Frame Trap - Episode 74 "Finally Here"

Hi Ben, Huber and Brad, I heard your comments about the trend of games to offer daily rewards just for logging in and completing small challenges and I wanted to offer my perspective. I used to be a big Facebook/mobile game player (Farmville, casinos, mysteries crime, jigsaw puzzle, etc) and felt compelled to log in daily to complete challenges, sometimes side-stepping other responsibilities to do so. It hit me how obtrusive it was getting when I was called into the office at work because I was using software to collect bonuses in the background, while doing my work in the foreground and it was frowned upon. My immediate impulse was to justify it saying I was still completing my work and it wasn’t interfering, however I had to take a step back and look at it from the company’s perspective. It was using data resources that should have been available for other company-related tasks. I hadn’t realized how consumed I was with the game play until that moment. I have never really been addicted to anything and so, my personality being what it is, I just stopped playing. I did what Huber said and let it go. Not everyone can do that and a lot of people have addiction tendencies and it can lead to problems. Game companies feed on that addictive tendency and hope they can hook people into playing daily and buying the coin special packages or bonus levels etc. to the point where these addicted people spend time and money on these games that should be going to feed their families and live their lives. Prime example of this was when I went on vacation to Florida with my sister. She’s retired, disabled military and doesn’t work so she has hours and hours every day to play games. I work two jobs, have a teenager in activities and a diabetic husband to take care of and this was my first vacation without them. I wanted to do things and see sights but we had to stop every two hours for 30-45 min at a time so she could log onto her games and collect her bonuses and trade stuff with people and it was very frustrating. We missed out on several things, got our meal schedules out of whack and finally at one point I decided to go off by myself to the beach because I’d never seen the ocean before. She caved and went with me and we had a great time. For people in your line of work, you HAVE to play the newest games and spend hours on game play in order to review and rate the games for your podcasts and shows. People depend on your opinions to make their choices. Choosing which games to devote your time to is akin to a doctor choosing which medical journals to read to improve their ability to treat their patients. They read topics related to their field and from respected peers and have to balance between learning new treatments for the maladies they cover and treating patients with these maladies. If they read something too old, they run the risk of the medical technology advancing and new procedures come out they don’t know about and someone could suffer because of it. I know you guys don’t treat matters of life and death so your more like Podiatrists rather than Cardiologists =) but you are “experts” in the field, not everyday people with everyday lives. That being said, a lot of everyday people get wrapped up in game play and forget the number one rule… games are for entertainment purposes and should not consume your life. If it’s a choice between playing a game and experiencing an activity, life responsibilities should come first. I’d rather watch my child play in the band concert than play Pokemon, even if it seems boring, because I’ll never get these years back. And with games, you never have anything tangible, just a list of numbers. And yeah, you can make a list of games you completed and it can feel like an accomplishment, but what if you totaled up all the hours you spent on those games and had devoted that time to playing an instrument or learning some other skill? It’s all about priorities. Best to you all L&R April Beatty @jessie_blu_

JessieBlu

Looks a bit unbalanced with Ben half cut-off on the left side of the screen but Huber fully visible on the right. Maybe pan the camera left 6 inches?

Thorfkin

It's going to take me some time to get used to the new opening; thankfully the content is all classic Frame Trap goodness

The Disney worlds that are solely there to capitalize on their popularity are pretty bad. They just go through the plot of the film while Sora and pals just look on. There's definitely more good than bad though as the Pixar worlds and San Fransokyo are both fantastic as they incorporate the lore of Kingdom Hearts into those worlds in a super smart way. Kingdom Hearts III is overall a great experience.

Phazonmasher

Love the new intro and hottake sign! Could the mega sponsor bit and the sponsor list be upgraded too? It is slightly odd having Ben sit on the other side but it's fine. :)

Ben Bernard-Smith

About that Ace Combat 7 dog: <a href="https://www.pcgamesn.com/ace-combat-7-skies-unknown/jpg-dog" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.pcgamesn.com/ace-combat-7-skies-unknown/jpg-dog</a> tl;dr It was one of the developers recently passed dog

Great episode. Love the RE2 remake discussion. About the studio changes, it's better framed than the EA Podcast was, but hey, it's Frame Trape so... better framing right? :) Still, I understand now it's the new feel you are going for, but this retro 80's trying to be cool style... it's not you. I feel a disconect between your personalities, the way you present yourselves and the joly feel that this group always had, and the background, the studio and the choice of lights and style. You are a group of people with a certain type of vibe, and this is not in sync with you. It's really weird. Maybe I'll get used to it, but I think it doesn't quite work. It's like if you had a camping shop decorated like it was a bookstore, it just doesn't click.

Miguel Pires Ramos

#1 Ben.. yer too hard on yerself. #2 love the new intro theme. I.. hated the old one. #3 Keep up the amazing work!

Raven Perez

Fun episode.

MBUN

Interesting Anthem discussion... the thing I can't get past though is that it seems like Anthem consumed Mass Effects resources leading to the Andromeda hot mess. I loved Mass Effect, it's hard not to hate Anthem before it is even released.

Matt Brookbank

I was about to say the same thing.

Sare

Love the new opening guys!! God, the second I finished KH3 I was so impatiently waiting for this episode and checking every few hours I swear. And it totally lived up to it!! Extremely excited for the eventual Spoiler Mode.

Ben, you're messing up my brain sitting on the left instead of the right.

Minamik

Ben linking to Pat of the former Best Friends my worlds are colliding!

kaizerlith

That’s what I’ve been hearing. Xehanort’s Japanese VA passed away as well but they probably decided he was too important to keep quiet or write out. Also, it was a soundalike rather than Devito voicing Phil in previous games - I believe that actor also voiced Harvey Bullock in Batman TAS.

Behon

I heard they wanted to respect the Japanese actor who passed away so they kept Phil silent. Yeah other actors have passed so it might be redundant to keep certain ones silent while others are replaced. To each their own tho.

Soul

Depends on what you think is a spoiler

Ibrahim Sozer

Can anyone give me info on how bad if any KH3 spoilers? Ticking clock!!!

Jeffrey Tessar

I agree, the other one was much more cosier, not that I hate this one, I just think the other one fitted better with the podcast.

Varun Kachhwaha

New intro song is SICK

Jaclyn

Great logo!!

Megan Linart

New Frame Trap, New studio, and Kingdom Hearts 3. This is gonna be AWESOME!

Asthenosphere

please bring back the old music

BigTurkey

Now I want a Huber syndrome series where Huber interviews the Allies' parents.

fuyunotabi

New logo is too perfect, shout-out to those awesome graphic designers!

faqsimil

Love the new logo!

Aaron Kirk - Kurxx

What an awesome logo.

Kaleb