The Ultimate Gamer’s Gift Guide, or: Luke’s Low Five Low-Fi Games (aka Luke’s Low Five Steamy D Starter Deck, Because Yes, He Gave One List Two Names)

Alex and Luke Talk Gifting Gamers, Low-Fi Picks, and  Sidequest Shenanigans.

In a somewhat rare departure from the usual one-game deep dive, this episode is all about helping you find the perfect gift for the gamer in your life—even if that gamer is you. Alex kicks things off with five flexible gift categories to guide your shopping: from digital gift cards and magazine subscriptions to coffee table books, gaming gear, and local experiences that go beyond the screen. Whether you're buying for a console diehard or a casual button masher, there's something in here to spark an idea.

Then it’s Luke’s turn, and with it comes one very chill list with two very unnecessary titles: Luke’s Low Five Low-Fi Games a.k.a. Luke’s Low Five Steamy D Starter Deck. It’s a thoughtful roundup of cozy, low-stakes games that pair perfectly with rainy days, worn-out thumbs, or your favorite overpriced seasonal beverage. If Alex’s segment gives you structure, Luke’s delivers specifics.

This one’s a little looser than usual, but we manage to weave in some solid beats—so stick with us.

This episode is unofficially brought to you in part by head cheese.

Chapters

• 0:21 The Ultimate Gamer’s Gift Guide
• 40:49 Unsanctioned Sponsor: Head Cheese
• 48:04 Sidequestin'
• 1:04:08 "Low Five Press Record"

