Cup of Jones - April 22, 2019

This came off way more spiteful than I intended. Apologies for being so rude. And for asking on such a happy episode, congrats Jones and Troop!

Will EZA be doing a review for Plague Tale: Innocence?

Jesse Nye

I just want to add that Kinda Funny specifically said they want people to react and make fun of their showcase. So EZA shouldn't feel bad making fun of them.

Kris Fredrick

The thing about the audio is that Ian is really the one that could troubleshoot and permanently fix the issue. So until Ian is back, Damiani's temporary fixes will probably be the best option.

Kris Fredrick

Personal question: jones, you're the token tower guy of Easy Allies. What open world game do you think has the best towers?

irene035

Wanted to see if we could get a mini-Trailer Jones on two of the trailers I saw before Endgame. I thought the trailers for 21 Bridges and Gemini Man were both horrible, but I'm curious what you thought if you've seen them.

Kate Bishop

Thanks to you i decided to checkout Days Gone, and it's pretty fun so far. Fun enough that i'll think it will be the next plat. i get. The driving and encounters are so far interesting enough that i don't feel the need to fast travel. Don't think i would have bought it if it weren't for you talking about it here and there, and the review of course. What's been your favourite part of the game and what would you want to be different?

Lymus

Personal Question: Last week I asked about three movies and your opinion on if they held up or not. Thank you very much for that information, and your views. I figured I would ask about three more, this time comedy movies from the 80's. If you haven't seen one of these it is totally fine too. Anyhow do Trading Places, Crocodile Dundee, and Three Amigos hold up?

Mr.V

Personal Question: Hey Jones! I tried pin trading for the first time on my most recent Disneyworld trip. It was a lot more fun than I expected, and provided something to do while waiting for a fast-pass! Especially fun how some cast members would only let you trade if you answered trivia questions! Have you ever tried it?

David Lingenbrink

With the talk about E3 on this week's podcast, I was wondering what you think would be best for EZA in terms of Microsoft's conference. Would you prefer they reveal next gen in a separate conference before E3, and then use E3 to focus on games ala the Xbox One reveal (hopefully less poorly executed this time), or prefer them to do both reveals at E3?

Steve S

*Business question* Hi Jones. With the recent clip sharing update to the popular podcast app Overcast which allows clips of podcasts to be converted to video to then be sent on any messaging service (full details here <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/27/18520220/overcast-podcast-new-feature-share-clips)" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/27/18520220/overcast-podcast-new-feature-share-clips)</a> I was wondering a) Do you think this will catch on? Has spreading the word about the podcast and frame trap ever been an issue for you? And b) what is your opinion on the increase of 'platform exclusive podcast' as a whole and would you and the allies ever consider this approach? Love to hear your thoughts.

Cabbagelad

Jones, you've mentioned before that you expect Rockstar to go back to a more comedic style in GTA 6. I'm sure you're right, but do you think that revision would have to include going back to a juvenile sense of humor? Watching this season of HBO's Barry, I'm struck by how well its story would fit a GTA game. It's mature yet funny, violent but still has an emotional core; it's not the type of humor that would ever ask me to tattoo a penis onto someone's chest. GTA and Red Dead are very different games and worlds, but I think it's perfectly fair to expect Rockstar to keep the sophistication of Red Dead's storytelling in their future narratives, and I would be very disappointed if GTA continues to have moments I'd be embarrassed to show a friend. As always, L&amp;R.

