Cup of Jones - June 22, 2020

Mr. Jones, In light of the national protests and global pandemic, how has your view of games media changed? Are you more aware of certain things, or more sensitive to specific topics? Looking back after the events of 2020, is there anything you wish was handled differently in a game, in the industry or in your own company? Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla

Hey Jones! I have an idea! After Tuesday’s group stream, I switched over to superlouis64’s channel. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s the guy who beat Dark Souls 3 with a modded Ring-Con, and, to a more impressive extent, also with bananas. Last Tuesday night he was playing Breath of the Wild with his modded Ring-Con. It was a very jolly, silly stream, and a perfect follow up to the Allies. For all the crazy things he does with controllers I was shocked to see he barely had 20 people watching his stream. This is the man who beat the Nameless King with Donkey Kong bongos for god’s sake! Anyway, the point is that I think a super easy way for the EZA to support black content creators is to raid/host their streams following the conclusion of your own streams. It doesn’t necessarily have to be SuperLouis64, he was just the guy who gave me the idea, is a good fit for the EZA audience, and, in my opinion, is severely under appreciated for what he does. And if you’re curious about SuperLouis64, here are some links to get to know him (at the very least for the entertainment value)! DS3 vs. banana controller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1F58OCqMEI DS3 vs. Ring-Con: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRDCFb4QRAk BotW vs. Ring-Con: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4wGalssNls Twitch: http://twitch.tv/superlouis64 Good luck with the move! @MayorMcFrumples

Neil K Bonsteel

Hello Jones, I just finished The Last of Us Part II, and after that, I watched the EZA review for the first time. And I realized that Huber did not mention the lenght of the game. I remember the first time I watched the GT Review of Bioshock and being enthusiastically surprised with the mention of a "20 hours experience". I know some people consider saying the lenght of a game is a spoiler. What do you think? L&R Aurélien

Aurélien GRANIER

Hey Brand Manager,Let's play a little game of speculation, because I'm confused. Wasn't it just earlier this year, around the time all the E3 related delays were announced due to COVID-19, that we learned that Warner Bros. was going to have a WB Games press conference for the first time ever this year? Am I crazy, or did we not learn that? What could have possibly happened behind the scenes that would've taken them from being in a position to hold a press conference to being sold off in just a few short months? Or was it the same thing as Square Enix last year, in that the conference likely only really had one or two heavy hitters and the rest was nothing but filler? Really curious for your thoughts and speculation on this. L&R, spongejay1

spongejay1

Hello Brandon. Sorry for leaving second comment. I can’t change my initial question (Blood has already answered it) and I want to give you feedback about the recent episode of the podcast. No need to bring this up on the episode. I think you went through July-September games too fast. Kyle not only named game’s title, but gave short description for each game. So if I heard something new, I could at least get an idea of named game. You’ve read a lot of titles that wasn’t discussed. There were several games I had no idea about, and I still have no idea about them. In my opinion this makes this segment a bit pointless – the same amount of information will be given if you simply discuss your most and least anticipated games and skip reading the rest of the list.

Alexander Zyryanov

Heya Jones, Oh, yeah. I see it now. That's kind of weird. But if Easy Allies was looking for an easy way to lose a man, would it fix his car, argue with him about baseball, outswim him, or correct his grammar?

Asbo Zappruder

Hey Jones just a friendly end of the month reminder to post the next community showcase post if you havent by the time you read this. Good luck and stay safe, Sean

Nextgenheff

I’m writing this after listening to the podcast. The harassment and assault allegation all started during GCX last Friday. GCX started as Gaurdian con for destiny and they raise money every year for St.Jude. This year they raised 6 millions dollars in total. The allegations came because many of the viewers who play destiny asked why a certain streamer wasn’t apart of it. It then came out why. There is a NY Times article about the whole thing but unfortunately they only talked about the bad and not the good. I’m posting this here because the YT comments about this were most likely going to be terrible. Also sorry for the atrocious grammar. Here is the article. Also one of the stipulations from all the women to speak with the NYT was to also talk about how much good gaming does and they left it out https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/style/women-gaming-streaming-harassment-sexism-twitch.html

Wire rope

Hey Jones. Adding to G Leger, I also was surprised you guys didn't get invited to preview Cyberpunk, especially Blood. Any colour on this?