Transcript

Alex: 0:21

Happy holidays, everyone. What up, everybody? Welcome to Low Five Gaming special episode for you all. This is Alex and my co-host and brother, Luke. Hey there. Uh Al has trimmed his beard. Otherwise, he was coming in in full Zaddy Santa vibes with the gray beard. I'm not I'm not clean shaven anymore, though. I'm bringing it back. And really, I just wanted to cheat and give you a list of five games that I'm just kind of obsessed with. So I have like three different things that I'm gonna call it. Right on. Step one is what I'm officially saying, and which you'd put in like the podcast header, which would be like holiday gift guide top five, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna keep it a little more evergreen. It is true, it's a holiday gift guide, but I'm just gonna gamer gift guide, bro. Gamer sure. This is going to be relevant to you in July. Not just Christmas in July. And it will because it's also Luke's low five, lo-fi games, because I've just really always wanted to push my low-fi gaming agenda on low five gaming, and I just couldn't really marry that to, so here we are with that. I mean, we could have. We could have, but it's a mouthful. I feel like that's part of the fun of it, dude. All right. I do feel though, I mean, we could do down the road, we might get there. I'm full-on low-five top five. I'm also calling it Luke's low-five Steamy D starter deck. Oh, all right. Yeah. No, I I thought of this, but also not at all, if you can't tell. So there you go. Listener, you're gonna get five premier lo-fi games that can be gifted to yourself, to a friend, to a family member, all around the the holiday season, yeah, or perhaps a birthday. Or maybe you're celebrating the rising of Christ. Right and you want to play some lo-fi games to really get that. That's right. This is a this is America and uh it's Christmas. That's that's the deal. I said holiday guide, dude. Dude, you can do some Hanukkah shopping. I don't care, dude. Yeah, as long as you're shopping because late stage capitalism, ladies and gentlemen. Uh sure. So you're gonna get five awesome lo-fi games out of Luke, and I took this a slightly different direction where I am offering more of a gift guide in the sense of pockets. We'll get there. So the the listical format that we're doing, it's gonna be very interesting. Yeah, it's gonna be all over. We're gonna see where it goes. But this is a low-five top five holiday gift guide. I'm gonna have some dumb shit to say right on everywhere. Well, let's get out of dude. You want you want to kick it off or shall I kick it off? Well, we'll let you kick it off. Okay. Because we don't really we didn't really pick a format where it's just like you give me one, I give you one. Yeah, yeah. Because we didn't marry our lists with a central theme because we're dumb. And we didn't want to. They're just courting each other. Yeah, we chose chaos. Um, so let me hear your first category. You said you had categories or something like that. So I didn't want to I didn't want to nail it down to be like, this is my definitive, these are the things you need to buy in the gift guide, but I'm giving you all some direction. Starting from the the low tier headed to the high tier. So number five is gonna be the tried and true gift card. God's just saying a gift card that is. You came to the right pod, dude. We have gift card ideas up in here, dude. I mean, I that's the side when you're thinking gift cards. When you're thinking of gifting, right? I mean, uh, gift card is path of easiest resistance. And there's a few different things I have to say about this gift card. We're talking the big four. So either Steam, Sony, Xbox, Nintendo, specifically to whatever the person you're gifting, whatever their platform of choice is, get them a gift card for that thing. You can't lose. People are gonna be stoked to be able to spend that money on whatever they put whatever they're playing. No one's ever been like, oh shit, like I got this extra money to buy a game with, right? So gift card is is tried and true, low tier, but tried and true. But there's a different I'm I'm adding on to that though, right? So the gift card doesn't have to be just straight up for the gift card for any respective platform that I listed off. It could also be for the online sub, right? So you can gift NSO. I think that is a fucking awesome gift. Especially, you know, like NSO is one of those things. I mean, I thought we were gonna do it. I thought about I thought about uh no no no. Yeah, gray beard content where it's just you in your glasses naked with the headphones on and a mic, dude. Hey man, if y'all want to see that, you DM me and I'll set it up. Pay enough money, we'll get it done. We'll get it done. We'll get it done in my Titan gaming chair, dude. Let's go. Third third piece to the gift card piece. Yeah, fine. All right. So the subs. Because you know what? No one really wants to be paying for the yearly sub. So it's really nice when someone's like, you know what, I subbed you to NSO for a year. I subbed you to PS, whatever the fuck you're saying. And also be a nice way to pressure your friends to playing online games. Selfishly. But to be frank, uh both Xbox and PlayStation's yearly sub, kind of expensive. So like Nintendo's this nice sweet spot, in my opinion. Uh, but you know, if you're