Clayface, You Can See Everything, Lake Placid vs Anaconda & Grok's Odyssey

Intro: Multiple nerdgasm. Luke: Welcome to episode 69. That's 669, but Matt: there's a 69 in there. Luke: We didn't do a— we Matt: didn't do any 67 jokes for 667. Luke: No, and we— there's a good reason for that, because, Matt: okay, Luke: it's not a thing. Matt: Okay, I retract my My previous joke. Luke: Angry because the whole joke is just 6'7.

Matt: Yeah, you're too old. That's what it— that's the problem. You're too old, mate. How's it going? We've got some, uh, we've seen some stuff this week. Luke: I have. I got to the movies this week. Matt: Yeah, what'd you watch? Luke: I saw Clayface. Matt: I'm interested to hear about Clayface. Luke: So this is the 3rd outing for James Gunn's new universe. Matt: Yes, Luke: the second one was a bit of a miss. Matt: Supergirl. Luke: Yep. The third one I'm liking.

Matt: Oh yeah, like Clayface? Okay. All right. Luke: I was— there were some bits that I actually felt uncomfortable watching it. Matt: Interesting. Luke: Where he's like getting— like, it's not a sort of spoiler— he gets his face cut up. Matt: Wait, what? Luke: Yeah, but it's actually off-putting the amount that they show. And when he's cutting his face, it's actually a little— oh. You went there. Matt: Yeah, because I heard this is, this is a body horror. Luke: Yes. Matt: It's not like a, you know, normal, uh, comic book movie as such. Luke: No, no. And the thing I also like about it is, and I was waiting for it to be like every Marvel movie, like he's gonna meet some villain or it's gonna lead into the next one. No, it's just, this is Clayface. That's it.

Matt: Okay. Oh, so this is the story. Luke: There's no, Matt: okay, Luke: no after-credits scene. There's no such as Clayface will be back or anything like that. It's just he's Clayface. Matt: Clayface will return in Avengers: Doomsday. Luke: Nothing like that. Matt: That would be a crossover. Luke: But no, I think it's— they— I think they picked a good actor for it. Matt: Okay, have I seen him in anything? Who is he? Luke: Um, I forget his name, but even for a while, but this is his first like lead lead. Like,

Matt: okay, Luke: but even his face at the beginning of the movie, he's like smooshing it around and it's Matt: Oh, he's got a clay face Luke: basically. It looks like he's got a clay face in real life. Matt: Oh, okay, cool. Luke: He's got puffy cheeks. I don't know how to call it, just his cheeks were big and cherry around. Matt: Yeah, but do you want to pinch them like an old grandma? Luke: No, they, they're a bit too flexible. They're not like the chubby cheeks where you go like that. They were chubby cheeks where you could pull out. Matt: Oh, it was like, yeah, like a rubber kind of thing. Yeah, interesting. It wasn't prosthetics? Luke: No, I think that's just his face.

Matt: Nice, Luke: because this was before any Clayface action that had happened. This is before he even got cut up. Matt: That's movie magic, mate. He doesn't know. You know what, it doesn't matter. Uh, okay, cool. So you rate it— Luke: yeah, yeah, Matt: um, as good as Superman? Luke: Superman's different. Matt: Superman, I, at the time, I really liked Superman. I saw it a couple times, I think, I think twice. I don't think I saw it a third time. But I saw it, I liked it enough to see it twice. Luke: Yeah. Matt: And then now I'm like, it was all right. Luke: I

Matt: don't know, I think it just captured, um, Luke: it's the first time we've seen Superman done well for a while. Matt: Yeah, yeah. So now, now I'm kind of like, like I've popped bits, clips of it on, and I'm like, yeah, it's pretty good. It's not like mind-blowing. It does make me wonder like, hey man, what was it at the moment, in the moment, that made me like it so much? I think you might be right. Maybe it's just that it was refreshing to see like Superman done like Superman. Luke: Yeah, and it wasn't another origin story. It's already a thing. He's, he's already with Lois. Like, it's all— Matt: yeah, yeah. And then I think we didn't have to litigate this, but the Zack Snyder ones I just did not enjoy. Luke: I could not get into them. And, and the fact that he said there's more— the issue wasn't that the movie was too short. That was not the problem. Matt: Yeah. Luke: But I did find out, because, because this is where DC is different to Marvel, is they don't have— it's not like New York and LA, right? So you've got Metropolis, you've got Gotham City, and Coast City, which I didn't know LA was Coast City before this. Matt: You know what, I didn't know that either. Luke: Yeah, I've never even thought about that before.

Matt: Coast City. Luke: Yeah, Matt: yeah. I'm not a big— I'm not a huge DC read. Oh, I, I mean, ironically, I guess the most I read was Batman, which is where Clayface is from. Yeah, I believe, right? Clayface is a Batman villain originally. Luke: Yeah. Matt: Uh, but I mean, that was all in Gotham City. Luke: Yeah, Matt: especially when I was reading it. We're talking like '80s and '90s. Actually, the Batman comic I specifically remember purchasing as a kid had Is he the ventriloquist? The one with the— the other is the little gangster dummy. Do you know who I mean? Luke: I do, unfortunately. Yeah, they, they had some weird villains at some point. Matt: I bought that comic, whatever. Oh, I mean, I shouldn't say that one. He's probably in like a bunch of them, but there was one that I distinctly— Luke: one stuck with you.

Matt: Yeah, it's a little gangster ventriloquist dummy. Someone's yelling at their podcast. Luke: Oh yeah, with his name right now. So what's next for DC movies? I don't actually— Matt: um, well, James Gunn said the other day they will announce— well, say they will cast Batman soon. He didn't say announce, he said, uh, because everyone's, you know, frothing at the mouth to know if Alan Ritchson's gonna be Batman. He's probably not. Luke: Um, I, I don't think he'd be a good Batman. I honestly don't. Matt: No, no, he's like a— as much as he's like good as Reacher, he's kind of like a gentle giant in a way. Yeah, like Which is ridiculous because he does play these big hard man characters, but I know he's not like— Luke: I know he's not. But even though Batman's not big, like, yeah, Bruce Wayne, he's not a big hulking character. He's— Matt: you're right, they've done Batman big though of late, but I know what you mean. I see him as kind of a not that big kind of— Luke: yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think that'll work. But yeah, there has to be something else coming. Matt: Oh yeah, um, Luke: everything I'm finding is the old movies.

Matt: Man of Tomorrow, Superman, Luke: New Superman. Okay, I'll see another Superman. Matt: They've filmed it already. Okay, because Nick Holt's wearing the Lex Luthor power armor, the green armor. Remember those comics too from when I was a kid? Luke: I still need to see Peacemaker Season 2 as well. Matt: Oh yeah, I never watched season 1. Luke: Season 1 was great. Yeah, no, I heard season 2— Matt: I haven't— it's not a choice not to watch it. I just— Luke: no, Matt: just so many things I have to watch. Luke: Yeah, there is far too many, but there's good stuff coming again now. It's like you're just watching it just for the sake of watching now. It feels like we've come back around again.

Matt: Yeah, Luke: because after Marvel finished with Endgame, everything went a bit weird. Matt: Yeah, I've caught up. We talked about that. I'm, I'm interested to see Doom. Luke: Um, Matt: just because— are you Luke: gonna go to the movies 2 times in a week? Matt: Uh, well, Luke: or are you gonna make a choice? Matt: I need to figure out. So we were talking about Dune and Doom because they're both Luke: a day apart. It's crazy.