You keep talking about other content creators you aspire to be and while I can see you wanting to emulate their success, please allow me to add my 2 cents: Please do not aspire to be Kinda Funny. While I enjoy their content to a certain extent, I also have problems with how they put out content. The patreon audience is split into games and non games, with the amount of money each is at not reflected in their content (i.e. Games is on more each month, we should focus on that over other entertainment). They are constantly taking money from other companies and doing outside work, which wouldn't be a problem if it didn't impact their normal output. Greg Miller, a personality I like, is barely on their shows as he is off doing other things that the patrons DID NOT PAY TO SEE. And they're image to other people mattered to them so much, they split up with one of their founding members, who I choose to support instead of them. They're getting a lot of ad money, they shouldn't require me to give them £5 when they're on a square einx stage selling FFXV. I know they are successful, but I enjoy EZA due to ALL your personalities working off each other and would miss anyone if they were forced to sell something they don't believe in, were out on assignments I do not care about, or, god forbid, one of you left due to creative difficulties. I love what you guys do, I also respect what KF do to an extent, but it's not what I signed up for. L&amp;R

If something's not working for you, try to find another way to get in touch with us rather than waiting on Cup of Jones. It seems as if there's been an issue with Patreon's podcast feeds, and you may need to add the link fresh. To find your personalized link, visit Patreon on a web browser (not the app) and go to the overview tab. You should see the RSS audio link on the top right above the reward tiers. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

And just reinforcing that I'm just playing devil's advocate here. L&amp;R!

Minamik

While I understand the reasoning behind the Tabletop Escapades hiatus, allow me to play devil's advocate here for a second. How do you feel about a show that's promised as the $6,000 patreon goal going on hiatus, while in the past there've been many examples even at GT of things that filled in while someone was gone, such as fan art episodes, one-offs (such as the amazing episode featuring yourself and Don), and even Fiasconauts which originated as a fill in for Tabletop Adventures. Just wanted to hear your take on a hiatus for a show that's actually tied to a monetary goal, as opposed to the shows we get that aren't tied to it, such as Fiasconauts and It's EZ to Like Anime.

Minamik

Do you and Amanda still play Hearthstone? If not, what made you guys quit or decide to take a break from the game? If you still play, what are your impressions of the most recent expansion, Rise of Shadows? Do you like where Hunter is in the current metagame?

redskyy

Save

Varun Kachhwaha

Hey Jones, I have a tech question, so I guess it counts as business. So is there a problem with my podcast app or did you stop uploading the EZA stuff there? Not a big problem since I can get everything also on the Patreon app, but it is much more convenient to organise all your audio content in the iPhone podcast app than it is here in the patreon app. Since it’s the first time ever writing here I don’t wanna just leave it at that but also say that I love what you guys are doing, been a fan of GT since you guys practically replaced my tv when I started studying almost ten years ago. Finally started pledging money once I started earning some money, and haven’t regretted it ever since. Keep up the great stuff, Love and respect all the way from Germany, Max

Max Thomaßen

Personal Question Mr. Jones, During your talk with Huber about adaptations you two rightly stated there were too many to mention during that show. I would like your take on "The Crow" which I consider one of the better comic to film adaptations. Love and Respect

Rattslinger

Safety Post

Happy Gaming

What are the best, or just your personal favorite Gothic and Gothic horror themed video games? I'm down to get into movies and the like closer to Halloween, but figured it might be a little too early for that for right now.

Happy Gaming

Brandon - In the future what if you turned one of the offices in the studio into an impromptu streaming room for casual streams where the Allies could blow of some steam after meeting deadlines and dealing with responsibilities with some Gundam Building, the occasional board game or Card Tournaments? You could call it the Gundam Room. You could even invest in a foldable table that's used for Poker and Bridge for a quick set up. You could decorate the room with finished Gundams! It would be so cool to have some spontaneous casual third stage for streams where allies could drop in and just be silly. I miss those Gundam streams and the occasional Jones building Legos streams.

Jason Walstrom

Business Question: Hi Jones. I’m writing in regards to your Days Gone review. From what I’ve seen in other reviews and previews, the cast appears to lack representation in areas of both gender and race. For that reason, calling the cast diverse in your review surprised me. Since to me, it doesn’t seem particularly diverse. Is there more varied representation in game than has been shown in previews so far? When you said the cast was diverse were you instead referring to personality, background, stories, or perhaps their voice actors? I guess my main question is, what was your reasoning for calling the cast diverse? If you could speak a bit more on this, I would appreciate it.