balling, you want to give someone an entire year of uh, you know, whatever it's called, game pass, by all means. By all means. Game pass. Jeez. Yeah. Well, that's just it, though, dude. See, like if I gifted you Game Pass for three months, you'd be like, that's dope. But like I want to do. You want to give me Game Pass for a month once with uh Elden Ring, that was fucking right. See, yeah. Uh the third and final piece to the gift card recommendation is in-game currency, with which I must say, barf. But here's the deal. You hook up like uh I've done this in the past. I've hooked up my my niece with some Robux. Sure. She is she really into Roblox. So the Robux did you slap 50 bucks Robux? Like, that's like heard of your first album. Alex sends Roblox to miners. All right, continuing the little girl sending them Roblox. Uh but you know, that's the thing too. Like, I mean, like, I I'm really truly I'm anti-indigame currency. I think it's ridiculous. But here's the deal it's here, and especially in the youth, it's a thing that's happening. Dude, I'm I ran into I had I just gotta tune up with my car. Regular oil change that shit. Super awesome, dude. He might be listening. I shared the pod because I had my switch with me, right? And he was like, You got the switch? Switch two? And I was like, nah. And you know, I was like, it's just switch one. He's like, Oh, that's weird. You need a switch two. Damn it. I was like, nah, you don't understand, bro. I got a lot of toys. Uh, I don't need the switch two right now. This dude really poor shamed you about not having a switch. I like this guy now, dude. He's like, he was dude. He was talking to me. We're talking video games a little bit, you know, like it was it was dope. Like, I was learning, he's very much in a different camp uh than than me in terms of video games, where he's like Counter-Strike, a lot of the like shooter, like co-op, like big team stuff, that kind of thing. Uh, which we respect, but that's just not my vibe uh when it comes to gaming. I I'll dabble like uh hell divers and shit is super cool. Uh but yeah, like Counter-Strike, you know, I mean I would I would play, but you're gonna mop the floor with me. This dude would mop the floor with me. He was telling me, and we got to a point in the conversation where he he revealed how much he spent on Counter-Strike 2, or maybe one of the other ones. Point is a game like that where you're spending money. Five thousand dollars. Dog like 20 plus grand over a lifetime, over his lifetime. That's crazy though. That is crazy though. But here's the deal. Wow. I mean, it might be a gateway drug, so maybe don't do this for folks. Yeah, don't do that. But the in-game currency gift card is another play that is gonna make a lot of folks happy. Yeah. To iterate off of it, I'm a big fan of just jumping on someone's wish list and finding the game you want them to play the most. And it's technically on their wish list, so you're not being selfish, but low-key. You're being selfish. So that's my that's my first bucket, dude. Nice. Number two. You're gonna run through the list or how you wanna you want to tell me a little game? Keep going. All right, okay. We're gonna go through your deals and we'll just do my dumb thing after. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh I guess. Weird flow. But you know what? You you're all signed up for a ride. Yeah. So you know, I explained it. Uh my next thing that uh that I'm recommending folks, this is number four. Yes. Okay, so we have the gift card angle. Now I'm on now. I mentioned the NSO subscription base. Now I'm gonna I'm gonna shell subscriptions to magazines like Playboy, yeah, like Hustler. The gamers need it. Well, you know, we're afraid of women, so we have to. I'm just playing, dude. But I but I am not playing about the subscription mags to Game Informer, Retro Gamer, PC Meg, those three, uh in my opinion, top-tier magazines. Then you can donate them to your local school, and then their art class has cool collage work, dude. No, so that is that I mean that's the truth. But you know, I got I got my game informer uh sub, dude, and it's like it's great. It's great uh for multiple reasons. I think if you are gifting a gamer, I think it's cool to offer a subscription to content that is being made around something that they love. So you'll just use Game Informer. Do you game informer like you give someone game informer? One, they're gonna be able to consume content around this like something they really like, which is gaming. And two, in doing that, not only are you getting like this cool like uh media piece, uh, not only are you donating cool art artwork to to classrooms for collages, but you're supporting the people that are right for these mags. You're supporting the industry around the publication of gaming content. So explain. You're getting this gift throughout the year. That'll trickle throughout the year indeed. Yeah, yeah. So I think that's uh I think that's another cool one. My num my my number four would be that sub to game informer or retro mag, which I think is really cool. Uh PC Mag kind of depends on the niche that the person really falls into. I think Game Infor is a good Game Informer is a good blanket for gaming in general. But if you got someone in your life that is a big retro gamer, like retro game magazine is dope.

