Cup of Jones - July 24, 2018

Hi, Jones! Really enjoy everything y'all do! This is probably the first question in a series about your career and career-related advice. Do you ever feel that people are not appreciative enough of the hard work you (and the others!) put into the Easy Allies? To be clear, I'm referring to people you meet or may know already in person. Do you think the people in your life ever chalk you up to "a guy who has a job playing video games," instead of someone who worked hard to get where you (all) are today? If I may kind of ask a second - though related - question, does that take any of the enjoyment out of your job? (You don't have to read this, but just so you know why I'm asking): I'm wondering if the trade-off to having what may be your dream job is that everyone may take the challenges you face for granted, essentially. Thanks for everything! Love & Respect, Ryan

Jones! I got one for ya! An observation I have made over the last year of monitoring both Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 (mostly Tekken 7) is that while Street Fighter V has released numerous items for download including characters, stages, costumes and even season effecting patches (Buffs and Nerfs) Tekken 7 has almost done nothing minus 2 new characters and accompanying stages. Tekken fans are patient of course for EVO where big news is usually released but in your opinion which do you think gives a game a longer tail? A roadmap of everything to come months ahead of time or the near shadow drop of an entirely new season.

Dominíc Brown

Hello Blood, Hoeg, Otoshi, Chat and Jones! I'd like to know how you budget game purchases, if you don't get a review copy. Let's say you want to review a game. Let's say you want to stream a game. Let's say you just want to play a game, and will maybe or maybe not talk about it on Frame Trap. How do you manage those purchases, may they be physical (from retail or eBay) or on online shops like Steam or the PlayStation Store. Does every Allie have a certain budget each month? Do you have to ask for permission, if the costs will be covered? Or can anybody just buy whatever they are interested in, and Easy Allies will pay for it, because you never know when it might could be used for or talked about at Easy Allies? When does an Allie have to pay for a game out of their own pocket? To be clear: I don't have any stance on this whatsoever. I just imagine that you guys worked out some guidelines on this, and I would like to hear about this potential background process. PS: Blood should sit next to you at some point. Your chemistry is great, and his input valuable.

Snowcone Guy

Safety reply.

Harrison Holt-McHale

Hey Jones, I hope you're feeling good this morning, I've mentioned it in the Forums, but I wanted to put it here too. I'm in agreement with comments on the most recent podcast on there being a large amount of "watching something on the TV that no one else can see", and seemingly no considerations being made for the viewer, either with picture in picture, or links being made available in the description of the video, podcast, etc. Personally, I'd rather it stopped happening completely, the discussion around the Megaman TV Show Trailer is, in my opinion, a good example of the quality of discussion being brought down. Kyle just stops in his tracks describing the show because you guys just start watching the trailer on the TV. It's not a deal-breaker, it's certainly not ruining the podcast, but it's a slippery slope, occurring more frequently in subsequent episodes. I understand how it might seem useful and that Ian means well when he brings up stuff without being asked. But in its current state, discussions are being 'neutered' for lack of a better word, when instead of using your words to describe something you're all just talking about something on a screen. If you guys want to keep doing it though, I'd take a leaf out of PhillyD's book. He puts a list of Sources in the description, and I'd suggest doing a similar thing. It's fairly unobtrusive, and would probably only add another 5 minutes or so when doing the timestamps, less if Ian keeps track of the links that he shows throughout the podcast. Cheers for reading, Harrison

Harrison Holt-McHale

Hey Jones, congrats on raising over 12k on Game Day. With your first charity stream behind you, what do you think went well, and what you think could be improved for the next time?

BeatenDownBrian

Please Jones for the sake of my sanity try not to turn Trailer Jones into just another podcast. This latest episode was 53 minutes long - you could fit 3 episodes of it into that time! I really don't want to get mad at the content you guys produce, but I was seriously excited for these monthly trailer jones episodes and it's killing my heart to see them this bloated and long. As an aside, have you guys thought of possibly doing the Top Tens in advance and then posting them somewhere else during the month? It just seems a bit off that Trailer Jones, Top Tens and Fiasconauts all come out in the same couple of days and then disappear for a month - spread it out man! Got any good grapefruit recipes? L&R A fan for almost half my life, Mr M

Mr M

Q for Jones: Would it be possible for the monthly Q&A video to also be uploaded as an audio podcast? The videos can be quite long and would work well as a podcast. I would definitely prefer to listen to it at work instead of watching it as a video at home.