Michelle Jackson

Apologies if this has been asked before but I 'must' ;) ask if there is a backstory to Cup of Jones. Where did you get the cup from, has it always been the same cup on Cup of Jones? where did the idea of naming the show 'cup of Jones' and not something boring like weekly questions come from. And is that your favourite cup?

Varun Kachhwaha

Howdy

Varun Kachhwaha

Greetings Jones, my question is about Don't Skip. I think it's a brilliant idea to do these because we have so many great games we miss that need to be spotlighted. I really enjoy them and I've noticed that you guys haven't been making very many lately. Is there a set number you try to do a year or is it just whenever you want to make one you do?

strawhatninja

Hello Brandon. Will you react to Upload’s E3 VR showcase set for June 10th? And on Kinda Funny Game’s showcase at E3 2019? L&amp;R

Mikael Agnell

Hey Jones, I was really excited when you guys announced and then hit your goal for producing countdowns again, and I think you have done some great and amusing stuff so far. However I think there is a difference between the traditional countdowns (like Towns) and the single-ally jokey ones (like Chumps). I like both of these and I appreciate the variety but sometimes I can't help but feel the tiniest bit of disappointment when a jokey countdown takes up the allotted monthly slot. That being said I really do enjoy the jokey ones and I think it would be really cool for allies like Ben and Huber to do their own silly ones as well. I was wondering if you would be interested in or have thought about doing one of EACH a month, meaning a traditional countdown with every allies opinion as well as a jokier single-ally countdown. I know these take a lot of work and y'all are very busy, but I do think this would be a good way for allies to be able to produce their own weird and silly countdowns without taking away from the more traditional format. Thanks so much, Love and Respect, Ellie aka hydroshutterbug.

Elliette Kee

We're supposed to reply to fanmail? I didn't want to mess with your days... Would have loved to reply!

Mick Roper

Personal Question: Have you ever had to deal with a close family member passing away? If so how did you deal with that? If you didn’t want to answer this I would understand, as it is a very personal question. Owen D-J

Owen D-J

Hey Jones Long time patron first time question asker. It's been said a few times that the betting specials are most likely going to go back to just Kyle vs Huber. If that's the case have you guys put any thought into what you are going to do with that sweet sweet EZA Championship Belt now? My suggestion, take it or leave it, it could be used for tournament nights. Winner of the tournament is the new champion and it gets defended at the next. This way everyone still has a chance to win it. L&amp;R Ryan / phantomfreak on Twitch.

Ryan Cassidy

that sounds pretty annoying!

David Curtis

I don't get why you wrote down "cool leaderboards" for mysterious monsters but the idea of a poll-oriented question was considered "changing the show entirely". At one point you explain at length how you don't have any say on Mysterious Monsters, and then you write down another idea about it. Weird.

Térence Caron

Most of em got sick because of the concert &amp; meet-up. Add to that the stress/lack of sleep.. it's almost inevitable

Sven Van Lathem

Mr. Jones, What chances and risks are you willing to take, knowing that there is a real chance you might fail? These could be business or personal, and if possible please include one of each. If you play it safe please let us know why that is. Amanda Standby question: What is the most indulgent thing that you treat yourself to?

Morgan Mohalla

Jones! I did it! After becoming a $1 Patron in January I watched very single Cup of Jones and now I can ask my question! You briefly mentioned a couple times that you've been to Club 33. I heard it's a very exclusive and secretive club. What can you tell us about your experience in there? What CAN'T you tell us? I understand if you can't say anything but whatever you're allowed to share I'd love to hear. Thanks! -Mike Federico (FED-err-EEK-oh)

Michael Federico

Hello Mr. Jones! My wife and I will be visiting Disneyland for our first time all this week starting the day before you record this. I was curious what food you would tell us we had to have if you were our Disneyland guide. Are there any Brandon Jones' essentials that everyone must try at least once? And do you or Amanda have a favorite food, treat, or restaurant you almost always make time for? If it helps, we have reservations for carnation Cafe (breakfast and dinner), Cafe Orleans, Blue Bayou, Lamplight Lounge, and Tortilla Jo's. I plan to definitely try the lobster nachos, Monte Cristo, matterhorn macaroon, all of the beignets, and by the time you are recording I'll have already paid the Little Red Wagon a visit. Thank you for your time and all of your and the allies' hard work, kind sir! And my god, I hope you aren't answering this on an empty stomach.