Matt: Yeah, I gotta see. I have to figure out today if we can get IMAX tickets for Dune. Because I've seen— I saw the other 2 in IMAX. I really want to see Dune Part 3 in IMAX if I can Luke: and get your new bucket. Matt: Yeah, there's a new line of new, new batch of those t-shirts. Luke: You can double team it. Matt: There was— yeah, so when the— if you don't know, uh, the Dune popcorn bucket is like a sandworm. I, I got to I got to see one in the flesh. Disgusting choice of words. Uh, at PAX when Dune Awakening was there. Um, and the joke at the time was— and there was a bunch of t-shirts made that said, I'm just here to fuck the popcorn bucket. Luke: Yeah. Matt: And now the new t-shirts say, we're just here to fuck it because the new one's got 2 sandworms on it. Luke: Yes. And it, it looks even worse than the first one. Matt: Yeah, it does, because, but because They're just like there. There's like— worm body is very— it's like it— you're right, it just looks even more like a sex toy. Luke: Yes.

Matt: Like the first one you go on, just— it's just Luke: like, yeah, now you're going tip to tip, tip to tip with your friend while making eye contact. Matt: Yes. Yeah, Luke: there's no other way to do it that I can think of. Matt: There's no other way to do it. That's what we've always said about it when people have questioned our love. We've always said Luke: We didn't get them in Australia, I don't think. Well, not— it wasn't— Matt: actually did it, Luke. Luke: I'm not actually gonna do it, but I do— it has become a bit of a thing, the popcorn buckets. Matt: Yeah, Luke: lining up with movies, and that's the new moneymaker.

Matt: There is a popcorn bucket for the movie I saw this week. I don't know if you've seen this. A24 have released a popcorn bucket, uh, for Radical Transparency. And it's just a trend. It's just a clear popcorn bucket, but it is, uh, technically the, uh, the popcorn bucket for You Can See Everything. And I've seen everything. I saw it this week. Luke: Is that the type of movie that you need a popcorn bucket for? Matt: I didn't eat any popcorn while I was watching it. I would have forgotten to eat popcorn watching this movie, frankly. I was completely fucking absorbed by this movie. Like, I, I don't want to spoil anything about it, so it's hard to talk about because it's just— honestly, it's just so interesting. Luke: Well, we can discuss it in possibly 2 weeks. I Matt: know, that's so long Luke: though, because like, it's not my fault I can't— Matt: no, it's not out in Australia. It's one of those things, it's almost like the old days when Australia just didn't get movies for like ages. Luke: I think the reason for this is We normally don't— documentaries normally don't get theater releases, especially in Australia. And I think this one was, hold on, America's going crazy for this, maybe we should get a few cinemas playing it. Matt: Yeah, I don't think they anticipated how big this was going to be here, let alone elsewhere in the world. Because as we talked about, like, like the Theranos thing, like, we knew about it, yeah, but it was not massive. Luke: It wasn't the news that it was.

Matt: No, when I moved here, it was when all that was happening, like the depositions and the— and everything was happening. And I got— I learned about it because people here were— it was in the news here way more than Australia ever gave a shit about it. Yeah, because, you know, we don't have Walgreens and we don't have— it just didn't affect us. Luke: Yeah, as directly. Yeah, we didn't get— we didn't get the court case, Matt: right? But, uh, anyway, so yeah, I've seen it. It's fucking excellent. It's like, yeah, it's— there's It's interesting in— on, on so many levels. On like a filmmaking level, no, just— I'm— I— if you're familiar with Nathan Fielder, it'll blow your mind. Luke: I just love the fact that he wasn't even meant to be in it. It's just he was just meant to be there behind the camera, but then the interactions that they were having, they're gone. Matt: He couldn't— Luke: no, you need to be here. Matt: Yeah, I can't imagine it without him in it, honestly. He, he— yeah, it's, it's incredible Luke: because he's, he's strange in himself. Like, because he plays deadpan, but he could do that so well. Like, even most comedians that do it will crack a little bit. He just, no matter what you throw at him, it's straight face. Matt: There's a couple times in On Nathan for You where I think he, um, like, he Have you ever seen the episode with the gas station where he— Luke: Yes.

Matt: Yeah, the bit— there's the episode. So, oh God, if you don't know, Nathan for You is this show he did where he goes and he tries to help businesses. Luke: Yes. Like by giving them advice. Matt: But his advice is always terrible and it's very funny. Luke: Like the frozen yogurt shop where he's going to get the flavor of poo. Matt: Yes, because people think it's interesting. And then there's the gas station one He wants to— it's a rebate on your gas, but to get the rebate, you can only submit the form at this mailbox that's at the top of a mountain, and you have to hike up the mountain to put the form in the mailbox. And then, so the whole episode, he's like pitching this guy on it, and the guy's like, you know, he's a gas station guy. He's like, okay. And then there's like a whole thing where he's hiking up the mountain with these people who want to do it. And it's like, I mean, it's all real, allegedly. Like these are real people. It's not actors apparently. Um, but anyway, there's a bit at the end, towards the end of it, where he's talking to the gas station attendant and the gas station attendant starts talking about drinking pee. Do you remember this? Luke: So I forget this, Matt: and it comes out of nowhere. Uh, well, sort of comes out of nowhere. Uh, one of the— during the hike, one of the people who's doing the hike, the subject of like having to drink pee comes up, and one guy's like basically it's like, yeah, he said he would do it and that. And then Nathan's talking to the gas station attendant and he goes, oh yeah, he said he would drink pee. And the gas station attendant's like, whose pee? And Nathan goes, it doesn't matter, any— he just, he just agreed to drink pee. And then the gas station attendant says, you should tell him to drink my grandson's pee. Like out of nowhere. And then Nathan's like, why? And then he says, oh, grandson's pee is good for when you're scared. And they have this whole conversation about— and then It's the only time— oh, it's the worst time I've ever seen him struggle to maintain the character. Oh, he actually laughs at one point because it's just so insane. But I don't know how he finds these people. And because I— it makes you question, like, how could they have planned that conversation? I wouldn't have thought so. Luke: So Matt: because it's so bizarre, and his reaction— Nathan's reaction just seems like so like, what the fuck? Luke: Which is the correct reaction.

Matt: Hmm. But I think, yes, you're right. That's why he's the perfect person for this documentary. He asks questions. He's, he's like a really good interviewer because he asks questions that are very like probing, but it doesn't seem like he's doing that Luke: because of just the way his voice and his face is. It's very neutral. So it's— Matt: he's like, he's just like, he's like autistic and just asking, you know, questions. But actually, I think he's actually trying to get answers, but yeah, the, the vibe, it seems like he's just like awkward. Luke: Now, is it true what I've heard, that it doesn't just end when she goes to prison, it continues on? Okay. Matt: Yeah, um, because Jenna, that, that, you know, it gets to that point and then Jenna leaned over and said, there's so much more runtime left. And I said, I know, where is this going? Mate, because— and then I was like, oh no, is it gonna get boring? No, the answer is no. It's just fucking hell, man. Luke: It's— Matt: it is— it's just great. Like, Luke: all right, 2 weeks, I'm there. Well, Matt: I would recommend in preparation, I watched, uh, the HBO documentary, uh, I forget what it's called. But it's this— it's HBO documentary, it's very good, about Theranos, like what happened. Because the one thing the movie doesn't do is catch you up on everything. You can't, hasn't got time. Luke: No,

Matt: it's like fucking 3 hours as it is, and it's chock-a-block. Um, uh, because this Luke: is after the trial, after everything's happened. This is just the week leading up to her going to jail. Matt: Yeah, exactly right. Yep. And then, um, yeah, and they've— they ask him to live with them and record everything because they want to like show the world how— what she's really like, because the world thinks she's a fucking psycho. Luke: And I don't think from the trailer this hasn't helped, mate. Matt: It's fucking wild. Um, yeah, and so yeah, it's the, the like 30 days-ish, I think. In total, uh, leading up to her going to prison, and then some during her time in prison. Luke: I like how we got this because they were the ones that offered and were trying to pass around like, people come see us. And then they got the contract, A24, like, look, you can go film it, but like, if nothing comes of it, you don't— that doesn't have to— you don't have to force a show out of this. If there's nothing there, there's nothing there. And then they found out, no, there's, there's something here. Matt: Yeah, yeah, I— there's, there's stuff in this that's just like incredible. Yeah. Luke: All right, tune in a couple of weeks. Matt: Out of interest, just for like, just human interest, like, the fuck? Like, is this— are these people for real? Like, Luke: so normally I wait till Monday to go see movies, but because of this, I will go see it before we record on the 14th.