Luke: 10:06

Yeah.

Alex: 10:07

And if that person has an iPad, like the digital subs, these things are cool, but like I do think that it's like it's it's fun to be able to, you know, it partially is my age, like you know, wanting to flip through a magazine. Yes. Uh but uh the digital entire Zoomer audience is gone now, dude. Damn. Oh, but I tell you what, man, like these a lot of these magazines too, they make it, they make them available on if you have like a tablet, it's a great, great source to be taking into some of this content. Um, but that's number four. And uh to keep on rocking and rolling with my buckets. Number three, I got the coffee table book. Well so similar to the to the Meg's uh Will Alex recommend a game today? No, I think. We will see. We will see. I came into this think we were making a gift guide. I love it. No, I'm just being a shit head, you know. Uh so number three, I I'm recommending coffee table book, your retrospectives, your histories, your encyclopedias, etc. Your cookbooks. There's a lot of gaming cookbooks out there. Yes. And again, very similar to the MAG, but it's a physical piece of media goes beyond the game. And you know, it's just kind of a fun piece. And it's also one of those cool things, and that's what's something I like about gifts is like getting a gift or giving a gift that like someone maybe wouldn't have gone out of the way, they like are gonna like this thing, but they wouldn't have necessarily got it from themselves. Right. I also feel the need to express that if you have a significant other games, they're probably into Stardew Valley. And I feel like this is the perfect wife gift, wife gamer gift would be like some sort of Stardew Valley coffee table thing. Yeah, so you really have to throw that out there. Right now, Trey, you're getting Stardew Valley cooking for the colour. Animal Crossing Rally. But that's been so long. Yeah. But that's another, you know, it's a like who doesn't like who doesn't love having like the Hyrule Historia on their coffee table? Like, you know, flip through that. I'm cool. I like Zelda. It is cool. It is cool. Uh, that was number three. Nice. Number two, the peripheral they won't buy for themselves. The gear. The gear. Gear guys like, I got gear for you. Please tell me. So we're talking the micro SD cards to get you more space on your switches. We're talking the portable SSDs, like the little like uh, you know, hard drives for your Xbox, your PlayStations. You can do the SSDs or whatever they're called, that go to the inside, a little more technical. But we're also talking the gaming headsets, we're talking controllers, arcade sticks, racing wheels, or wholesome, a gaming journal. Wow. Yeah. Oh, my boy's trying to take a nap. Can y'all hear that? Yeah, it's going great. Give him a gaming. You got a new controller lately, dude? Do I have a new controller? I got one recently. Um, God, new controllers feel so goddamn good, dude. They do. Shout out to shout out to my boy Jimmy. He knows the controller feels nice. New controller, crisp. Love a new controller, Jimmy. Oh, so good. Feels so goddamn good. Uh the thing is, and it being in the retro. What have I been doing with these whole sock, dude? Honestly, being a retro gamer as well, like it it makes me a little sad sometimes when I when I like pit like end up. I'll just use the example of GameCube. I have a couple of GameCube controllers that have been through the gamut, not by me, but because they're secondhand. And I just wish that I was the person. Yeah, it's not your sweaty history, it's someone else's sweaty history. That's gross. Your sticks start the sticks just aren't is not quite as nice as you want them to be. The button press isn't quite as fulfilling. Still works, but uh but yeah. Um, there are a couple of companies out here doing some really cool third-party uh stuff. Um, I'm not gonna shill them today on the pod because they ain't giving me any money, but I've given them money. Yeah, but I always like the OEM, to be honest, the the original one by the um by the actual company. Xbox is a little weird though. Xbox uh is a controller that kind of like makes my hands cramp. Weird. Yeah, it's the angle of it. I don't know. I had the Pro Controller and I thought that was the way, and then my Pro Controller absolutely fell apart in like four different locations. And then I had the one that, you know, out-of-the-box controller, and that was fine. And now I have a new one which is just like a basic controller. I don't know, maybe it's just because I ran down