Cup of Jones - October 11, 2018

You're welcome! Thanks for being a Patron! - Brandon

Easy Allies

Love this reply, thank you. - Brandon

Easy Allies

Hey Jones, First off thanks for answering my question from last week in such detail. It was not only was it a surprise you thought that was the editorial question pick for that episode, but it made me happy in a weird sense that my question deserved to be look at so heavily. Didn't think it was editorial worthy enough, so thanks! :) P.S. Everything you said made sense and I totally get all the points you made in regards to my question! Looking forward to the future of EZA. Personal Question: I believe it was E3 2011, Uncharted 3 was there on display, and it was my first time ever going to an E3. I ran into your old editor and chief from GameTrailers, Shane Satterfield, and we got to discussing about GT, talking about getting me to come on as an intern (that turned out to be a disaster and never came to fruition, not Shane's fault), and some general discussion of the staff at GT. When he asked me where I was located and I told him Torrance, he mentioned you were from around that area and more specifically Palos Verdes. I thought that was cool that someone who I admire in your line of work was from my neck of the woods and got me thinking about places I had been to that could have been potential the same stomping grounds you had as well. So my question is in regards to that. Did you ever frequent the Del Amo mall much growing up in PV? More specifically did you frequent Aladdin's Castle, that large arcade they had in that old section of the mall they demolished several years back (or maybe pin city? It was a trading card shop near Aladdin's Castle.)? And if so, do you have any fond nostalgia like memories of that place? Do you miss the times of when arcades were so popular and gamers would flock to go there? Thanks for answering my question again! :)

Chris Eyerly

Hey Jones! Personal question incoming: my girlfriend isn't really into gaming. She played some Mario Kart and SSX on the Gamecube in the past, but that's about it. What she does like are card and board games. so we play a lot of Skip-Bo, Sequence and Rummikub to name a few. Do you and Amanda have non-digital games that the two of you play or that you play with friends or family? And if yes: do you have some recommendations? To close off I would like to say that you guys are doing a stellar job and I tip my hat to you for your transparency surrounding financials, goals and plans. Love & Respect Stefan

Stefan Vlemmix

Hey Jones, one thing that has always impressed me about you and the EZA crew is how hard you guys work to put together a quality product. I admire what you guys have been able to do despite the obvious limitations of staff and aggressive deadlines, so my question is how do you manage your time? I'm in my mid-20s and I can barely fit everything into my schedule with a 9-5, crew (rowing) practice, a girlfriend, and what little spare time I have to game and work on solo projects. I am incredibly sleepy all the time despite getting 6-8 hours a night, so any advice on how someone with your workload handles healthy life choices would be insightful. Keep up the good work!

Kanlink

Howdy Jones! I was watching the Blackout stream and have a suggestion for scenarios like that where the person playing would greatly benefit from hearing the game. You can get a bluetooth transmitter and receiver (about $50 for both), hook the transmitter up to the audio out of your TV, and the receiver has a headphone jack for the allies to plug their headphones of choice into. That way you can keep the TV volume low and then whoever is playing plugs into the receiver and can still hear the game audio. I currently have a setup like this and can highly recommend it, especially for gaming while your spouse is sleeping! Let me know if you're interested and I can maybe email you the specific ones I ordered. Cheers! Andrew

RobBobWill

Brandon, I have noticed that you sometimes have a classic comedy duo dynamic with Kyle. Except instead of it being the straight man and the stooge, it is the slightly frustrated man and the smarmy man (no offence to Kyle, I find him extremely funny). You shutting down Kyle during the whole Cyclops Eye exchange was hilarious and nearly made me do a spit-take (it also helps that I am a huge Cyclops fan and was screaming "It's Ruby-Quartz!" in my mind). It often seems like there is some level of intention in these exchanges. How often do you think you guys intentionally play into a bit for the amusement of the audience? Also, do you have a lot of these exchanges off camera? Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Jones. Cheers!