Matt: Oh, very cool. All right, Luke: so because it comes out on the 12th here, so Matt: all right. Oh, and the other thing, there's an HBO series called The Dropout— uh, not HBO, Hulu series called The Dropout where Amanda Seyfried plays Elizabeth Holmes. Luke: And Hulu's Disney here? Matt: Yes, it is, I believe. I mean, it's Disney here too, but they're separate apps here, but they're not in Australia. But, uh, but it's good. It's not like great good, but it's pretty good. And I, I'd say like watch at least a couple episodes. Luke: All right. Matt: Because, uh, she does a good job of, um, the, the mannerisms and the voice. And, uh, like I said, we just coincidentally watched both the documentary and the show, and I think it helped contextualize Luke: knowing Matt: something a bit more Luke: going in.

Matt: Yeah, Luke: I probably won't because I don't do homework for movies, but Matt: No, no, I was gonna make a I've seen everything joke, but, um, as I'm sure listeners are aware, we're gonna have to save that for the afterparty this week. Something has happened this week that will be in the afterparty. Luke: A lot has happened this week, Matt: so I'm not allowed to make any, uh, jokes about a certain actor until then. Mm-hmm. This is just a little tease for you. Luke: Tune in for Geek of the Week in the after party. Matt: We're going to talk about all the celebrities who died. Not a lot of competition. It was, it was a tight week, and then it became a not tight week. Sure, I think, I think, I guess I should. Luke: Yeah, who knows what I will go with. Matt: Yeah, yeah. Um, I watched some other movies. Last night, um, we were trying to find, uh, like a Halloweeny movie. It's Halloween today here in the US. Um, Luke: so were you looking for family Halloween movies?

Matt: Oh God, no, no, no. Lyra's in bed. Luke: Okay. Matt: And we were like, okay, let's just watch something. Lyra's in bed and we're both tired, and so we were like, okay, let's not watch something, you know, too cerebral or anything like that. Let's just put something, some silly horror movie on. Luke: Yeah. Matt: And then And then assuming we'll probably fall asleep. Um, but then no, we did a— we ended up doing a double feature of '90s, um, what do you call these, uh, animal horror. Uh, we watched Lake Placid. Luke: That's the crocodile, isn't it? Matt: And we watched Anaconda. Luke: And that's the anaconda. And so you watch the original, not the remake, correct? Matt: Yeah, actually I was thinking this is good. Luke: Oh, the spiritual sequel.

Matt: Yeah, I've heard that it's not necessarily, uh, yeah. I, I'll, uh, I'll see you pitch Jenna on watching that tonight or tomorrow or something. Luke: Yep. Matt: Uh, just to say, Lake Placid is a fucking excellent movie. Luke: I've not seen that in years. Matt: It's, it's such a great '90s movie because it's fucking ridiculous, right? But it doesn't care, right? Just get over it. Yeah, it's fucking— Luke: you can't care in a movie like this. Matt: No. Yes, there's a giant crocodile in Maine. Luke: Yeah, Matt: get over it, right? It swam there, okay? That's the plot. Yes, the museum sent a paleontologist to investigate because they thought the tooth might be from a dinosaur. It doesn't make any sense. Just shut up. That's the movie. Luke: Hey, hey, crocodiles are technically dinosaurs.

Matt: Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, just, just go with it. Yes, it's ridiculous that this rich man who likes crocodiles shows up and everyone just starts listening to him. Just Shut up and watch the movie. It's fine. Luke: Betty White. Matt: Yes, yes, does, as the crazy old lady who, who, who, who, um, confesses to murdering her husband, and then the sheriff's just like rolling his eyes. Like, it's great. It's just a great '90s, like, stupid movie. Luke: Oh, Bill Pullman! God, I need to watch this. Matt: And Bridget Fonda. Danny Elfman's wife now, who doesn't do movies anymore. Um, and it's kind of— Luke: you don't need to get more into that. Matt: No, no, it's, it's got lots of people in it. Uh, it's great. It's really good. Anaconda is not good Luke: though. Matt: It never was, but I thought maybe, maybe on a rewatch. No, it's fucking atrocious. It's so bad. Like There's nothing about it. Luke: Well, it had JLo in it.

Matt: The only thing that's good about it is that it's so bad that it's funny. But it's not like a— I couldn't watch it all the time. This is— this was fun to rewatch and go, oh fuck. Luke: But you're not watching this every year. Matt: No. Like, it's lit like just— it just looks— it's awful. I don't know, it's just everything about it is awful. The snakes look fucking awful. Like, it— like, the plot makes no sense, but It matters because it's also awful. Like, Lake Placid is so fun and silly, like, you don't care. Like, yeah, it's dumb, whatever, I'm having fun. Yeah, Anaconda, it's like, um, there's like— it's called Anaconda and they're like running away from a snake, but then they get rid— they kill that snake and then there's just another snake. And then the finale, they're like, oh, we killed that snake. It's like, yeah, but there's more snakes. You're in the Amazon. Like, I don't understand why this— Luke: there isn't just one snake. That's it. Matt: It's so confusing. Like, who wrote this? Like, yeah, they— this— they kill 2 snakes in this movie as far as I can tell, and then they're like, ah, it's like, no, there's more of them, get out of there! Luke: Yeah, relax what you've left. Matt: Exactly. Yeah, uh, yeah, J.Lo, Ice Cube, uh, what's his name, um, Jon Voight. That's the villain doing a terrible accent. It's, it's got, uh, Owen Wilson. Is in it. Luke: I didn't— I Matt: forgot he was in it. Star-studded cast in an atrocious— Luke: as a very mix of people in this movie.

Matt: Yeah, yeah, I, Luke: I'm— Matt: I'd say watch it, but you're not gonna re— yeah, it's a— yeah, Luke: yeah, Matt: it's not good. Okay, um, did you see The Odyssey? You did? Yes. Okay, well, forget everything. Luke: I can watch it again. Matt: You could watch it again. You could watch— you could watch the better version of it. Luke: Better. I could watch the accurate version. Matt: You could watch the non-woke version. Luke: Yep, the woke version that was going to lose all that money.