the other two, but just the refresh has felt so fucking good. Yeah, I need a new controller. But I used to be like a PlayStation Elitist and be like ergonomically we can get PlayStation controller twor the best. PlayStation controllers are really good ergonomically, though. I bet. It's just been a while. So uh I no longer feel as Sony pilled, so I used to really stand for them, and now I don't think I like the Xbox controllers nice. Uh yeah, yeah. Uh I rattled through it real quick. I already said it, but I'm gonna reiterate a gaming headset. Pretty cool, pretty cool gift because I think it's one of those things that I think a lot there is a sector gamers that are gonna definitely go out of their way to get these, um, the online players, etc. Because um, if you're playing Do you rock a headset? Uh no, no, no, no, I do not. But I don't have any games that I like, I don't I don't often play multiplayer though. Same. So if you want to give me a headset, I'd be dope, that'd be dope. Maybe. Uh, because like uh especially on these new systems, dude, like the uh like the Xbox wireless headset. Xbox is one of the dumb companies, like it's a dumb thing that they do. It has something to do with the technology, but um, Xbox does not connect to a Bluetooth headset headset, it's like a proprietary Xbox thing. So wire into the controller, you can do that. So like you can plug like these headphones that we have on right now, or wired headphones, you can plug that into the bottom of your controller and you can hear things, but it doesn't have a microphone, like these ones don't have a microphone, so like the headset's nice because you got the microphone there, whereas like when we've game together, you gotta have to have like everything just on, you know, like like our phones are rocking Discord or whatever. Yeah, uh, you got the game going, so the headsight's kind of cool. Like, if I did more multiplayer gaming, I would probably get one of these for myself. But a great gift for anybody listening. You send it to me, Minneapolis. Let's play it. I will appreciate it and still never play online games. But that is my that is my uh what bucket was that three? So we're all no, that was two. So we're we're getting to the we're getting to number numero uno. Numero uno is not a game. For anybody that was waiting for me to give a specific game, you're gonna get five of those from Luke. Damn. All of which file under the same bucket. Uh, but I'm going with an X experiences, brother. Straight up gaming experiences. Now, this can be this is a big one, but you could you could gift tickets to a gaming convention. A lot of cool gaming conventions out there. Um, difference of sizes or whatever. Like I know like PAX East just happened not too long ago. Not saying that uh in the Midwest you should necessarily gift Paxis tickets and a flight out there and all that kind of stuff. But if it's in, you know, I know there's like the there's a big uh convention here in Milwaukee that would be like a fun drive. That's still kind of far. Twin Cities does some things, a little bit smaller things. I think 2D con is a fun one. My point is there's a lot of different cons out there. Even if uh even if the gamer in your life doesn't do the con thing, I bet you they're curious. I bet you they would love to con curious. Con curious. I bet you I bet you they would love, like, even if that's not like if they haven't done it, I think it's like, okay, you hook them up with that, they're gonna go be around a bunch of like-minded people, they're gonna learn a bunch of stuff about new games coming out, etc., or just be able to like partake in the fun of and celebration of like older games, etc. Uh, so that was one an experience I thought would be cool. More like, so that that would be like kind of a top, top tier, kind of a little bit more expensive gift, like whatever, a little bit extreme. But within the experience realm, a little more approachable, maybe a little bit more makes sense for for people, would be to bring that, you know, to set up basically uh a retro arcade outing. Uh, there's a lot of like in the Twin Cities at least, there's a few different popping up uh where different collectors really have amassed these huge arcade cabinet collections. There's a really cool one uh over in St. Paul. Uh two-bit arcade, two-bit is that what it is, two-bit uh two-bit retro arcade or something like that. Still haven't made it over there. I hope to eventually. Uh, but it's like 10 bucks, right? 