EdReedFan20

Hey Jones! I was wondering if you had any opinions on Mass Effect 3 and the controversies surrounding the ending, the game, the indoctrination theory, or the over franchise itself? (This does not include Andromeda). For me, and you don’t have to read this, mass effect 3 made me hate the franchise. When I’m reminded of ME3, I start to get angry. Even all these years later. I’m not mad about the original ending. I never expected all your choices from every game to matter. I always expected the ending would be a choice of “paragon” or “renegade”. What makes me angry is how bad the story had become the more you progress through the game. When the game ended, I expected post content DLC, but we never got “post” content. I then heard of the indoctrination theory and it made perfect sense. It made sense with established lore and I really wanted BioWare to confirm it. They never did nor did they deny it. Years later, I read BioWare changed the ending, because it got leaked online. The original ending explained Dark Matter, why Harbinger was doing what he was doing, and gave Shepard a tough choice. But nope, they changed it because few people read it online. So, in short, I hate Mass Effect and even typing this has gotten me worked up. I was only reminded of ME3 recently because of a random video on YouTube. Thus me asking you the question.

NotYourMom

Hi Jones, I've made a list of announced games and I want to know if you think they'll come out on next gen consoles, current gen or cross gen. Death stranding Ghost of Tsushima Cyberpunk 2077 FF 7 remake Last of us 2 BGE2 Halo Infinite Dead island 2 L&R, Luys

ramentaco

Hi Brandon, Congratulations on a fun and successful Game Day stream and commiserations on a month that looks like it’s going to dip below 50k – here’s to a new sponsor shortly. For my first Cup of Jones question in just over 2 years as a Patron, I was wondering if it might be a good idea to have a local Los Angeles time clock somewhere in the UI of your marathon streams (Game Day, EZ Livin’, Better Stuff, etc)? I understand that endurance isn’t necessarily the main point for these events, but it may help add some extra temporal context to the stream – especially for those of us in different time zones or watching on the YouTube archive. Just a thought, anyway. Love & Respect P.S. I’ve never checked down in the comments before, and I’d always thought that Parasitepaladin was called Fireside Paladin based on your readings. No real reason for mentioning this, but I was surprised how bad my listening has always been…

World of Warcraft not getting a single vote is why I don't take Hall of Greats seriously and just consider it a bit of fun. Your comments about someone bringing another Paper Mario, and the entire Nintendo back catalogue getting in were hilarious. :) I think Brandon rants might rival Kermodian rants.

Kif

:D

Parasitepaladin

Howdy Jones! In my last comment, I brought up the old GameTrailers show Hit Points. You seemed to remember it vaguely. So this week I would like to present you with a list of some old GT shows, and would like to see just how much you can remember about them. Ladies in the Lobby De-Pixelated GT Motion P.S. A few episodes ago, somebody recommended a mobile game called Lord of Dungeons to you. I started playing it, and I am currently totally enjoying it

Parasitepaladin

Hi Jones. Thoughts on having an annual EZA awards about best EZA streams, events, shows in the past year. Make the categories as fun and silly. Patrons nominate and vote. Maybe hold the awards as part of the EZA anniversary event? It's a way to look back the past year and remember the best and not so best moments in EZA.

LeeLore

Hey Jones I forgot to ask about Ian. Can you tell us what you love about Ian?

Kola Aina

Hey Jones! The 'Overview' section of EZA's Patreon is hard to read on mobile devices. This is because various sentences in the paragraphs have been soft-entered down to be more visually appealing. Unfortunately this only usually works for the monitor that you are writing it on, and because of being able to view this on multiple devices with wildly varying screen sizes it leaves the paragraphs looking like a bit of a mess. The easy solution is to remove all of these soft-enters, and let the paragraphs flow as written. It's not always the most visually appealing on certain devices, but at least appears correctly on all of them. Not a big deal, but just thought I'd give you guys a heads up in case you didn't know. Hope this helps, but don't feel obligated to read this out!

Hi Jones, Loved the Hall of Greats editorial! I have a personal question, and apologies if you've ever talked about it before, but I've noticed your hair has a somewhat distinctive curvature to the way it folds over your face. It has a very simple but maintained look to it that I think works well for you. Is that the natural way your hair rests, or do you style it or use any product? If so would you mind sharing the details of the process? Thanks! L&R, Nick

Business question: Hopefully I'm posting this in the right place to be answered for the next Cup of Jones! As someone who typically listens to EZA on the drive to/from work I'd love to see Huber Syndrome added to the podcast feed as an audio show similar to Frame Trap and Table Top Escapades. I'd assume you don't do this as it's typically a shorter show but these in depth interviews with the allies are longer and have been a lot of fun. Thanks for considering it!