James Kennedy

Have you ever had the chance to game with a surround sound setup, and if so, for which games did it really enhance the experience?

Hey Brandon, How would you classify who is an "ally", is it only the the 9 of you, or is everyone who is a fan and/or part of the community an "ally". Do you mind it if people call themselves an ally even though they aren't part of the 9?

Jones! I was curious if you could provide a brief history of Game Trailers, Easy Allies, and how one came to be the other. I know a few details: You started GT with a partner, Viacom bought you out but kept you on, sold GT to Defy, then Easy Allies happened after that went downhill. I'm sure you get this question a lot, so I was primarily curious: 1. Did you decide to start your own 'thing' while the writing was on the wall with GameTrailers? 2. How did you recruit the Allies? Was there a montage? 3. How do you feel about the business models? GT seemed more traditional (views = ads = moneys) whereas Easy Allies may be more stable while also requiring you to be much more transparent regarding your business and personal life? 4. What did you learn from GT that you'll keep in mind for Easy Allies? 5. When did you know you had 'the voice'?

Paul Meekin

Greetings, Jones. Has there been much discussion amongst the allies on how to handle your next Game of the Year stream? Hard to believe it's practically right about the corner. I was reviewing last January's, and I'd forgotten how relatively pushed along the earlier topics were in order for the proper GOTY discussion to not start too late. Would it better to have more of a day blocked out for comfier debates with some intermissions to recharge? Or how about the top game discussion—which took half the eight hour stream on its own—get a separate stream day so as not to crush the other topics with its anticipation? Just curious to hear any musings on the discussion format before it's banging down your door.

Kirbu

I believe it’s because Youtube has the ability to play nicely with Patreon when holding private patron-only streams :] I’m not 100% sure that twitch can even hold private streams.. Hope this helps! L&R :]

TAHK0

Howdy Jones! I’ve noticed an increased EZA effort on social media as of late (trailers being posted for Spoiler Mode, a tweet sent out for Hall of Greats starting, etc) and I just thought it was a topic worth bringing up again to hear more about! The social media push has been something discussed on Cup of Jones for awhile now, but now it seems like someone has dug up some time in their busy schedule to make it start happening. Any particular plans set in motion? Or is it just when someone has the time? Also, as a suggestion (if/when time allows), you could always post those top-tier of your top tier, EZA-flavored, twitch clips to twitter that really knock it out of the park! That way it’s way less work than coming up with enough clips to fill a highlight video, and it could be potentially retweet-friendly (as in a wider appeal) and break outside of the EZA fan base into general gaming twitter! I’m totally aware that this is even more work to add to your list, but you guys have the humor and gusto to make those viral tweets happen! 👍

TAHK0

Why is Cup of Jones the only show that EZA does that streams on YouTube and not Twitch. Follow up question, why does EZA prefer to stream on Twitch and not YouTube Gaming?

Evan Charles Teague

Hey Jones, what are your thoughts on the recent news that Rockstar dev's were pulling 100 hour work weeks in the crunch to get Red Dead 2 done?

Chris Georgaras

Hi there Jones, With news coming out that Sony is working on the PS5 and rumors about Xbox Scarlet on the horizon, it seems like next gen is not far away. However, I can't say that I'm excited about this prospect. Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like this gen is hitting its stride, with games like God of War and Spider-Man coming together to be something truly special. Red Dead 2 is right around the corner and we're in the middle of the second incredible year for games in a row. It doesn't feel like we're in those dying days of a console generation where we're desperate for something new to liven things up like we were at the end of last gen. Do you feel like companies are jumping the gun with new consoles or do you think it is necessary to move on to new systems at this point? L&R, Kyle "GOTYlocks" Lee

Kate Bishop

Hey jones with Rockstar recently admitting to making their employees work 100 hour a week for RDR2 which I think is a disgusting practice. I’ve stumbled into a bit of a moral quandary, should we as a consumer not support such practices by not purchasing the product or shrug it off as your purchases is likely to be inconsequential in the bigger picture as tens of millions that will buy it largely will never stop to think about this. Would really love your thoughts on this. Love and Respect.

