a football fan, soccer fan, it is kind of crazy that the finals of basketball is like a seven-game tournament.

SPEAKER_02 52:01

It's a weird American thing. I don't know, because like baseball and hockey also do it.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:09

Not football or soccer.

SPEAKER_00 52:12

Like, I guess you could argue it's fair because like every team gets like the teams get more time to like do their best, but like, I don't know. I feel like it should just be the best team on the day wins, really. Because like, what if what if in a seven-game series, I'm sure this has happened in sports, like what if it's like prime leBron versus another team and game one he gets injured and is out for the rest of the tournament? Like, is that a fail?

SPEAKER_02 52:35

Is it's like the other team surely it happened like uh not the last final, but the final before uh one of the Pacers players got injured pretty early in the finals, and a lot of people argued that OKC would have had a harder chance of winning it if the Pacers didn't lose player.

SPEAKER_00 52:53

Um, I'm not necessarily against it, but it's just it's strange. Um, I want to mention back to the World Cup, there is one thing they did that I think is really funny, and I I I respect it massively, is that the World Cup did a dedicated pride match for LGBTQIA plus people, and it was for the Egypt versus Iran match, who are notoriously both very Muslim countries, which was very Muslim, very homophobic countries, typically.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

So kind of baller from them, honestly. Incredibly funny of them. I did see an Iranian player comment, and I feel like he gave the best comment he could have, where he basically went like, My religion doesn't agree with that, but I play soccer and I want people to just do whatever they want. And it was like, Yeah, alright, yeah, that works. Um kind of like served everyone, serve no one kind of comment.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

Yeah, I mean, like it would have been better if they did it for countries that actually cared about it because then you don't get negative press about it, which is never a good thing when you're trying to do a supportive cause.

SPEAKER_02 53:51

Um it felt like pure rage bait, yeah, and nothing. Yeah. Um, no, it's been an interesting World Cup so far. I do think, as much as it is kind of a capitalism move, kind of love having 48 teams. Yeah, it's exciting having some smaller teams have the ability to go clear. Like that Cabo Verde and uh Argentina game was really fun to watch.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

Yeah, there's been some really good games from small nations in this game.

SPEAKER_02 54:20

There's been real yeah, it's been really exciting to watch. Um, speaking about games that have been exciting to watch, we have only a couple more games left to be played at this rate, and I think it would be uh fun for us to do some uh some predictions.

SPEAKER_00 54:38

Yeah, because by the time we the next podcast is out, the World Cup will be over.

SPEAKER_02 54:42

So Yeah, so we're gonna predict the next round. Um, I might as well just do all the rounds. Well, sure sure. We're gonna fix it then from this point on. Yes. Um, because obviously if we predicted prior, we'd be incredibly good at it. Uh but yeah, let's uh I'm gonna try and pull it up here on my computer. And hopefully, uh it actually will look good. Yeah, so um Dan, let's start with uh France Morocco. What is your what's your poll for France Morocco?

SPEAKER_00 55:19

Well, this is a a replay of the semifinal from last tournament. Correct. And it's honestly gonna be one of the tightest. I I fear on paper, it should be one of the tightest games of the tournament. France obviously the best team right now, I'd say pretty comfortably. Yeah. But Morocco are not to be like laughed at, slouched at, whatever. They're really good. Morocco have a very strong team. I do think France will edge it. I I would think like a 2-1 or 3-2 type game. I think it'll be high scoring. Yeah. I think France's attack is just too strong. They're just ridiculous.

SPEAKER_02 55:53

France looks so good. I mean, they score multiple goal goals almost every game.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

No, they haven't. There's not been a game this tournament where they scored less than three. They've only scored three or four goals. I checked yesterday. France Paraguay 1-0. Okay, that was before.

SPEAKER_02 56:09

Okay, I checked before that game. Sorry. Okay. But yes, the other game, the all the other games, they have won by a significant margin. And have scored a significant margin. I agree. I think France edges Morocco out. Um, I could even see like a 3-1 or like a 4-2. Like they just every time they're on the ball, they look threatening. And it's not just Mbappe, it's Elise, it's like it's every like all of their players. Belly looks so good, like it like five different people are threatening at all moments of the game. And Mbappe's, I think, especially in the World Cup, just one of the best players in the world. Yeah. Like he really shows up for international tournaments.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

I think if France ended up winning this World Cup, I think it wouldn't be crazy to say that this is the best World Cup attacking team of all time.