Matt: Yeah. Yes, the highest grossing woke version of all time. Um, uh, Grok has made the first part of the real Odyssey. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't, uh, I didn't know about this. I knew people were doing this kind of thing, but I didn't realize this was an official— apparently. Luke: Yeah, I remember Elon Musk saying that this is a big marketing thing for him. Matt: Okay, well, Grok has generated the first part of their accurate Odyssey movie, like the first episode. Luke: It's basically just the white version. Matt: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I guess technically this is what it would have been like, but like, who fucking cares? It's like, Luke: well, actually it wouldn't have been. Matt: Well, I, I, I don't know, I'm not a historian. I mean, Luke: fuck yeah, this is— I'm calling this the white version. Matt: I mean, we talked about this before, the, the— no one cares anymore, right? No, you can put people of all races and colors and creeds or whatever in movies, no one cares anymore except strange people on the internet. Yes, no one's confused. Oh, what's that guy doing there? No one cares. No. So, Luke: well, I still love the fact that they were complaining about Elliot Page being in it for ages, and then when it came out they went, oh, Elliot Page is only in it for so many minutes. Yeah, what were the, like, people going on about? It's all like, we weren't talking about it.

Matt: No one gives a shit, mate. Yeah, so silly. Luke: But now I'm just watching Matt: the, the Grok one. Luke: Yeah, Matt: yeah, it's, it's just, it's boring. It's just like, okay, it's like a— it's, it, it— you can tell it's AI because, I mean, it's pretty good. Luke: It's good, but I can still tell it's AI. Matt: Like, it's impressive on a technical level, but it's not good. That's nothing. Like So I don't, I don't know. And, and the response to it, even from people who are like excited about it, has been like, oh, this is, this is a bit of shit. It's fucking, it's boring. It's not interesting. Like, I don't know. Luke: Yeah, top comment I can see: holy fuck, this is absolute shit as expected. It's pretty bad. Absolutely. Yeah, just not pop. They're not great. Matt: It's technically impressive, but it's not a good movie, or, or— Luke: well, we've seen the good version of it.

Matt: Yes, and it was very good. Yeah. And you know what I wasn't thinking while I was watching it? What are all these foreign and queer people doing in this movie? No, because I was too busy watching the fucking movie. I don't care. Luke: Yes, but I guess we're wrong. Matt: I guess so. But yeah, um Luke: I don't— you know what, I'm watching, I'm sort of skipping along, and it, it really feels like AI where it's just, yeah, people have made— oh, look, I've made this AI stuff, look how great it is. And it's just like scene to scene to scene where it's not anything real. And there's Matt: no— Luke: yeah, there's Matt: no, um, Luke: there's no heart, there's no story, there's no Matt: filmmaking. Luke: Yeah,

Matt: it's just generate the story of The Odyssey without any thought to like making it interesting or being creative or Yeah, it's just, it's like, um, people keep generating on, um, like fight scenes between characters. I saw someone do like a— there was a Spider-Man thing, and they're the— and you know, they do this all the time on— it's like hyperbole, but they're like, oh, you know, like, you know, Hollywood is cooked. Look at this Spider-Man versus Venom fight that I generated in fucking whatever. Luke: Yeah. Matt: And then I'll, I'll— some people are like, wow, that's sick. But like, also a lot of people are like What? This is not like interesting though. Luke: No, Matt: like, Luke: like I still go back and even Red vs. Blue from Rooster Teeth used to make it. I used to love the Red vs. Blue show, but then it turned to a point where they'd spend like an entire episode and it's just a fight, and I'm— there's no story in that anymore. Matt: Yeah, and even the way that you shoot— Luke: great, you can do that now, but no. Matt: Yes. Yeah, generating— being able to generate with AI a fight between Spider-Man and Venom is pretty cool, but that's not all that filmmaking is. It's just putting 2 characters and pointing a camera at them and like— yeah. Luke: And actually, I think the hardest thing is to do is to keep the story going while you've got that fight happening.

Matt: Yeah. I watched Ice Cube fight an anaconda and it wasn't interesting either. Turns out you need more than that. Sounds interesting. Luke: Yeah. I can imagine. Matt: It's not Luke: just— not— Matt: no. Yeah, so, uh, yeah, thumbs down on the, uh, the historically accurate— yeah, we don't need to do this again, but The Odyssey was fucking anachronistic when that was written. Yes. So it's all just silly. Luke: Yeah, Matt: it's all silly and pointless, Luke: but it costs a lot of water and electricity. Matt: Yes, although that's a myth apparently Luke: for AI. Oh yeah, I've heard that.

Matt: Yeah, yeah, Luke: yep, yep, yep. Don't worry about these data centers going in, they're not going to up— increase your energy bill, water bill at all. Matt: No, I saw they're buying out— I think is it xAI in particular is buying out people's houses who live near certain data centers. And I feel like now's probably the time to cash in on that if you get an offer like that. Because, yeah, um, you know, these things tend to like even out. But if, like, basically what I think is they want the land around it and they're offering people a lot of money for their houses. And I, I think, like, I know, you know, like you see movies about this where it's like the family home or whatever, but like, you might want to take that money. Yeah, think about it. Because Luke: think about it, because Matt: yeah, because that money is going to dry up eventually. Luke: It's got to dry up soon because they're still spending money that doesn't— it's not real. Matt: Yeah, yeah, I saw the article and I was like, oh man, part of me wishes they'd build one here just so I could get like a million dollars for my house. Luke: It's gonna end badly. Matt: Yeah, well, you know what I hope doesn't end badly? Ridley Scott's new Alien movie. He's had enough, he's coming back. Luke: Just let it go.

Matt: No. No, he knows what we want, apparently. Now look, I'm sort of happy about this only because I want to know what the— where the fuck he was going with that. Uh, I— we've talked about it before, Alien Covenant was stupid. Luke: Yes. Matt: And I didn't like it, but I did— I didn't— I didn't because I was confused by it. I don't— I didn't understand Luke: You Matt: wanted an in-between movie. Yes, there's things like, you know, like, oh God, the 2— at the end of Alien Covenant, the 2 Davids are fighting, and then, you know, the, the bad David shows up at the end pretending to be the good David and escapes. Luke: Yeah. Matt: And then he puts everybody in cryo, and then he's somehow, during the 2 seconds he had, managed to swallow an embryo. It's just— it was— I was just like, what is happening? How did this happen? And then now I want to know, to Luke: Ridley, Matt: I want to know where was he going with this? Luke: So he, he's getting to make his 3rd movie, is he?

Matt: Yeah, he's— in his words, uh, he thinks the franchise needs some help again because he didn't like Romulus, which I think is ironic considering everybody else did. Luke: And I still call— he was an executive producer on it. Yeah, you had creative control. Matt: Yeah, but yeah, so he's, uh, he's working on the new one and he's, uh, it's with the, the writer of, uh, Raised by Wolves, Aaron Guzikowski. Luke: See, I actually do feel it was a shame because I was actually, um, Romulus I actually liked. I like the planet, I like the fact that you're hearing more about the world and the company and people being screwed. I enjoyed that. Matt: Yeah, Romulus I thought was pretty good. It wasn't perfect. I'd like— no, I, you know, my quibbles with it were like, didn't need to have Ash in it. It didn't need to have— because just because CGI Ian Holm was unnecessary. Luke: Yeah. Matt: Um, the goo, you know. Luke: Yeah, the ending was the part that got me when it went— Matt: I didn't mind the ending. I thought the ending was like creepy and cool. Luke: Yeah, I didn't like the weird baby alien thing again.