nvm

Michael Rymar

[Personal and long] Hey, Jones. I'm not sure how to introduce the subject since it's not really a question but a thought. Not having a lot of spending money or time to play games, I spend most of the time reminiscing about the gaming experiences I've already had. While there are some childhood classics that I go back to once in a blue moon, I find that I've never actually replayed many games even once. Which brings me to my subject - I likely never will. Some of them are bound by restrictions, like being on platforms I don't own anymore, having defunct online multiplayer servers or being unpopular, middle of the road franchises or fads of their time that are likely never getting rereleases or remakes. It's heartbreaking really, as they were fond memories of my formative years as a gamer and as a person, but I face the likely possibility that I'll never ever go through them again in my life as I often lack the time or means to do so. Even worse, I lack the urge. Sometimes popping that cartridge back in is completely at my reach, but I fail to see a point, whether because they were "one and done" ordeals or even because they just weren't great games. It's a weird disconnect to have a nostalgia that embellishes and longs for the past while at the same time having no desire to re-experience it when confronted with the possibility. Throwing it back to you, Jones - have you ever been confronted with the idea that you'll likely never go through to a beloved experience again? Do you ever see yourself going back to Disney Infinity, for instance? Excuse the ramblings of someone who is clearly overthinking a pointless thought, but it's something I wanted to share and hopefully, it'll help spark some reminiscing of your own. Cheers, L&R

Rayluaza

Hello Jones. I'm sorry, but I'm disappointed with how the Starlink: Battle for Atlas review was handled. The review focused heavily on the Star Fox content, which is only available for the Switch version. While the Star Fox experience should be talked about in the review, it shouldn't have been the major focus as the game is also on PS4 and XBO. If Star Fox's presence is that important to the Switch version's story, the review either should have been longer to go over the difference between the PS4/XBO version and the Switch version OR do two reviews on the game. There was also a lack of the "toys-to-life" aspect of the game that could have been talked about in the review. Watching Damiani during his Starlink Twitch stream deflect criticisms of his review by insulting the viewers that they are "unintelligent" and that he will be "dumbing down" his future reviews is distasteful.

Ruffum

Jones, I want to bring one thing to your attention. On YouTube for Spoiler Mode Promo - Dragon Quest XI video one user have posted the following comment: "Sorry, I need that dollar to buy games. But I'll gladly watch your publicly available videos with ads." I think this is a totally valid opinion, since economies in different parts of the world are different, and for some people $1 is a lot. Even in US you can occasionally buy a month of Xbox Game Pass subscribtion for $1, which includes a lot of games. Yet despite the fact that this opinion was expressed in appropriate way (I think), several others have expressed negativity towards this person and even called his opinion "garbage". I think that calling names is not a good way to convince others to become your Patrons. So maybe you should ask our community to show a bit more love & respect even to those, who think that your content is not worth to pay for.

Alexander Zyryanov

It's funny hearing where other careers have naming issues. It's a big problem in software. To make the code maintainable you have to use good names. Especially in the modern world of 'self documenting code'. Anyway, what happened to the cosy streams where you and Amanda build Lego, or the guys build Gundams. Both were nice and, compared to a podcast, more conversational and unfocussed. Are they gone forever because of the time constraints of everything else you guys are trying to accomplish?

Kif

Long time fan (I typed game trailers into the url out of boredom in 2005 and it turned out to be a real website, no joke) first time writer. Thoughts on the new Aladdin movie?

Nineteenth

A few days ago I joined Easy Allies on Patreon and the Oct 11 episode of Cup of Jones was my first. I want to say thanks, Jones, for putting on such a great show. Cup of Jones has a very personal, almost intimate feel to it. I love everything you guys do, but these qualities really set Cup of Jones apart from the rest.. I've been a big fan of EZA for long time, but for the first time it's not just a part of my entertainment diet. Easy Allies feels like home, and you are a big part of that. Thanks, Jones. I can't wait for the next.