SPEAKER_02 56:59

Yeah. Like I mean, the golden the golden boot race is tight, and it's like it's what Messi at eight, Holland Mbappe at seven. Kane seven as well. Kane at seven, like those are crazy numbers. I think I think Messi and Mbappe tied last year at seven or six or something like that. Like, I don't even think I think they've already surpassed last year's. And there's potentially three more games to be played. You can argue there's one extra game, but they're still behind, like, they still have extra games to like play prior to the game.

SPEAKER_00 57:36

There's just more goals than ever in this World Cup, and I don't know why that is exactly. I'm sure there's some science behind it. Whether, like, I saw an interview clip with Joe Hart, who's an ex-English goalkeeper, talking about this ball specifically. It is because the way balls are designed, they travel differently in the air. Like the very famous Jabalani from 2010, the South Africa World Cup, like you kicked it and it would just go all over the place, like it would swerve like crazy, so it was difficult to save. I saw Joe Hart talking about this ball and the fact that when you kick it, it doesn't look like it's going that fast, but then it speeds up crazy. So if you're taking long shots, goalkeepers just can't get to them in time, like at all, with this ball.

SPEAKER_02 58:13

And there's been a lot of really good long shot goals this tournament.

SPEAKER_00 58:16

Yeah, so I think that could be a factor to why there's more goals. Also, the level of competition is because there are more teams, the average level of quality is way lower in this tournament. I watched a video recently talking about what's the what's the uh like worst player at the World Cup in terms of like ranking worldwide, like how bad do you have to be to play in the World Cup? And yeah, the worst player they found by like just stats of like where they play in what league and everything, uh obviously they weren't starting. This was a backup goalkeeper for Haiti, but just to show the level, the backup goalkeeper for Haiti plays in the fifth tier of German football, which is considered like semi-pro level, basically.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:56

Uh so that's crazy. There's a lot of like the average, like I think uh you put up a graph. If you take the English Championship, which is the second tier league in England, and I think 10th worldwide, as the sort of halfway point, half of all the players in the World Cup are worse than championship level. Damn. So like most players are playing against like League One or like third, second tier Portugal, second tier Italy level players. Yeah. Uh which is a lower level of quality, which means there are more goals being scored.

SPEAKER_02 59:29

Sure. That definitely adds up to it. Um, yeah, it it's been exciting. Um so we we both say France are going through. Yeah. Uh Spain, Belgium. What are your thoughts on that game, Dan?

SPEAKER_00 59:41

I mean, Belgium looked good against the US, but US looked terrible. Belgium uh serial bottlers at the World Cup. I think Spain are a much better team. I don't think Spain looked great against Portugal, but they they just look they don't look fun to watch, but they're kind of like Pep's Man City. They're not fun to watch, but they just get the job done.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:00

They have high possession, they defend really hard, they just try to get that 1-0, that two, that 2-1 kind of win. I agree. I think the US Belgium game was the worst US game and the best Belgium game. Like, I think that's the best Belgium has probably played so far, and combined with also the worst the US has played so far. So I could see them coming in with a lot of comments. They're like, they barely beat Portugal as 1-0. We fucking crushed the US, like we got this. I agree. Belgium, they've been sitting on this, and I don't know if people are calling it now, but they've been sitting on this golden generation for like a decade and they haven't done shit with it. They are. Um I think I think a lot of their best players are still from that kind of generation, but they're all kind of old and they all not that they can't keep up, but it is a much older team.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:52

Yeah, I think Spain go through.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:56

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

I think it'll be I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it's another 1-0 or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:00

I would not be surprised by 1-0 whatsoever. Um, Norway, England. Here's the question. I I think this is the game where I most like who could who could win. I think if there is an upset, I think it's this game. Me too. I agree. Ray, it's this game.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:20

Yeah, do you go with your head or do you go with your heart? Because my head says England's the better team, they should win, but my heart says Holland, Holland, Holland.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:29

I think Norway wins, and I think for two reasons. I think they've actually shown that they're a pretty solid team. Yeah, they beat Brazil, and not that Brazil's, I mean, Brazil hasn't necessarily been bad this World Cup. I don't know how much they've like really shown their dominance, but like Norway looked pretty good against a good side. Conversely, I don't think England has consistently looked that good this tournament. Maybe it's because I'm a hater. I think they've had lots of moments where they were good. But for example, I watched the Mexico-England game. Yep. I think for a longer period of time during that game, Mexico looked like the better team.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:09