Matt: It just, it messes too much with the— Luke: yeah, Matt: you've got Alien and Aliens, and the way that Alien works is quite specific. Luke: Yes. Matt: Like, and it, it is fairly consistent in those. Now it's confusing, and now it's weird because it's like, how long does it take to gestate? Apparently like, yeah, a very short amount of time, or, or not. Depends. Luke: Yeah, depends on what the script needs. Matt: Yeah, I just, I don't like stuff like that. Be consistent. Luke: Yep. I guess we'll find out then. Matt: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I really— Scott's so interesting to me. He was so good back in the '80s. Luke: Yeah, but then something happened. I don't know what it was.

Matt: Too far up his own ass. Luke: I think that could just be it. He got to that point where he got the thing where no one was really telling him That's a stupid idea. Matt: He just— and he just keeps telling everybody how good he is. It's like, yeah, not a good sign when you— Luke: it's the whole George Lucas thing where no one could tell him no. Matt: Yeah, but I feel like with George Lucas, George Lucas, people were scared to tell him no. But I feel like— I don't, I don't know, maybe I'm like wrong, but I feel like he would have taken it better than Ridley Scott would if you told him, I don't think that's a good idea. I feel like Ridley Scott would just fire you, whereas I think George might have a conversation. You know what, I don't know George Lucas, I shouldn't even be saying this. I just— that's the feeling I get. Yeah, I know, I haven't— Luke: he's very nice. Matt: Yeah, see, there you go. Luke: I think it's Rick McCallum's fault. Matt: You might be right about that. Rick McCallum certainly fluffed him. Luke: I think Rick McCallum should have stood in at some points and gone Um, you really want to film your first script?

Matt: I've got to rewatch those documentaries. They're so interesting. The making of the prequels. Luke: Yeah, like he talks about, like, he's— they film his first script, even after he watches it, he sits there and goes, well, it's long. Matt: Yeah, like that bit where in— it was, it was episode 3 where they're working on the sets and they're building the models and stuff like that, and he walks in, he goes, well, I guess I better finish the script. It's like, yeah, you haven't finished the script. Fucking hell. Luke: Oh, what a man. Matt: Yeah, biggest independent films of all time, I think. No, maybe not anymore. Luke: Probably not anymore. Matt: No, maybe not. Um, video games, Luke: there's a fair bit happening at the moment. Matt: Yeah, have you played anything this week? First of all, anything interesting? Luke: Um, nothing interesting, nothing really worth talking about. I'm about to start playing the The Wolf Among Us remaster.

Matt: Oh, interesting. Luke: Yep. Matt: All right, Luke: so that'll be my third time playing that. Matt: Well, I got some more achievements this week. I'm sure you've probably noticed. Yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm working my way through Little Kitty Big City's cat achievements. Luke: Cat achievements? Matt: Yeah, um, because my daughter insists that I play that game. Luke: Loves that game, even though you've finished it. We have finished it. She wants 100% this game, Matt: correct? Yeah, there's more content to squeeze out of it. Luke: Oh, you got 45,000 Gamerscore?

Matt: Yeah. Luke: Oh, you've been playing a bit of Resident Evil 4 as well? Matt: Resident Evil 4 is the other one you're playing. Resident Evil 4 Remake is fucking great. Luke: I purchased it last week. I haven't played it yet. Matt: It's really good. Uh, and it's like— I know I said this the other week— it keeps making me think, oh yeah, this is just like it was back in the day. And then I look up a clip of a thing I just did, I'm like, oh my God, no it isn't. Um, yeah, man, we were like— your brain did a lot of work. Yeah, in the game feel more realistic back in the day. It's like, like you look at footage of Silent Hill and it's just like, Jesus Christ, it looks atrocious. Luke: Oh, the first Silent Hill, I, I thought that game looked amazing. Matt: Well, it did. Luke: I played it, it did. But now if I was to play that original version, that would be unplayable. Matt: And it's so interesting, the fact that the reason Silent Hill is the way, you know, with the fog and, yeah, and you can't see anything, is because the PlayStation couldn't fucking draw anything. So they just were like, oh, how do we mask the background? Luke: I do love the fact that they use its limitations to make the game more immersive,

Matt: and it created the whole world in a way. Like, the limitations of the hardware made— Luke: like, you hear that siren go off and you're, oh shit, Matt: so good. Um, with a remake coming of the first game, uh, 2027 Silent Hill remake by the same team that did, uh, the Silent Hill 2 remake, which I still haven't finished, but that's also very good. Um, yeah, I'm excited about that. Luke: Announced the cast. Wouldn't they just reuse the original cast? Matt: From the original game? Luke: Yeah, I think use their voices, it'll be fine. Matt: I have a feeling that— I don't think it was fully voice acted, and I also think it's probably a little bit Resident Evil as far as— Luke: oh, I remember the very, very first, how cheesy that acting was. Matt: Well, I don't think it was actors, I think it was like— yeah, well, I could be wrong about that, but I, I— yeah, no, it was bad. Luke: It wasn't good.

Matt: No, notoriously bad. Um, I, uh, yes, Resident Evil 4. I think that's all I've been playing this week, actually. Oh, I'm still making my way through, um, Strange Horticulture. Luke: Oh yes, yep, Matt: which is very good too. Just flick in between them when I can. Um, but there's some sort of big news, I guess. It's not news necessarily because it's just a leak, but the rumor is The new Elder Scrolls game has a name and is being officially announced in a couple of weeks. Luke: And I'm— the name isn't really yay. It's from what the rumor is, it's Sentinel. Yeah, which— Matt: okay, Luke: okay. Matt: I mean, what, what could it have been, honestly? Luke: I don't know, something better. Matt: Like what, Elder Scrolls 6 Skyrim 2? Luke: Well, because what's Sentinel?

Matt: Uh, you know what, I don't know. I, I'm, I'm way out of Elder Scrolls lore at the moment. Luke: I've got like Morrowind. Yeah, Matt: they're all places. Luke: They're all places. Like, and then even like the second one with Daggerfall, but then we've got Sentinel, which I, I don't think Sentinel's a place. And this one's over— it is Hammerfell. Matt: It is. Sentinel is one of the 9 major kingdoms of the province of Hammerfell and is the capital of both the Al-Qadir desert region and the blah blah blah. Luke: The largest city is named Sentinel. Matt: There you go. Luke: Which— it's a shit name for a city. Matt: Well, actually, Oblivion is not named after a location technically. Luke: Well, it's not either.

Matt: Yeah, Tamriel. It's, uh, Tamriel. Is that the right Yeah, I don't think so, Luke: but I don't know. But still, this is just an arena. He's a little bit— we're still years away from this game. Matt: Well, are we? Maybe we're gonna find out we're not. Maybe that's— we will— I guess we'll know for sure in, uh, is it the 11th that we're gonna maybe announce? Luke: Well, I know Asher has basically said get your act together. Matt: Yeah, it's, uh, yeah, November 11th being the most likely candidate for the, uh, for the announcement. Luke: Well, because it's been 8 years since they announced it. Matt: I didn't— I forgot about this. This Ashish Sharma previously teased the game's title being 8 letters back in August. I forgot. What a weird thing to have done. Hmm. Um, also on Xbox, speaking of Ashish Sharma, uh, Xbox sales are down apparently, and, um, Ashish Sharma has come out and said, well, that's just because we don't have enough hardware. People want them, we just don't have enough of them to sell people due to hardware shortages and whatnot. So basically she's saying it's— no, no, it's not that no one wants Xboxes, that's not true. It's just that we can't sell Xboxes because we don't have any to sell. Luke: Well, I'm gonna see if I can buy an Xbox right now. Matt: Go for it. Where are you gonna buy it from? Luke: JB Hi-Fi.