MrMattatee

Hey Jones, Regarding that comment about review writing style, I have been thinking about something similar as well. Considering how much you have evolved since early Gametrailers to current Easy Allies in terms of content creation, company structure and etc., your reviews haven’t changed as much. Your reviews, while are very well written and produced, are a bit too “formal” and a little hard to relate IMO for a “YouTube channel” whose biggest appeals are your “internet personalities” and jolliness/chill vibes. IMO the writing style still feels like it’s coming from a large corporation with a big editorial team, but Easy Allies is not Viacom’s Gametrailers anymore. The majority of your audiences are here to see the uniquely talented Allies, I feel it would be great if you could reflect and celebrate that more in the reviews – one of your most popular/appealing content. YouTubers/YouTube channels like Angry Joe, gameranx’s “Before you buy”, the recently exploded channel Girlfriend Reviews, movie reviewers like Jeremy Jahns, Chris Stuckmann, or even a lot of the tech YouTubers like Marques Brownlee, Linus Tech Tips are some great examples of what I am talking about. They are all very successful in showing their uniqueness while being casual, relatable and easy to understand, as opposed to the muted style/anonymity found in the reviews and articles from big professional journalist sites like IGN or Gamespot. Please don’t get me wrong, I am not criticizing your content nor am I saying you should change all your reviews from now on. Obviously you have been doing this for a long time and your video game reviews are among the best on internet that are beloved by many and draws a lot of views. It’s only a direction I hope to see you guys explore in the future, and I think a lot of fans like me will be interested to see as well. Perhaps you can start with experiments for certain games? A Huber unleashed review of Shenmue 3 would be awesome! Or something that’s less scripted, longer format, reviewer on camera style review on an indie game that wouldn’t get a review otherwise? Or even an older game that you didn’t get to talk about? Or it could be the new format of Don’t Skip so it’s differentiated from reviews? Just some food for thoughts. L&amp;R Stan

Stan

Hi Brandon! How long will you allow Community showcase to get, before you'll end up making a time limit, and doing a hard cut Q&amp;A style? :)

Personal question: If you there could be any amusement park attraction or ride based off of a video game, no limit on scope, what would you like to see? Personally, I think it would be fun to have a rollercoaster where the cars look like a Mario fireball and you are shot out of the hand of a gigantic Mario statue.

Josh Burcham

Do the podcasts get some volume normalization that Friend Code doesn't get? For some reason it's the one podcast that requires me to change the volume up and down as I'm listening to it because it fluctuates so much. Also I sent a message to you on Patreon that I figured would be better to ask in private, just letting you know.

Kris Fredrick

By the time you read this hopefully you have watched Avengers Endgame, if not please ignore. What was your favorite moment from the film and why?

Dale Payne

A bit warning when watching a movie in finnish theater for subbed movies that aren't in finnish or swedish. We have both finnish and swedish subtitles in it because of dual language.

Trung Nguyen

Hi Jones, Today's musical theatre selections come from some funny guys from the screen taking on Broadway. Specifically in the form of: - The Book of Mormon - The Producers and - Spamalot

Asbo Zappruder

Hi All

Mikehook1

Business question: Hey Jones, I know you have received many questions in the past about the flickering lights in the new studio on the podcast stage so my apologies about asking about them again. But has there been any more progress in figuring out why that keeps happening? I know you had mentioned before you weren't sure if it was a electrical issue where you guys might be pulling too much electrical juice or if the lights were just faulty. Also if it is an electrical issue are you guys responsible in paying for someone coming out to fix that or is the landlord who you rent from supposed to take care of that? If the lights are faulty are you guys responsible in getting new lights and fixing that yourselves or is the company you guys used to build the stage responsible to come out and fix that since it appears to be a defects with the lights they installed versus you guys broke them from negligence. Thanks, Chris Eyerly

Chris Eyerly

Business question: Regarding the new switch challenges show. Will you guys expand this to Xbox and PlayStation

Sekiro505

Hi, will there be another fundraising stream this year before the E3?