Lucid Ludwig

Hey Jones, I've run into a funny problem with the last of us 2. I'm dying to listen to spoiler mode like content but the game is longer than expected and I don't want spoilers. Would you consider (for longer content), doing a spoiler mode split in to two parts? The first could cover the first half of the game and then another for the second half? Could even be one video you split into two, you'd just have to not jump around with your discussion. Can't see many other content creators doing this, could be a unique draw to EZA, allow you to get some form of spoilers up sooner and potentially draw more views. Cheers

Nathan25

Hello, After watching the Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire reaction stream, I was disappointed in finding out that no one at EZA was invited to play the preview. I apologize if this was explained at another time, but my question is: How do publishers choose who they preview the game to, and why do you think EZA was not chosen to be part of it? I find EZA to be some of the best video game discussions out there, and would of loved to hear your take on this preview.

G Leger

A lot of the time they're worded vaguely enough that it's not an issue, but there are definitely times when massives spoilers are just sitting right in the email and you have to skim past them. Sometimes spoiler guidelines will come a bit later as well or as an attachment in order to avoid some of that. In terms of how it impacts footage, I don't think it makes too much of a difference. In most cases, we do read in advance anyways -- again since "don't capture after chapter 12" or whatever isn't a spoiler in itself. And even beyond that, the spoilers that are off limits are usually so obvious that we wouldn't capture anyways. In fact, we're usually much more cautious about not showing things than the restrictions. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Hello Brandon. If I’m not mistaken, when you get review copy, you also receive a list of things that can’t be shown in your review. How often does it spoil the game for you if you read it before playing the game? How much footage usually becomes unusable if you read it after finishing the game?

Alexander Zyryanov

Hey Jones, I'm a massive fan of the recent Huber-centric shows (Prison of Love, Hunting Huber), as he is obviously a beacon of joy, hype and fun, as I'm sure we all know. However, I am very interested in shows potentially centering around other Allies, are there any ideas floating around in the EZA sphere to have similarly character centric shows? (For example, a show with Ian Introducing people to video games with soundtracks he thinks they'd connect to, or Don choosing the Nintendo game that matches eaches ally - just rough ideas, but the general gist stands). Love and Respect, Harry (2SON)

Harry - 2SON

Most games come with similar spoiler guidelines. TLOU was a bit more extreme in that it limited what we could show to just a few specific chapters. The most extreme thing I've ever seen is that there were times when we could only cut a review with broll provided by the publisher, but we really try to avoid that if at all possible. I think the last time that's come up was with MGS V at GameTrailers. I always carefully read the restrictions to make sure there's nothing objectionable, but it's generally about not spoiling parts of the game or revealing that you have a copy or publishing specific types of content until specific times. Since TLOU was more restrictive, I made sure to check in with Huber multiple times to be sure that it didn't prevent him from saying what he needed to say in his critical assessment of the game. If it had, I was fully prepared to delay the review until launch. Huber didn't think that would be necessary, and his script covers his thoughts on the game while still avoiding spoilers. The only thing we had to miss was getting a shot of Ellie playing the guitar, but he still included it in the script. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

I have a question regarding the recent review embargo for The Last of Us 2. As I understand it, getting an early review copy of the game came with specific instructions on what could or could not be discussed in the review. This to me seems like a conflict of interest, with a game company dictating what can be discussed in a review being rewarded with an early copy, allowing outlets to get their reviews out earlier and views during the initial hype. As I believe that was only for story spoilers and Easy Allies generally avoids spoilers in reviews it may not directly affect your review, it still feels questionable to me. Is this typical of getting review copies from other game developers? Has there ever been a time an embargo’s restrictions caused you not to accept an early copy? Where is the line?

Stardrifter

Are there any plans to do a hall of greats while working from home or is that on hold until you all are back in the studio?

Shauna Bowman

Howdy! You made a comment on a previous CoJ that made me think of this question. Also I recall during that one fundraiser you did, you got so much money you had a little trouble figuring out to buy. What is some equipment that would really help out but also isn't a priority either? Ya know, a little further down on your EZA shopping list?

Parasitepaladin

Hey Jones, I was recently thinking about the decade that was and it gave me an idea. Would any of the allies be interested in a "best" games of the last decade/the 2010's video/retrospective? I don't really mean a top 10 or even how you guys currently do game of the year where you eventually anoint one game as GOTY, but just a celebration of the 2010's, and the games that have stuck out, or the ones that have stuck with you into the new decade. Thanks for all you do and stay easy Allies.