Matt: JB Hi-Fi? Fuck, man, I haven't been to JB Hi-Fi in— well, obviously But in like ten years. Luke: Yeah, I can buy one now. Matt: No, you can't. Luke: Yeah, I can. Matt: No, Ashishama, I can buy a Series Luke: S. Matt: No, Luke: I can buy Matt: no no Luke: no Series X Digital. I could buy a Series X, just the original one, one terabyte.

Matt: Right. Well, Luke's a liar, and Ashishama is obviously not. Why would she lie? Luke: Maybe I want a digital one. Why? Why do I— no, no, you know, don't buy it. Matt: How many Xboxes are in that house right now? Luke: 2. No, well, there's 2 Xbox Series Xs, there's 2 Xbox Ones, and there's 2 360s and 1 original Xbox. Matt: Okay, I've got 2 Xbox Series Xs, I've got 1— where's my other Xbox One? One of them's in Vermont. Where's the other one? Huh, interesting. Luke: Hard living. It's hard living our lives, isn't it? Where's my other Xbox? Matt: It's a 360 downstairs, uh, in the basement. Yeah, but I— yeah, there's an Xbox One, like as in the one before the Series X, unaccounted for in my brain right now. There's one in Vermont. Oh, I think I think, I think my brother-in-law's got one anyway. Luke: Um, we're doing okay. You'll survive. Matt: As far as Xboxes, I don't need any is what I'm saying. Oh yeah, I'm, I'm full on Xboxes at the moment. Luke: That's what I find weird, like sales are down, but aren't most people who want them have them by now?

Matt: I would have thought. Yeah, it's not like there's anything new with the hardware, right? Luke: Yeah, like there hasn't— we don't have like a, a pro version or anything. Like, it's just— so why, why would we be buying more? Matt: Um, the new one's going to be very expensive when it comes out. Luke: Oh, that's— they're talking about that being like $1,800 US or something ridiculous. Matt: Oh, one of the drives— I got a NAS right downstairs. I've got a server. It's got like, um my Plex library on it. And then there's, um, like another set of drives that's like backups, like photos and photos and like stuff like that. Luke: Yeah. Matt: Um, so yeah, and each like share is mirrored drives. Luke: Yeah. So one fails, you still— yeah. Matt: And, uh, you know, I bought those drives a long time ago. Uh, Luke: oh, how long? Like, well, time to start thinking about Replacing?

Matt: Uh, for, for reasons I will elaborate on, this week I learned that, um, the data— the, the, like, the data backup, the backup stuff, uh, those drives have been running continuously for 8 years in that machine. Uh, and, uh, and, um, one of them, uh, is not doing well. I got some, um, I got some scary alerts from the, from the server the other day, and I was like, oh, fuck. So I've been running some, some tests on the drives. It's not good, not looking good. Luke: Yep, yep. Matt: Uh, no, no data loss yet. Yeah, it's been recoverable, but like both drives were bought at the same time, so it's not— Luke: the other one is maybe— yep. Matt: Yeah, so I was like, uh-oh. So I had a look at what it would cost to replace the drives. Luke: Yep. Matt: And fuck that right now, like Are you kidding me? With these fucking prices right now, it would cost me $1,000 to replace those drives with— because ideally I want to— I don't want to put like, you know, like, uh, you know, desktop kind of drives in there. It's not— they're not supposed to be run continuously, but I want to get like server drives. But it's like $500 each for like just for like a 12 terabyte, which is kind of small now. Luke: I'm going to bring up something you said a few weeks ago. Matt: What did I say? Luke: You did say now might still be the best time because it's probably not going to get better.

Matt: I can't, man. I can't. I can't spend $1,000 on that. That's ridiculous. Luke: That's crazy. Matt: I can't. So I've got to come up with a solution. Like, anyway, but, but yeah, because I just look in there and there's a— that's refurbished. I was on like, I forget, it's like an ex-commer— like ex-corporate Drives. Oh, refurbs, like manufacturer refurbished drives. Luke: Yeah, but Matt: it's just absurd right now, and I guess I can't do it. It's, it's just not acceptable to me. Luke: No, no, I, I completely understand. It's, it's, it's not right, and it's all just so— and the annoying thing is, as I was talking about last week or the week before, a lot of the stuff that's being purchased is just sitting in warehouses. Yeah, because they're just buying it for when they need it, in case they need it, but they don't want anyone else to buy it, so they have to wait. So they're just, Matt: um, there's a quote Sam Altman said this week: it's a tragedy that there's so much RAM sitting in people's machines at homes and when it could be in a data center. It's like, fuck off, Sam. Luke: But does he realize that if we don't have RAM, that we Cut, use your AI. Matt: I assume what he means— and I mean, maybe what he meant, I shouldn't say I assume— maybe what he meant is people do buy more higher specs than they need. Yeah, maybe that's what he means. Like, it's a shame that there's all this RAM out there that could have been put to better use. Luke: Yeah, but they're talking— we're talking like people might get an extra 62 gig, if that. Not the—

Matt: I'm speculating on what he meant. That's, that's just the quote I saw. Luke: I think he just does want all of it for himself. Matt: Yeah. Luke: Has he changed the name of his company yet? Matt: From OpenAI to ClosedAI? Luke: Yeah, it should be OpenSI, shouldn't Matt: it? Good point. We've got a little bit of ChatGPT news quickly. I thought this was funny. There's a website called 404 Media and apparently ChatGPT keeps telling people to contact them, um, because when people have like a tech problem, like a support problem, uh, ChatGPT keeps telling them you should go to the press with this, this is a serious thing. And then, and then telling them to contact 404 Media. Like anything like, um, you know, like someone got kicked out of their Instagram account or something like that, and then ChatGPT said you've got to go to the fucking press with this. Like Like, and just escalating Luke: because it's trying to make that person feel validated. Matt: Yeah, it's like that guy who, um, who— oh, there's been a few cases of these where it keeps telling people, you, you've fucking solved the mystery of the universe, you need to contact scientists immediately. It's like that. Luke: The thing, like, crazy, like, if I was to get kicked out or something, my first thought isn't I need to tell AI about this,

Matt: um, Luke: or ask AI what to do. It's, Matt: uh, I do. I asked, I asked Claude about my hard drive. Issues. I was like, is there a way to fix this? And it was like, no, that drive's fucking dead. What are you doing? Luke: And then you did a bit more research. You went, no, I can still do stuff with this at the moment. Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, the drive's recovered. It's just— but yeah, Luke: yeah, Matt: it's not a good sign. Luke: Well, another thing AI's done recently is it's been named at a wrongful death lawsuit. Matt: Another one? What? Luke: Yes. So a woman, she was— she worked in IT. She was on epilepsy medicine, but new medicine she was on, it was making her feel a bit groggy when she was going for new jobs and things like that.

Matt: Yeah. Luke: So she was talking to ChatGPT like, what do I do about this? Matt: Oh God. Luke: Yeah. ChatGPT was, here's how we can reduce your medication, but don't tell your doctor Matt: about it. No, no, no. Luke: And then yeah, she died. Matt: Fuck me. That's the other thing too, the, the one guy who did the maths thing, um, he contacted the— it told him that he'd solved some cryptographic horseshit and he needed to contact the government and the NSA and all this kind of stuff. So he did, and then it told him, don't tell them I told you to do it because they'll— they won't believe you. Just say you figured it out. Yeah, it's like, it's like that. Don't tell your doctor you're talking to me. Luke: No, no. Matt: Yeah, that's like, come on. So, and yeah, this is not the first time. Luke: No, and it won't be the last.