Hey Mr. Jones! I know you touched on this briefly around the Anniversary week, but I was hoping if you would (but it’s alright if you don’t) define what, “very very very soon” means regarding the final Retro news. Does that mean the announcement will be at E3? Within the month? I’m not asking to break the announcement itself before EZA is ready to reveal that to the community and audience at large, but a slightly more known window of, “within a few months or weeks” would be greatly appreciated. Thanks as always for taking my question and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! P.S.: The following is 100% intended to be read light-hearted and with a smile: It appears the issue you lovingly lambasted me for (because of misunderstanding me when I said “sip” to mean the actual action) a long time ago about people opening a drink, taking a sip, then leaving it just to collect dust still is in epidemic with EZA. My thoughts are with you during this difficult time.

Brandon K Gann

I don't think I've ever heard any difference in sound quality in different rooms. You guys are such perfectionists, lol

gruntelite

Hold

MGS-JUNKIE

Hey Jones, I’m a relatively new patron, and have a question about the nature of reviews. How much of a rush is there to get a review out as close as possible to the launch date? I would think that people would be looking for reviews around the time when a game launches, but is there a drop off if a review comes out maybe a week after launch? Also, is there much of a shelf life for a review? That is to say, could a review find itself no longer accurate a year or more down the line? Is there any merit to reviewing a game that came out years ago? Cheers! -Eric

g&amp;s has done vampire masquerade

Soul

Insert comment

discardedDigit

Hello Jones! I was watching the Podcast(Easy Allies Podcast #155 - 3/27/19), and it was mention that both you and Ian played Vampire the Masquerade tabletop version. I love the World of Darkness tabletop games, is there any chance you guys will do a special tabletop episode of Vampire the Masquerade, near the release Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2? Or even use different rule sets for that series? I am off and on watching cup of jones I this was asked before let me know here. (^_^ )

Hello Brandon! As an audiophile headphone user, I have a few suggestion for improving the acoustic experience of the live streams. This is all subjective, it is possible that the things I'm about to write are not bothering the majority of viewers. Problem: Touching the mics or bumping into them. Suggestion: Microphones on the sealing. Bumping into the mics is something that can't be avoided as long as they are next to your feet and hands. Mounting them on the sealing might be complicated and would cost additional money, but I think it is something worth researching and investing in. Some peace of mind. Problem: Robot Voice Solution: Get on top of it. I don't know what is causing the robot voice, so I can't say how to fix it. But it happens a lot and is really nasty. Please take the time to deal with it to the point where you are confident that the problem is eliminated. Problem: The cracking noise of snack packaging. Solution: Bowls There is nothing louder than when someone opens a bag of Gummibears. And then the noise keeps happening over the course of the stream, as the bag goes around and hands reach into it. This could be fixed by providing bowls and encouraging the allies to empty snacks into them. (Preferably off-camera.) L&amp;R Snowcone Guy

Snowcone Guy

Hi Brandon. Last month almost every ally got sick which was probably due to the fact that you all gather in one room for multiple hours for various shows and group streams. I think that health is the most important thing and if someone doesn’t feel well, he should stay home for the wellbeing of himself and the others. I also understand that not every show can skip an episode, because of sponsorship or other deals. But I think that there’s a middle ground. For example, EZA podcast can absolutely have another host, like it sometimes happened with GT Live. I understand if you don’t want to go into details, but can you at least confirm that you're planning to take some steps to try to avoid another health crisis in the future.

Alexander Zyryanov

You have mentioned in several Cup of Jones episodes about running a marathon. Curious to know what you have done in the past to prepare for it, in terms of training and eating, and if you are planning to run another one in the future.

Professor Metal Gear