10 bucks for like three hours or something. Nice. You go in there, you play all this dude's games. He's got hundreds of cabinets, really cool vibe set up in there. Uh, but then you know, adjacent to that, you've also got your like barcades. So you can go hang out at the barcade. Pinball halls, also super cool. There we go. Um, hit all those. Uh and yeah. And then, you know, I guess I I already said that the uh the com was the big thing, but like I guess the the super big thing would be like, you know, hook them up to Super Nintendo World. Why don't you just go give that to a brother? Wow, that's so nice of me to buy my family a past to Super Nintendo World in Japan. L. That's fucking crazy. No problem, brother. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas. Uh, but the experience is piece. So I think like, you know, those those big travel ones, I'm not actually recommending those. Pretty cool though. Um, but more so that experience, like hitting the retro arcades, hitting the uh, you know, making it making your date out of the uh the video game store or whatever, you know, like to go out and you know. Love me in a sweaty nerd shop. That's what's up, dude. Uh shout out shop. He got a shout-out for controller. He's gonna get a shout out for the experiences, dude, but the boy Jimmy in the Discord. What up, Jimmy? Uh two shots of one day. Who are you? Ace Boyne needs a call. Uh, but Jimmy was like, dude, he was telling me about this uh thing he did with some homies where they did a uh a toy store like tour, right? So they they in the Midwest, they picked all these toy stores and they did a road trip where they hit all these different toy stores. Oh wow. Uh like retro toy stores and shit, and like you know, picked up different figurines, different video games and shit. But like, dude, that's a dope experience. Kind of gifted it to each other, I suppose. Yeah. The real gift was the friends you made along. That's what I'm saying, bro. That's what I'm saying. So uh a little bit more vague, more bucketed, but if you're like, what do I do for the gamer in my life? Any of these things are. That's a direction to walk in. Hell yeah. What you got for games, brother? All right, man. Well, let's set the scene here. Um, welcome. We got the lo-fi girl hanging out in uh in the corner over there by the window. She's studying. I don't know what exam she's got going, but that girl has been studying for years now. Dude, I love the lore on that shade. That other guy that like across the way. Oh, there's lo-fi lore for sure. Please pour some on me here. Well, I mean, I'm not, I don't know, like I'm not that deep in it, but lo-fi girl, there's like I can't remember what it's called. I've I subbed the the YouTube, but um, there's like the more like uh hip-hop, lo-fi hip-hop channel. Yeah, sure. It's like steezy as fuck. Dude, it's the dude. This is my guy. It's the dude across the way. Like in low, like they that's how they un that's like how they unreal like unleashed it on the world, like this new channel. It's like there's a dude in the apartment across from her that like plays video games and like listens to like more like lo-fi trap and shit. Oh, that's awesome. Uh I like one where it it's it's like chill beats or some shit like that. Yeah, uh the steezy as fuck, uh, which I try to listen to at work, but then they got like a bong and like a gun on the table and some things. So I'm like, all right, well, I guess I can't project this onto the screen, but the beats are nice. Sure, sure. It's very like uh mad lib slash doom era kind of lo-fi beats, but I'm just a big lo-fi guy. So continuing into my shout out to Trappin' in Japan, you know about that? Stop it. Do you know about it? Are you gonna try to tell me about Trappin' in Japan? Doc, I've been on Trapping Japan for a long time. I'll probably show it to you. I went on a really long, weird run with Trappin in Japan. Um, so big fan, big fan here. No doubt about that. You went doja cat? Really? Yeah, Trappin in Japan 5. She uh you obviously are not that big of Trapping Japan. I guess not. I don't know the extended doja cat lore. Uh she just got on like TikTok or whatever and was telling her audience about that she had to discover trapping. She's like, you know about this shit? Okay. She's like, it's a bunch of, and then she like just bliss, she's like, this shit, and then she like plays it and just say, Nope, it's dope. It's yeah. So Trappin's in Japan 5, when you try to use that clear. It's a vibe, it's a vibe, dude. Come on, man. I've tried some trapping in Brazil, some of the offshoots, uh, all fun.