Hey Jones! 2018 has been an amazing year for games just like 2017. I think it would be cool if you guys would do a debate about which year is actually the better year in games. You could do that for any year really, but would this be something you think everyone would enjoy to do/participate in?

strawhatninja

Hey! You had the question last week that wanted you to write the youtube-link always in the description and I would really love this. In my everdaylife I'm often notified by mail for new content on Patreon and on my phone I'm using the icognito/private-mode all the time. When I click on the patreon-link in the mail patreon wants me to login and because of the icognito-mode everytime send a mail to verify the login. I tested the patreon-app, but on the iOS-side of things it's a little bit buggy, can't speak for Android. If you put the youtube-link in the description and do so at the beginning of the description to prevent patreon from cutting it short you would do me a real favor and I could go directly from the mail to the youtube-app and not from mail to patreon to mail to patreon to youtube-app :)

Stefan Bien

After his hall of greats performance, I would love a Tetris review!

Hey Jones, I am curious on your thoughts on video games being censored before coming over to the West. News recently surfaced that the latest Senran Kagura game will be removing an "intamacy mode" before being released to the West. While I dislike censorship, after seeing all the backlash Sony got regarding a very tame val chronicles 4 for being sexist, I can't say I blame them. So I am curious on your thoughts on the subject. Better a game be censored instead of not getting the game at all? Is Sony doing the right thing here? L&R

I don't know if this has been answered yet but have you guys talked about the unite button on YouTube ( I don't remember what's it called ) where people can pay a monthly fee and get extra stuff. All things considered because you guys have a lot of followers on YouTube

Sekiro505

The lovely Amanda Troop answered my question last week! Nice!!!

Sekiro505

A potential YouTube drive has been mentioned for some time. It kind of obvious but will this live event be a YouTube live stream? Asking since EZA hasn’t done anything live on YouTube yet to my knowledge. How will you handle not isolating the Twitch subscribers?

Kevin

Going back to the stuff about video clips for reviews can you go over at least how you (and blood if he’s in the chat) get clips for your own reviews. Are you just continually recording and remember things that might work. Do you purposely record certain things that you want to put in the review. Do you just randomly off and on record and see what fits afterwards

Jordan Ney

Jones I just want to say thank you for your twitter comment on mental health. It really empowers me to stay the course and be open about mental health.

inrainbow09

For what it's worth, you get the same upskirt effect with Alexios. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Jones: Recognizable Disney songs and no Bear Necessities? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08NlhjpVFsU" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08NlhjpVFsU</a>

GW Fawkes

Good morning Mr. Jones, In your last Cup of Jones you gave us free reign to be nitpicky... so here I am. While watching the Easy Allies review of Assassins Creed Odyssey I noticed something that irked me a bit. At about the 6:40 mark, just after mentioning finding the "perfect look" for the character, we get a shot of the female protagonist swimming underwater with a direct view up her skirt. I'm sure this is just me being nitpicky, but this felt wrong. Easy Allies is a group of nine males who traditionally seem to have nothing but respect for women, but this shot preceded by comments of finding the perfect look seems to undermine that idea. I am curios as to why this shot specifically was chosen, and whether or not this is something that even crossed your minds as potentially offensive? I love EZA and would hate for something like this to bring negative attention to the allies. - Erick Swan

Swan

I keep missing the new Thursday time slot.