Nathan25

Money Idea: Would the allies consider money-based "challenge streams" ("bribes")? Like, i'd pay 5 dollars for Don to play TheLawnmowerMan on SNES through to the end (because it's an obscure weird game i think is underappreciated). Maybe others would throw a dollar into that challenge too. Drama might ensue, if 10,000 people challenge kyle to play some horror game, but instead he accepts a $1 challenge that just came in - to play "No one can stop Mr. Domino!" on PS1. This could be an interesting way to gauge what your audience is into. (and you'd be getting paid to play games all the way through - every kid's dream!) Does Patreon or Twitch offer something like this already? (Do you have contacts there you could suggest it to, if you're into it?). (I've heard that viewers pay people on twitch to drink a beer or take off their shirt or something, which makes me think it'd be cool to focus that trend in on a specific video game deal.)

warren blyth

Hey Jones, I recently went to a Fathom events showing of Princess Mononoke and before the movie I saw that EZA had sponsored something relating to Fathom. I perked up and said "Holy shit, EZA sponsors fathom?!" It was so crazy seeing your name up on the big screen that I forgot what the initial ad was for. What is EZA's association with Fathom? L&R

My Latin Lover

Hypothetical: You're stuck on a deserted island and all you have is a machine which allows you to clone yourself. What do you do?

Daniel Askew

The Final Brabdoin, a weekly Jones editorial rant becomes the new 54k goal. Patrons blow past the studio goal and Easy Allies enters a new age of rant-fueled bliss.

Downtown

Are you guys ever going to do more then 1 spoiler mode a month? In September you could possibly do Dragon Quest, Spider-Man, and Tomb Raider.

strawhatninja

It's fine to get salty about Hall of Greats. It's like how any of us feels when you guys talk down on a game we like or how I feel when Valkyria Chronicles struggles to get 1 vote. It's how salty I get when you guys do desire index and lowball DMC5. It's fine, I'll only remember this slight forever

VGJunky

Business question: Would you consider changing your scoring method in Trailer Jones to writing on a piece of paper and then revealing it similar to the Easy Allies podcast in the betting section. That way the other Allies aren't intimidated/influenced to change their score in their head before revealing.

What's your current #1 priority for pushing Easy Allies to the next level? New shows, new ideas, new tiers, etc

VGJunky

Ben will win this basically every time

VGJunky

3:45 Start time

GW Fawkes

We know you went to see Spider-Man after this stream don’t hide it lol.

Megan Linart

Hey Jones, just a comment. Regarding 2 dollar tier and Full Playthrough Fridays...Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that patrons should be able to tell you what game to play for 40+ hours. Nobody wants another Peach Beach Splash situation. What I meant with "original Selection Committee" is that give patrons 2-3 predetermined options to vote for (like Final Fantasy 9 vs Metal Gear Solid 4). That's how Committee worked before and I personally much preferred it's original form. And like I said, the opportunity to vote for Group Stream game every now and then would make the 2 dollar tier more enticing. Want to do a Don's Design Challenge and can't choose between Mario Maker & Dreams? Let your fans decide. You get a play the games you like and patrons get more included. Win-win.

the_finnish_ally

Morning Monsieur Jones. I have a suggestion for the Hall of Greats. It's to have one edition a year, when the Allies bring a game that none of the other Allies played ( or at least the majority of the Allies did not play). Of course the game has to be worthy to enter the Hall. And because nobody else play the game, it's the actual arguments from the Ally bringing the game that makes the other choose this game. I'm suggesting that because I'm a bit tired of having one of bringing a game that he loves but nobody else knows, making a really good case and having nobody vote for it because someone brings Chrono Trigger. And it's ok to bring good games that everybody love, that why i'm suggesting this only once out of the 4 editions a year. But it's disappointing to have a 5 min argumentation and a 5 min debriefing for nothing because "Hey it's Resident Evil 4, I don't even care about that Megaman game that Kyle brings or that PC simulator from Don, even though they are giving a way better presentation about how good they feel about the game". L&R Aurélien

Aurélien GRANIER

Hi Brandon, I really enjoyed "And for that reason", but was actually surprised when watching it, as I expected it to be a little bit more serious, as it was presented, while it was still part of the Podcast. So I was wondering, if you can let us know a little bit more about the production of the show, especially about the following: 1. Was it decided from the very start of the production to go full comedy or was this something, which was decided during the production process? 2. How many of the conversations and comments are scripted and how much of it is improvised? 3. Does a "in" or "out" actually mean anything, like for example the person is really interested in the idea or not? Love and Respect, Karsten