I think England was just able to put it in the net better. Um, they had moments where like Bellingham was really hot um for like two minutes. It's also like Mexico made not a stupid mistake, but kind of made a stupid mistake to let Bellingham make um get the second goal. Um and like their their pen, if the goalkeeper was like a second closer to that ball, it wouldn't have been a pen kind of or like half a second even. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:39

Um I I think this game is gonna be a game of who can create the special moment, and it's really gonna be like, is it gonna be Kane or is it gonna be Haaland who gets the win for them? I think is gonna be the battle.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:49

I just think I th I I 100% agree. I dude, Holland just looks fucking unstoppable. He it's kind of refreshing watching him not at City because when he's at City, I have to hate him. Yeah, um, but now he's playing for an underdog team, and I'm kind of like, I fucking love this guy. Yeah, he's fun to watch, he's entertaining. He kind of plays like messy in a way, where like you watch the game, and he when he knows he doesn't need to attack, he's walking, he's strolling, he's taking his time. The instant he's on attack, dude, he looks like he's gonna murder you.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:20

Like I love seeing the edits of like Haaland, giant six foot five man sprinting down at defenders, terrified. It's so good. Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go for a Norway win as well. I I agree.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:31

I really hope, man. I think England have been kind of skating by a little bit. I mean, they almost lost to the Congo, they tied Ghana, like they didn't even top their group.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:43

Uh they barely beat Mexico, and I feel like that again they had moments of brilliance, but like Mexico looked like the better team, and then once they were up, they just put I think I'd have to look at it. They had like six center backs in the game because they subbed out their midfielders for more defense, like pure defensive players, yeah. Which just and it worked. It doesn't work. Well, it worked in this sense, you just invite so much pressure doing that though. You do Mexico. Also, I'm a little I have a little bit of grapes with how their manager decided to end that game. They did the same thing every time. They went up the side and they crossed in. And they went up the side and they crossed in. Well, you're not gonna win that battle when you throw four Mexican players in and there's nine English players in who are all made to be big and head the ball out, and it's like it just turned back.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:39

That's why they didn't fucking score at all.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:41

Yeah. It's I I don't know. I could see Norway beating England. I hope and pray that Norway beats England. So we're going for a Norway win. I'm going Norway. I'm going Norway. Me too. Um, Argentina-Switzerland. Argentina, I think it's pretty simple.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:56

Argentina.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:57

I think it's pretty simple. Switzerland hasn't really impressed me. They barely beat Colombia, they beat him on penalties. Argentina's a better team than Colombia. Argentina has probably the refs on their side. Just a little bit. Yeah. Um, it feels like it at the very least. Um Argentina. Alright. France, Spain.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:20

Probably the match of the tournament. I think it's like world number one and two, I think, at the moment. Yeah. Um I could see it going either way because I could see Spain getting a 1-0 win, lucky just defending like crazy, keeping the ball possession, not letting France see in. Or I could see France kind of destroy them a bit. I I'm what what's what's your head and your heart saying? Honestly, both France. Like I've watched them this tournament probably the most. They just look just far and above better than everyone else. They look so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:57

I I agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:59

I I just don't. Like this was the tournament where like Yim Lamin Yamar was meant to come out and like stomp his foot down being the best player in the world, and I just haven't seen it. Like he's been fine, but he hasn't been like look at Mbappe, look at Elise. Yeah, those two are the best two players of the tournament at the moment. Oh, Messi as well. Those are the best players of the tournament. I think pure star power just gets France through, to be honest.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:22

I agree. I think France makes it through. Um, I think Spain is good, but you're right. I think France can see through their like super pep style of play and just push through on goals because there's too many good players on that France attacking team for them to not score a goal. And I think a lot of Spain is just about simply getting a goal in. Um, I mean, if we're looking, they they beat Portugal 1-0, trying to find they beat Austria 3-0. I'll give them that, but Austria doesn't really have any stars. Um they tied Cabo Verde, I want to say. Does that sound right? Yeah. Like, they haven't fully impressed me. There has not been a France game where France has not impressed me. Paraguay was the closest. Paraguay just plays super fucking defensively. I don't know how, like, I think the US played great on that day, but I don't know how we beat them so hard, and yet Paraguay started to show up. I don't know if maybe they just needed we were kind of the warm-up, and then they started to kick it into gear, but like, yeah, I'm almost thinking I think also go into that game going, we just have to play super fucking defensively because France is just simply better than us.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:38