Tokyo Slim

In Regards to Leaf blowing. As a former "LandScape-ing Artist" (I worked for a guy for 1 year, 10 hours a day raking, blowing leaves, mowing lawns, etc..) Essentially there is a back and fourth pattern to moving all of the debris. Usually leaf blowing was used to get acorns and other shit out of the grass on a lawn. So you have a 50 foot by 50 foot area of yard, You would begin at one point, blow the "stuff" out of the grass about 3-6 feet forward, and work your way across the lawn, and then back and fourth moving everything in th lawn forward until the job is complete. So if you are near the house, it means walking away and towrds the house for 10 minutes or so, depending on how much junk there is. Then you rake it up and work on the next section of lawn. Repeat ad nauseam until the entire lawn is free of debris. And there are a variety of other areas where using a leaf blower is put to use in this way. Also clearning crap off of a drive way or the road. The more clean the landscaper wants your yard to look and the surrounding area after the "landscaping" is complete. The more you are going to hear those leaf blowers. Often with a team of 2-3 going at it, while 1 guy packs all the equipment. Anyways there you have it. I would not be surprised if this is exactly what was going on outside of the garage.

Origosis

Video Starts at 7:55-ish

Origosis

Talking about that microtransactions and solo games being too long/grindy, you used Spiderman as an example but Sony's exclusives have always been well protected from microtransactions (at least payed games, not free to plays). The only one I can think about is GT Sport, but microtransactions arrived way after launch and the game's economy is far from being "a grind". I also feel like many gamers nowadays consider effort in games as "grind". The grind has always been in games, cause you can't make your character progress (or earn cosmetics) all the times without effort, especially in a multiplayer game. But it's also a trend because as you said, the goals nowadays is not to sell even more games, the game market being saturated. The goal is to make people play the same game for months, even years.

Térence Caron

Post saver

Alex McMillan

Hey Jonesy, I'm sure you're well aware of how much of a fan favourite "Design Lab" streams have been for the Allies in the past, but it's clear to me these work best when the creation tools being used are simple and allow for quicker creation, with Mario Maker being more intuitive than Far Cry 5, for instance. I bring this up because inevitably the next massive "creation" game EZA will be looking to stream is 'Dreams', and I worry the expectation on the crew to take the time to each make something meaningful for a stream might be unreasonable. So I'd like to suggest having something akin to a "Community Showcase" stream for Dreams on a group stream night. Put out an open call for people to make stuff in Dreams to be played by the Allies on a group stream night. This would take the pressure off you all to do a quickfire Don's Design Lab with what is essentially a full game engine, but would also give you more than enough content to fill a Dreams stream. I also think this could work in the meantime with games such as Super Mario Maker if you wanted to test the waters. L&amp;R Alex McMillan - Northern Ireland

Alex McMillan

Star Trek Parody: YES!

Matt Brookbank

Congrats! You just won a bet with Kyle and now he has to do a review of a game! Do you have him review a classic game? One of your favorites? A game none of the allies would get to? A horror game? And of course what game would it be?

Parasitepaladin

I'll have to disagree with the bending ranking. Air is number 1, then water with earth just slightly behind that and fire being dead last by a mile.

NowHoldOnaMinute

This is actually a sweet idea. Framed images of each game!

Samuel Cardwell

Just my own two cents, but if EZA is your preferred source for reviews, then it’s natural to want the review as soon as possible, especially if you're basing your purchase on how it’s reviewing. We’re waiting so long for these games sometimes, that the last thing we want to do is wait even longer once it’s out. Not trying to speak for Jones, but I’d almost bet he would actively encourage you to “cave” and check out other reviews, regardless of whether EZA’s review is up by embargo or not, as it’s always good to get multiple opinions anyways. You definitely don’t need to feel guilty about that, which you don’t say, but I get that vibe from your comment. Obviously we’d all love to have reviews on day one (Probably none more so than EZA themselves I’d bet), but one nice thing about a late review is that it’s a nice opportunity to hear their opinions, and compare them to your own, after you’ve already had a chance to play some of the game yourself. :)

BeatenDownBrian

[Personal] Hey Jones. If the future EZA Studio has a decent hallway, will you implement a literal Hall of Greats?

discardedDigit

Dear Jones Just want to say, I became part of patreon just because I wanted to listen to Cup of Jones. You’re the best.