Karsten Koller

Mr. Jones! I'm a long time lurker, recent Patreon backer, and excited to be submitting my first Cup of Jones question! I've been in the comments on many videos discussing this as well, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on the graphic design side of EZA. Coming off the heels of E3, with all the stream work being outsourced to Joe and Chris (to amazing results!) and with some changes being made to thumbnails/etc., do you think it's time for a rebrand? This year's E3 coverage showed, I think, the potential of great graphic design and how just a bit more effort on that front goes a long way toward making something feel more professional and "serious." Nothing against Blood's work, but I think EZA has the potential to look better on the design front! I've played around with ideas in the past (which you can find on the subreddit) and have been working toward something more comprehensive to show off to the Allies (where would be the best place to do that?). Would love to know your thoughts. And thank you!

Hey Mr. Jones! On a recent post-show for the Kinda Funny Gamescast, Jared Petty confirmed you would be going on his Red Dead Redemption podcast, “Red Dead Radio.” I was just curious: When will your appearance be? When he announced this project, it seemed like an inevitability you’d be a guest, and I know the two of you talking Red Dead for at least an hour would be a great podcast. As always, thanks a lot for reading my question, and have a great day! Cheers!

Brandon K Gann

Was surprised on the last Cup of Jones to hear you used to cut trailers (if I misunderstood just skip this comment :P) I love that all the Allies have a creative side to them. I think it would be really cool to see a fan edit/trailer from you Jones, seeing you take lessons/critique you dish out for Trailer Jones and use it make your own trailer. However of course I imagine that would be so mentally/creatively exhausting especially with a packed timetable.

Lee

Jones, can you and Kyle please stop tempting me with the Jordy Dino T-shirt sticker and make them available for everyone? Also please bring GTA 3 back to Hall of Greats, it deserves to go in!

Henry Ramirez

That Hall of Greats editorial is a thing of beauty. Highlight it on the youtube channel

VGJunky

Hi Jones, Firstly I'd like to thank you pronouncing my name correctly on the Easy Allies podcast :), secondly have you guys thought about releasing video's on YouTube, informing people that you will be streaming, i think it might be a good way to increase the Twitch viewer base as well as potential Patrons? another Patron (who's name I'm ashamed to say i forgot) suggested maybe only doing it for the Tuesday Night streams due to the high number of streams you guys have and potentially irritating your subscriber base? Love & Respect!

Hey, thanks for answering my software-question from last week, you may be right with the learning-part for this next step, but be sure in 2018 software-developers have easier ways than editing a XML-File for this. Feel free to ask me if you want to this or something different which requires my skillset in the future :) Now my question this whole saga started with: What do the Allies do for a living who are not full-time working for EasyAllies (yet)?

Stefan Bien

Jones what is your go to breakfast if you have to treat yourself at a cafe.

Jordan Buitendyk

Hi Jones, do you ever fear that someday an ally say to you, sorry i got a better job oportunity and leave everything? for example Ian with the MTV job or Huber with a big paycheck and great oportunity somewhere else?

Daniel Garza Andrade

Note: I've asked a question last week, please discard it in favor of this one. Hi Brandon. I’d like to talk about Red Dead Redemption 2 marketing campaign. The game will be released in 3 month, but we’ve still haven’t saw raw gameplay, haven’t dived deep into the story, and know nothing about multiplayer. Obviously you were sold on this game before it was announced, but I’m not such big fan and since there’s hardly anything to get attached to, I have very small interest in this game. In fact if I haven’t played GTA 4, GTA 5 and Read Dead Redemption I would already decide that this is another “not-for-me” title and forgot that it exists. What do you think about Red Dead Redemption 2 marketing campaign? Should they do more to tell non-fans that this game is happening and worth playing, or is my case too extreme to be taken into consideration?

Alexander Zyryanov

Jones, could you please change up the podcast listings for the shows? They don't all have "Easy Allies" in the name so when you search for podcasts you only get some of them, not all. L&R.

TravelingSnowman

Mr. Jones I present an absolutely unofficial segment called "I am loving these microtransactions" where an audience member pitches a microtransaction they think you would like. Is there a Lego video game where you can build something, then order the bricks and instructions from Lego? Even as a side feature? If not why not? I would be loving those microtransactions. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

Morgan Mohalla