Madison Graham

Hey Brandon, I hope you are doing well. I got a couple of TLOU2 related questions that might've been asked before so apologies if that's the case. 1) Are you guys considering doing more than one spoiler mode for TLOU2 so every ally can give his opinion on the story? How about bringing guests since it is such a big release? 2) Would you consider taking fan questions/comments from Patreon for TLOU2's spoiler mode? Damiani did this with one of the FF7R spoiler modes and I think people really enjoyed that. Considering how controversial TLOU2's story has been, allies in the community might have specific questions/story points that they would love to get your takes on them. I totally understand if that's too much work for you guys, but just wanted to say that I would really enjoy that. P.S: I loved your FF7R spoiler modes if it's not obvious from those questions lol

Hey Jones, You should give opening bits ideas to Ian. Puts less work on you and Ian would be a good fit. Like Kyle he gets told people hates something and goes a step further. Thanks Iboshow p.s #bringbacktrailerjones

Ibrahim Sozer

Hey Brandon, Thank you for taking my question. I assumed it had more to do with the fact that you're all staying safe and not wanting to chance anyone getting sick. I just didn't know if it was something like your business is classified non-essential and thus you couldn't enter your studio or something like that. That's how I should have phrased it. It definitely sucks that you're paying for a space that you can't use but I hope it won't be too much longer until you can all be in the same space again (though I'm not holding my breath). Love and respect, ~Matt

Matt Galeza

Hi, Jones. After the recent Steam Summer Festival where I got to play dozens and dozens of games, mostly indie games, I started thinking of how little Easy Allies covers indie games, but more than that, how little from the mainstream of indie games EZA covers. This isn't the first time I noticed this, I and other people have noticed this throughout the years, but it was during the Steam March Festival that this got very accentuated. And now this got cemented in my mind. There's so many amazing indie games that never get covered by most gaming sites, and this is not to say you guys never cover any indie games, but it's very rare when you guys cover an indie game I have never heard of. Which means that indie game has gained enough attention from the press that it entered the Allies' radar. My suggestion is for the Allies to consciously decide to have 1 group stream per month be all about indie games. This then could be divided into 15-20 minutes segments for each game, this way many games would be covered. And if one of the games tried picked the Allies interest, they could dedicate an entire group stream to it. You guys could search the Steam, io.Itch, Humble Bundle, GOG, PSN and/or XBL stores or each Ally could recommend a game they are interested in. The group stream covering indie games doesn't need to have a defined date like every 2nd or 3rd week of the month - unless you want to. Business question: Could you please propose to the Allies that once per month, a group stream be dedicated to covering indie games? L & R

Daniel Ribeiro

Hi Brandon, I've noticed pretty much all the gaming events this season have been pretty lousy at broadcasting the names of games as they are showcased. There have been numerous trailers which drop the name in the beginning, and then begin the trailer with no further mention of the name and never look back. I think a quick easy value add for your stream coverage could be to have the host manually type the name of each game as they appear, so viewers don't have to be so proactive as to write each name down as first announced, and then research them if and when they become interested throughout the trailer or showcase. Cheers! St0mpz

St0mpz

Hello Mr. Jones! A super quick question for you this week and another stream consideration question at that. One of the best things about E3 coverage in years past has been EZA’s E3 awards so I was curious if you all will be doing a similar wrap-up “Awards” style stream to discuss best presentation, best game announcement, etc. from everything covered over the summer. Or with things being so disparate, different and spread-out, would it not be worth it? I thought it could be something fun to do near the beginning of September as a fun look back to see how this “Summer of Gaming” has played out, but I can understand if it isn’t worth the effort. Thanks again for reading and as always, have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! P.S. A very (belated) Happy Birthday to Milo! QUESTION: Would EZA consider an E3 style “Awards” type stream at the end of this “Summer of Gaming” to discuss the presentations, games, news, etc. that stood out the most to you all or because everything isn’t centralized or focused like E3, such a thing wouldn’t be feasible or as interesting and timely that E3 Awards have been in the past?

Brandon K Gann

Hey Allies alot of people are struggling financially with everything going on, if your not effected and love the content now would be a meaningful time to up the pledge!

Peter Wilkinson

Morning Jones! You definitely don't have to answer this, and if you do, please do so in broad strokes (no pressure): Since Kyle left, did his salary/share of the monthly Patreon income get distributed among the remaining Allies, or does it go to the company's bank account/savings? Just curious. L&R - Brian Denu

Brian Denu