Kola Aina

Hello! Any interest in returning to Reindeer Academy this winter? Could be a fun annual video where you'd all script and perform an episode of the next season. *Editing this in after listening to the DQ11 Spoiler Mode, please read this one if two questions aren't allowed!* Any chance of answering questions for a Spoiler Mode? Since Spoiler Modes are really the only place for a good amount of time to get the allies to discuss a new game thoroughly and fresh from playing, it is a little disappointing to not hear thoughts on certain things that stuck out to me. It could even a be tier to submit questions. That said, I love the free discussions from allies who want to talk about the subject and wouldn't want them to become a checklist to things to do.

Tyson Nguyen

Hello Jones, so with the heavy review season coming up I know with only 4 people reviewing it can be a long process of getting a review up on the embargo day, personally it doesn’t bother me that much and it’s far from the end of the world but sometimes not seeing your review go up the day many other outlets go up can be just a slight downer due to you guys being my number one outlet I go to. But shamefully I cave in and sometimes find myself moving on to other outlets for some reviews. I will still come back to watch yours when they come out no matter what. But I really wish you guys could be my first choice because I love the allies reviews more than any other. If you don’t mind could you maybe give me some insight on the process of how reviews are produced? It will give me a better understanding and help build a little more patience within myself. Im not asking you guys to rush or make your reviews come out the same as everyone else’s, and I’m sorry if this seems greedy just know I mean this in the utmost respect to you guys.

Megan Linart

Hey Mr. Jones! As I was watching the podcast over the past couple of weeks, I started to notice some of the lighting and clarity of some of the shots were different. For example, the one-shot on you seemed brighter and clearer than the wide shot or the one shot on the other Allies. SO: does this mean you are using different kinds of cameras for each shot, or is every camera being used for the podcast uniform (in other words, the same brands, the same size, etc.) and the settings are just slightly off? Just a small thing, but wanted to call to your attention that some shots were not consistent. Thanks as always for taking my question and have a wonderful day. Cheers!

Brandon K Gann

They did this already earlier this year and finished that stream playing bloodborne, they had a cool trailer for that campaign

Hey Jones, Your video on Final Fantasy VI was honest, emotional and really insightful. I know it was also in correlation to the recent Hall of Greats stream and that ceremony. Perhaps I've missed something, but I really think that EZA should try making more of these kinds of videos when you guys find the time. (If that's even possible, you guys are always swamped with work) I understand if it didn't attract enough views or attention to warrant more work on that front, but there's something very special that video had in it's essence that I really resonated with as a viewer, (perhaps that's the nature of those kinds of personal gaming experience type videos) so I really hope you guys make more of that style of content. Is that something we can ever expect?

Brandon, good morning, have you or any or the allies tought in live streaming events you attent to, you could use, twitch, facebook, periscope or could be the perfect oportunity to use your instagram account, it could be nice to have a live stream.

Daniel Garza Andrade

Hey, Brandon! I'd love it if you could answer this question as I think its pretty important. Have you guys talked about putting aside money (whether from Patreon or a donation stream like the E3 one) to upgrade everyone's personal stream setups? For example: a good camera, microphone, stream computer, consoles, etc. The reason I ask is because the quality of some of the personal streams is of a poorer quality compared to others. I think having a consistent stream quality among the allies could only be beneficial.

Kyle Armstrong

Hello good sir, thanks for doing cup of Jones. Always interesting to hear your take and some of the thought processes behind decisions/projects. As someone who has studied psychology and has specialized somewhat in training (personal growth/learning about oneself) and also having a significant other that is going through a traineeship right now with lots of personal development programs, I was wondering whether you guys at EZA do anything like that? For example, do you set personal goals/group goals, other than the 'practical stuff' like getting projects done, but more in the vein of group dynamics/personal growth/learning about oneself. Do you guys give feedback to each other in sort of a formal setting? If not, do you ever consider implementing something like this within EZA? What is your personal opinion on these kinds of implementations within businesses? Sorry for the somewhat longwinded way of asking :). L&amp;R Django

Djazzy