Uh yeah, I'm almost thinking the US game, maybe their game plan wasn't to be as defensive as they were, and after that battle, they're like, okay, we need to change up the style. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:47

Um, I I 100% agree.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:49

But you know, I think I think France goes through in that game, and then we have what Norway-Argentine on the other side. Mm-hmm. Yeah, as as much as I don't want it to happen, I do think we're probably gonna get a repeat final of Argentina-France.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:01

I would not, I would not be surprised if we got a rematch. I, however, will put my prediction in and say Norway wins. That's a little bit going with my heart than my head. Yeah. But what I will say is Argentina barely beat Egypt. They were losing to Egypt. Argentina barely beat Cabo Verde. But the thing is, they had they had the they had to have miracles every single time.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:30

But the thing is, they keep having them, and I feel like it's just gonna keep happening. They have Messi on their side, they have the refs on their side, they have the goals on their side. I think they just keep getting what's necessary for them to win. I genuinely think I'm just gonna say it right now, I think Argentina beat Norway, I think Argentina win the final, and I think Messi gets another Ballon d'Or. Really? I think I think it's just gonna happen. I think Infantino has a fucking fetish for that short Argentinian man and wants to give him every award on the planet possible. Like that's just what it feels like, because like he didn't deserve the ball and d'or last time he won the World Cup because he wasn't the best player in the world. He had a good like the tournament, a seven-six game tournament is showed up for the tournament. Is like you played great, cool. You shouldn't you should win the golden boot and best player for the tournament, not the ballon d'or. But I think again, I I genuinely think Argentina's gonna scum their way to the World Cup victory and he's gonna get another Ballon d'Or, the little short Argentinian break. I think it's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:26

Oh god. I mean, imagine the scenes where an MLS player gets the Ballon d'Or. And Trump's gonna hand it to him. Well, no, he's gonna take it himself. Of course, yeah, it's for it's for the league. Yeah, yeah, it's for it's because he's the league. Um, can't believe Sun didn't score a goal for the US, by the way. Still uh still kind of fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:46

No, in my heart, I really hope Norway can can get through Argentina just with pure Viking brute strength. Sure. But I I don't know if I see it happening.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:58

I I my prediction is the Norway-France final and France win. Okay. I I the sensible thing would be to predict France-Argentina, and then you could pick either. I think either are close no matter what. Yeah, um, I think it'll be close no matter what. I mean, the last I will say again, I don't agree with the World Cup being in Guitar. That World Cup ending it like the final was so good. High scoring game. The the you know, the big players are coming out, they're showing out. Yes. Like a fight for the golden boot, fight for the win, went to extra time, went to penalties, like yeah, it was a fantastic game. I could a hundred percent see it happening. I'll say this.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:41

I know I've only been watching football for uh a short amount of the history of the game. I do think that Franz Argentina 2020 2022 World Cup final is the greatest game, maybe of sport of all time. Like everything, everything surrounding the game of like is Mesu get gonna finally get the World Cup win. The fact that Mbabbe scores a hat trick in the final to try and stop the Argentinian team, it goes to penalties, like yeah, I think it's the greatest game of sport ever. I I don't know how they top that.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:10

Sure. I don't I don't know if I'll go that far just because there's so many games, but it's pretty fucking good. I mean, you put the narrative, you put the the the title on there, it's a final, it's the biggest sport in the world, it's the biggest stadium, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:23

It's the greatest football player of all time trying to finally get the World Cup, the last trophy that eludes him. I'd say at least the greatest game of soccer of all time. Uh, there's other sports.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:31

I I could agree with that. I could agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:33

I just don't know what comes close to it, like genuinely. There's like not like there are some games that have a great narrative, there's some games that have a great game. This had both. Like, it was just perfect all around.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:44

It had everything, it had everything you could have wanted. You thought one team was gonna win, one team had a comeback, you got overtime, you got like every team is trying everything, you got great goalkeeper saves, you got great shots, great penalty. Emmy Martinez is a prick, but kind of entertaining to watch at the same time. Like, you have some of the best of the best playing against each other. I I wouldn't be surprised if that's what we saw. I think I want Norway to make it that far. I also think I would love to see a Norway-France rematch where Norway actually tries and gives a shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:21

Yeah. Um, yeah, because that is the thing. Norway and France played each other in the group, and France demolished them 4-1. Yeah, if we get a final of that again, it might end up being just another demolition, which would could be a bit sad. True.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:32