Matt: No, there's a really— that sad story about the kid who, who, um, committed suicide and ChatGPT— not in— it encouraged him in that it validated him. Like, it didn't— like, it didn't say, yeah, yeah, go on, do it kind of thing. No, you know, there's nothing wrong with you know, you know, feeling the way you're feeling. It kind of— it just— it wasn't good. It, it encouraged him in a way. Yep. Not in a way, it did. Luke: It did. Matt: It's just a bit— so yeah, Luke: that's why AI is going to kill us all. Matt: Yeah, Luke: it's already started. Matt: Yeah, that's even, uh, fucking apparently Anthropic is claiming that too. They keep doing this. Uh, someone said it's like they're intentionally trying to hype it up because they want, um, you know, like they say, oh, you know, our models, our new model's way too dangerous, we can't give it to you, Luke: you Matt: know, it's going to do all this really dangerous stuff. And it's like, is it really, or do you just want more money? Like, Luke: well, it kind of is doing crazy stuff

Matt: actually. The number of fucking security issues floating around, yeah, I know, and it's finding stuff Luke: that's been there for years. Matt: In a way it's good, but in another way it's bad because it's happening too fast. Luke: It's happening very fast. And actually also, like, it's not just a, like, here's a vulnerability, it then goes out to the world and tells people how to exploit it. Matt: Yes. Yeah. Whereas normally what happens is some human discovers a vulnerability, tells— ideally tells the vendor, the person, and they get it fixed, and then they announce it afterwards. Luke: Yes, and they, they rush to get the fixed up, but they're not— Matt: to a degree they can, Luke: to a Matt: degree. Luke: But now it's, no, we need to rush this out. Yeah, because now, because now you're releasing—

Matt: because ChatGPT is telling everybody about it. Luke: Yep. Matt: Yeah, yeah, there's been a ton of them just this last week. There's the— something else got hacked the other day. Fucking the Department of Homeland Security got hacked here. I don't know if this was— I mean, oh, actually, you know what, it almost certainly was AI-assisted. They all are now. Luke: They all are now. Matt: It's kind of pointless wondering whether it is. They all are. Yes, DHS got hacked. Um, Luke: FBI a little while ago. Matt: Yep. Uh, there was the whole PHP thing the other week. Yeah, affected me at work. Luke: In fact, most websites. Matt: That's a good point. Yeah, most of the world. Yeah, was it 70% of the fucking internet runs on PHP? Luke: Yeah.

Matt: Uh, the certificate thing, which was not AI, that was just— although, did AI figure that out? Probably. Luke: It's probably— well, Matt: that's the thing, like, encryption key was the number 4. Like, Luke: even when, like, sites have been hacked out, they've had to hire other AI sites to combat them being hacked. It's— well, Matt: that's what I'm saying though. Anthropic's, um, they've got their counter-hacking AI things. Yeah, our model's so dangerous, you're gonna have to pay for this other one that we've got to fight the one that— yeah, it's just like Come on, guys. Luke: And then the counter one's going to be more dangerous, so we've got to create another one. Matt: Um, well, what you should do is— there's a man in Kentucky who has become the first person who's been given a religious exemption from AI, whatever that means. Uh, this man says he's a humanist and therefore AI is against his religion. It's a violation of his beliefs. And he's been granted a religious exception, which I'm assuming means that they can't make him use it at work. I'm guessing that's really the only thing this is going to come down to. Luke: Well, I guess he doesn't have a mobile phone. Matt: Well, yeah, I Luke: guess, or use the internet because he can't use Google.

Matt: Yeah, I feel like this is one of those things where, like the Amish, right, they say they don't want to use tech and stuff and they do it. They like, they don't use it and they don't use they don't partake of the benefits of it either. And I feel like if you're going to do this, Luke: you've got to Matt: commit. Yeah, you're not allowed to use anything that, yeah, that comes as a result of AI if you're going to take this stance. So yeah, I feel like this is going to be difficult. Luke: I don't think it's possible without you basically becoming Amish. Matt: That's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, okay, fine, it's against your religion. Right, okay, get off the internet then. Luke: Yeah, Matt: because yeah, you are partaking of the AI. Luke: Like internet, Instagram, Facebook, that's all— AI is all over that, trying to find out what to show you, to market to you. That's— Matt: we're making, we're making at least one, uh, listener angry right now. I know, probably more than one, but there's one, one of our listeners in particular doesn't like AI at all, and I think we are Probably annoying him right now. Luke: I, I'm still not the biggest fan of AI. I thought— I mean, having to come to it,

Matt: I like it in certain ways. I don't like other ways, basically. I think it's very useful, but I think it's become a crutch for people. I think, Luke: you know, Matt: we talked about the Steam thing. People are just shitting out crap. Luke: Last week, we've been like, the developer— like, people aren't learning that skill anymore. Matt: Right, yes. But because the thing is, I think it's useful because I already have that skill and I can tell when it's— Luke: but now people are gonna just use that. And that's why we can have— there's apps that are out there now that can be hacked instantly because they just claw coded it, put a payment thing on it, and yeah, Matt: it Luke: happens. It doesn't know you want that payment stuff hidden or anything. Matt: Yeah, yeah, exactly. It's happened a bunch of times. And then you look at the, uh, we talked about the Steam thing the other week. I saw a video about that from a developer I follow talking about basically it's like, why is the Steam thing such a big issue when something like Tokyo Game Show, which happened the other week, um, also had a lot of AI-assisted games? Because I mean, the reality is all games are AI-assisted now, whether you like it or not, they are. Like, Luke: see, I think the issue with the Steam one, it wasn't AI-assisted, it was AI, make me a copy of that game.

Matt: And the barrier of entry to get into the Tokyo Game Show is a lot higher, whereas with the Steam Next Fest, there were literally developers who had like 5 games in the Next Fest. And then basically it's, it's this thing, it's like basically market testing. Yeah, like let's shit out 5 games with low effort and see if anybody likes any of them. And if they do, then okay, fine, that's the one we'll work on. But like, the problem is that it's fucking things up for the rest of the Tokyo Games Fest, for the developers who actually put effort in and made a game and want it in the next fest because they want people to see the game. And then now they have to wade through all this garbage to see it. Luke: But Tokyo Game Fest, you have to apply. Someone looks at it, goes, oh, is this a real game? Matt: Yeah, you have to pay money to, to be there, like at PAX or whatever. Luke: You know, don't you need to pay money if you get a game on Steam? Matt: Oh, do you? Luke: It's $100. Yeah, Matt: I see. There you go. Fucking— that'll stop them. Luke: Yeah, well, that's, that's, that basically when they stopped vetting games as much, that was their way of— yeah, making people— oh, we'll put this payment in and that'll stop people trying to release shit. Yeah, it's not worth the risk. Matt: I've seen takes where you could see it as, you know, it is a problem, but it's also an opportunity Because if you want to make a game, you can still use AI. You just have to use it, you know, properly. Not— oh, I say properly, like, it's not— you can't just tell it to do it for you. You use it as like an assistant. Luke: And come up with your own idea. Don't go copy that for me.