But Norway didn't play their players.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:36

Yeah, they didn't play Harland against Zimbabwe, to be fair. True.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:39

Yeah, and I want to fucking see that battle.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:42

Yeah, that would be that would be my ideal final. Uh my ideal World Cup would be Norway winning because I just want to see a new team win it. Yes. Love the underdog.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:50

I would love to see a new team win it. I'd also, it's not technically too late at this point, but it's nearly too late at this point. I'd love to see a non-European or South American team win it just to get a new continent, but I mean, we're down to Morocco at this point. Uh, but I'd love for a new team to win it. I mean, it's possible at this point. Uh, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, and Morocco, there is one team on each in each game that have not won the World Cup yet. Yep. That can go and win it. Feasibly speaking, if Switzerland, Norway, Belgium, Morocco all win their games, it's not gonna happen. They all win their games, guaranteed a new team wins the World Cup. And I think that would be incredibly exciting. Would be very cool. As a now neutral fan.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:37

Yep, same. Unfortunately, I I'm neutral, but I'm also I also equally don't want a France-Argentina final because I hate both teams and I don't want them to win.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:47

Yeah, they just look too good to not do it.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:50

Yeah, like the I I the French self-explanatory Argentinians one. I I just they're so insanely racist. The stuff I see on social media from Argentinian fans is crazy. Um, yeah. And they just they just I feel like the Argentinian players, I've seen clips of them in dressing rooms off the games, they have they have a really bad attitude from what I've seen. Like they're quite disrespectful towards the other teams and everything. I just don't like them that much. I also just don't want them to win another one because they've done it before. Fuck out of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:19

Sure. I will say if Argentina won, they would be the third team to win it two years in a row. Uh and the last time since Brazil in like the 60s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:30

Um, I also think if Argentina win, I think it's a win for the corporation of FIFA, because I think they want them to win.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

I think Yeah, it does, no matter if they say it or not, it does feel like it for sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:45

Um, yeah, that's our predictions. I guess we have slightly different end predictions. If I'm thinking very logically, I do think France take the tournament, they are the best team. Sure. But who knows what really happens.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

I I agree, like you said, it feels like Argentina's had like miracles on their side. Yep. Um, I mean Messi fucking cried in that last game. And that was a round of 16 game.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:11

It just shows how unlucky they were to get back in that.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:14

Yeah, yeah. But he also missed a pen, and also they were down 2-0 and they came back. So I don't blame him. But like they're not even in the final, they're not even in the semifinal. And he's crying tears of joy. Like, that's there's definitely a lot of interesting narratives. I do agree, I just it's really hard to see. It'd be interesting to see if like Argentina and then France got knocked out this round, and like how much the narratives will change. Because I don't think I've seen anyone being like, yeah, I think it's Spain, or yeah, I think it's England. Maybe English people, but they're gonna say that no matter what. Of course. Um it's the one reason I continue to root for Argentina is if England beat Norway, I don't want them to, I don't want them to win. I'm rooting against them so hard. True. Um, I don't want to see them win, and I would rather them play Argentina than Switzerland because Argentina has a better chance of beating them than Switzerland.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:11

I will say England were in, let me get this right. Uh one second. Yeah, England have been in two Euros finals in a row and lost both of them. So if they if they do get to a final, I don't know if I back them to even win it. Um true, and I still think France is the better team in England. But also if France gets a final again, that's three World Cup finals in a row, which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:36

Crazy. Uh, yeah. I mean, I looked at it. Argentina and France over the last three World Cups have both been in two finals.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:47

So, and possibly a third. Um, yeah, France third in a row. I don't think it's unlikely. They look so good.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:54

Yeah, I guess we'll see what happens by the time the next podcast is out. We'll have uh have the scores decided, we'll have the GTA heist out, maybe some maybe a new trailer, hopefully, fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:05

Yeah, we'll have a lot of stuff out by the time the next one comes out. Should be good. Should be a good time. Well, Dan, it's been an absolute pleasure. Um, glad to see you are back and safe and doing doing okay. Well, not that you wouldn't be, but you never know.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:23

Yeah, I have um my my my camera's been pissing me off. I bought a new one, as I've told you previously, and I have so many cables and cords and things lying around that it's still not working as intended, but hopefully it looks good enough for this episode.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:36

I can't see it. Yeah, you have a different camera, but it's fine. That's true. Um, all right, well, folks, we will see you next time. Peace out.