Matt: Right. And I also think— Luke: don't make the exact same game. Matt: I know I don't think I would use AI for art. I know that I've I'm not as shit on AI art, but only in a certain way. I don't think I would use AI art for an actual creative thing like that. I think I've used it for the thumbnails for this, just as a stupid joke, because otherwise we wouldn't have had the joke kind of thing. But I think for a creative endeavor like a game or a movie, right? AI-generated movies. I'm not interested in that. Because when I play a video game or I, or I watch a movie, I'm interested in the creative, like, feelings of the person who made it. Luke: We were talking about earlier about the— I don't want coffee. Matt: I want— yeah, it's not like it's not a movie, it's just content. It's content. Yeah, like, it's— Luke: there's no heart in it, there's no nothing, but it looked good. Matt: But yeah, I'm not gonna learn anything from that about myself. Like, it's— yeah, so I feel like for those things, and I, I mean, I guess I'm still figuring all this out in my head, but Luke: it's hard Matt: for a video game. I don't think I would use AI art. There was a game I bought the other day actually, uh, that I thought this was interesting. It's a game called— you know what, fuck it, I'll just say what the name of the game is. Let me open Steam. It's called, uh, ReStory. It is a, a chill electronics repair game. It looked fun. It's got good reviews. Basically, you own an electronics repair store in Tokyo and you have to like fix electronics. And I thought, oh, okay, Luke: yep,

Matt: looks fun. It's got very good reviews, but there was some in there negative talking about, oh, it came out that they used AI for the art. And I was like, oh, that's a shame. But then I looked into it and from what I can tell, as long as they're being honest, okay, they didn't use AI for the art in the game. What happened is they made the game, and then when they were putting the Steam page together, they had somebody do the art for the Steam page and like the backgrounds for the Steam page, that kind of stuff. AI was used for that. So, and I was like, ah yes, see, that's a gray area because people are mad about it. But then if you look at the reviews, the review people in the reviews are saying, oh, this game uses AI art. It doesn't. Luke: This actually looks fun. You're repairing like handheld, old handheld games. Matt: And I— it was on sale the other day, so I bought it. And then, and it just bothered me because I was like, I feel like, yeah, it's not the same thing, right? Using it for the— because they were like, oh, we need art for the Steam page. Oh fuck, uh, quick, you know, here's the art, make a background. And it did. And then I just feel like that's different to using it in the game, you know? Luke: All right, come to Xbox. Matt: I'm already there, Luke. I've got— Luke: no, I need— we talked about this. I've got Xbox. Matt: I've got like 4 of them. Xbox is coming out everywhere. Uh, yeah, so I just felt like it wasn't quite fair to be slagging the game off for AI art when the AI art isn't in the game. It's not the developer. And in fact, it probably the developer might have had nothing to do with it. Could have been the publisher, because the publisher probably handles the Steam page, not the developer. So I feel like it's really unfair. Luke: Unfortunately, with the internet, you don't check facts first. Matt: No. So that's what I'm saying. It's got negative reviews for people saying there's AI art in the game, and they— and, or they've admitted they used AI in the game. They didn't. They said they didn't use AI in the game. Luke: They used it— someone used it on their store page.

Matt: Someone used it to make something for this, some stuff for the store page. Which is a shame, but it's different. Luke: Yes. Matt: Uh, close that. So, um, oh yeah, and just before we go to the afterparty, one last thing. Yeah, this is very topical. Do you remember Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis? Because I do. Luke: I do. I have very fond memories of that. Matt: They also made, uh, Indiana Jones and Sorry, The Last Crusade. Luke: Yeah, Indiana Matt: Jones, Luke: back when LucasArts used to make good games. Matt: Why can't I remember the actual title of that? Is it Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, or is it just The Last Crusade? What is the actual title of that film? Luke: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Matt: And the Last Crusade. Yeah, why am I fucking blanking on the actual title? Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Got it. Luke: Yeah. Matt: Yeah, well, so there's a game of that as well. Also LucasArts, somebody has made Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom into a point-and-click adventure game. I have it on my computer, I haven't played it yet. Uh, I'm pretty sure this is going to get pulled off the internet at some point, so it has to be. Luke: So you want, you want it, get it now. Matt: Okay, grab it because I'm pretty sure someone's gonna have this removed at some point. But something you should know about this It was made with AI, um, AI-assisted everything including the graphics. So I don't know to what extent— when I look at it, I think it looks AI-generated. So I don't know what a human did exactly. Luke: Yeah, I need to ask something. Did you pay for it? Matt: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, it's free. Luke: It's pay what you want. Matt: Same. That's what I said. Isn't that what I said? Isn't that what I said? No, I did not pay for it. Okay. Calling me out. Fuck, I forgot that. I literally was just like, no, no, it's free. But there's a couple of things that are interesting about this to me, right? First of all, it's made by AI. I'm interested to see Is it any good on that? Um, it's based on the story. Oh, it's got music by John Williams. That's gonna get in trouble. Yeah, so that's what I'm saying, grab it now if you want it. Uh, AI-assisted for everything, built with Godot Adventure Engine, which is to me very interesting. I want to— I've never seen a game made with Godot. Of this type. Uh, I know that there are others, but, um, in this particular style I haven't seen. So I'm interested to play it for that reason. Luke: I now have a copy.

Matt: Oh, how much did you pay for it, Luke? Luke: $5. Matt: Did you really? Luke: Yeah. Matt: You know what you could have bought for $5? Luke: I, I already paid for that as well. Matt: The afterparty. Luke: The afterparty, Matt: right? Well, if you want to reimburse Luke for the $5 he just gave to ChatGPT Oh shit, Luke: I just did, didn't

Matt: I? There's a human somewhere that, that told ChatGPT what to do. Um, uh, the afterparty is where we will continue to talk. We've got Geek of the Week this week. Luke: It's a big one. Matt: It's a big one this week. Luke: This one's a shock. Matt: Yeah, yeah, Luke: right. Matt: I was not expecting this. It came out of nowhere. Um, and, uh, we've also got some Vegemite news. Luke: Yes, which— this one— Matt: and some Hitler news. Luke: I'm on the fence about the Vegemite news.

Matt: Oh yeah, I'm not. We'll talk about it. I thought you're gonna say I'm on the fence about Hitler. Luke: Um, I'm also on the— I am on the fence about the news about it. Matt: About Hitler? Luke: Yeah. Matt: Or about— okay, Luke: about this particular article. Matt: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fuck Hitler. Okay, we agree. Yes, to be clear, to be clear. If you, if you're concerned now the afterparty is going to be any sort of, you know, no, no, Luke: no. Matt: Uh, patreon.com/multiplenerdgasm, Luke: uh,

Matt: or go to multiplenerdgasm.com and there's a link and you can support the show. Uh, you can sign up for free and you will get access to the Discord and, uh, to the community and all that kind of stuff. Uh, and, you know, just helps us out because we know that you are listening. Luke: Yes. Matt: Um, Luke: that's what you want. Matt: For $1 a month, you can support us financially, which we would greatly appreciate. You'll get the show early and, uh, and then some extra, you know, behind-the-scenes stuff from time to time. And then for $5 a month, you also get the afterparty, and you get the entire afterparty back catalog when you sign up. So you could just pay $5 to get it all and Luke: then— yeah, cancel if you want. Cancel. Matt: Don't, but you could. Luke: Yeah, you could. Matt: And again, that website, patreon.com/multiplenerdgasm. patreon.com/multiplenerdgasm. patreon.com forward slash multiple nerdgasm. Luke: Apparently you're supposed to be able to like and subscribe.

Matt: Oh yeah, like and subscribe. Thumbs up if you Luke: hype us. I don't know what that is either. Matt: I'll give you horny. Luke: Yeah, honk. Outro: That's all for this week. Thank you for listening and we hope you enjoyed the show. If you enjoyed it, then please subscribe and iTunes through Receive episodes automatically. We'll see you next time.