Luke: 22:09

Yeah, yeah.

Alex: 22:10

Um, generally, I enjoy them more than anyone else I'm trying to show them to, but just be the way of the world. But anyway, welcome to our lounge. We're taking a tour of Japan, but that girl's over there studying. Um, since getting a PC, you're like kind of introduced to more types of games and different, more I'm not gonna say experimental, because none of these games are like wildly experimental, but they're just like different than what you're gonna see on a console. Indie, brother. Is it even indie? I mean, yeah, it's like because you're not gonna see like your big AAA quad. There's like bigger than triple A these days. They're like quadruple A and shit. Sure. Uh, but yeah, you're not gonna get some of these. I guarantee you that none of the games that you're about to spit off for folks were made by EA. Alright, fair enough. So my first game, Battlefield 6. This is ridiculous. Dumbass, right? Um, no, the first game I got is not my number one recommendation in the sense of I think this one is the most fire, but it is the one that got this all kicking for me. It's called Islanders. Okay, yeah. And there's recently been an Islanders 2.

Luke: 23:12

Oh.

Alex: 23:12

And I don't know if like lo-fi game is really a category that you're gonna find on Steam. I'm kind of sloppily trying to like see on my phone. Does it exist? I wonder what they call that. I guess it's gotta have a name. Cozy games. It's definitely within the cozy game like lifestyle, because one, it's got like cute graphics, right? It's not like high intensity, but they're just kind of cute, colorful graphics. And a very you can definitely call the music or the soundtracking lo-fi. Sure. This is very vibey, very tranquil. Islanders is a similar to the game. This actually gonna be number one for me. Um, you run out of tiles eventually, you're placing tiles, you're interacting with a map, you're trying to build up and get a high score, and you put per certain things together, and that gives you higher scores, and it's very chill, it's very good. So that's the first one. It got me going on this. This and recently an Islanders 2 has dropped when it gets on sale. I'm gonna grab it and I'm gonna get into that, but I've been a little too obsessed. So, Islanders is what got me obsessed on this kind of lo-fi, cozy gaming corner. Okay. So that's my first recommendation. Right on, what do you do in Islanders? You are trying to build up a high score, it's almost like a board game. A lot of these games also feel like tactile, tile-based board games, too. Which is weird because I'm not really that guy. You're not that guy, pal. You're not that guy. I'm not really that guy. I I swear when I got the PC setup going, I like bombarded you. Yeah, I feel like I had it. Because now you're gonna be able to do that. I think I might have successfully bothered Ace. Booyoing. There's a proper one. Umers, what are people doing? High score? High score, you're laying down these little, you have a map, you're interacting with map, and then you get these little like they're not quite tiles, but they're like little pieces that interact with the map and change the map and combo together, similar to like a board game, like very tactile once again. You just got this lo-fi, tranquil thing. You're kind of floating. You got this beautiful color palette, kinda um uses the same, like uh it's like the what are the uh the sieve things, like use the same sieve like uh shapes almost. The hexagonal hexagon, yeah, right? No, I thought it did. I thought they were like little pieces that you had to get next to each other or whatever. But what's cool about it is you just kind of build these little You were gonna get there though, because trust me. So I think I'm thinking of another game that might be on your list. There's a lot of overlap. It's a very specific vibe I'm curating here. This one's more like it is a vibe. He's like, here's five games that are in a new one. I told you, we're in a lo-fi cozy lounge, dude. Um, this one you have more of like think of board game pieces. That's your potential. No one would complain. Nope. No one would complain. As long as it's not trapping in a jan, because shit gets a little gangster. Yeah, I know. It gets a little gutter. I love it. No, so this one's very much more think of you have an established map, it's kind of generated, and then you have these little board game-like pieces. And you get extra points for putting them in the right space. They have synergies, yeah, and they also have like negative things, so things that'll take away pieces. So, um, truthfully speaking, this is what kicked off my obsession. Okay, but it is not my favorite of the genre. So moving on next was actually a recent game. This is gonna be a complete vibe shift. Not really, it's just a different gameplay shift. Ace gifted me this one, and then I avoided it because it looked dumb. Thanks. Thanks, dude. And then eventually I finally played it and I got really addicted, and it's the shit. And I talked about it on a recent pod. Mini motorways. Oh, yeah, okay. Dude, I'm putting times in the first of all, the color scheme, gorgeous. You have all these different maps you choose from that are based off real life cities. Little geography nerd gets me pretty bricked up, dude. Rio de Janeiro, anyone? I don't actually know if that's one of them, but Mexico City, you got some mountains where you gotta build tunnels through stuff. And the general point of the game is factories and houses, or what do they call them? Like warehouses and houses randomly propagate on your map. Okay. And you have road tiles and various accessories like stoplights, roundabouts, uh bridges, tunnels, and then what they call the mini motorways, which is basically like a highway. And it's this puzzle that you're adapting to the map, and like so you connect road point A to point B. You have a blue house, and you have a blue warehouse, and you gotta get a road that connects the blue house to the blue warehouse, and then a little car will come out from your car or your house, drive to the factory, pick up the package, bring it back. I always show my wife who definitely doesn't care, but she gives me a very nice courtesy of, oh yeah, I know for sure. Yeah, because it's very cutesy. Sure. The the noises. You like that ASMR shit dog? That's good, but backdropped beautifully behind your child, still not going down for that nap. Mom's gonna be ready for a nap too after that one. Um, so you got all these beautiful little sound effects, which is a huge part of the lo-fi ness, is these cutesy little noises, nice little chill beat in the background, cute pastel color schemes, dude. Uber cozy. Gets a little nitty-gritty. I get my ass beat. Eventually traffic. Oh, yeah. You can lose in the other one, too, Islanders, too. You run out of little pieces and then. Yeah, sure, sure. Um, but in this one, you lose when cars can't get to the destination fast enough, and then there's basically a backup at the warehouse. Okay. And then you time out. So I have tried to get like skyline's light. Yeah, in a way, it scratches a similar itch. You're doing a lot of problem solving because like every week they give you a package of you can choose between this or that. Like, oh, I want this many road tiles and a roundabout, or I want less road tiles and like a highway. And when you do that, like in between, like they'll randomly propagate like a new factory, and it's like, oh my god, that's not where I wanted one to be, or like something like that. So like things hit the fan pretty fast. It's probably the most stressful of your city. Yeah. I mean, even if you're like you're it's more arcadey because you are gonna lose. I would say that of the games I'm recommending this, it's still not very low on the stress scale. Okay. Like if we're talking like control or other games like that, much higher on the stress scale. This one, still not even out of 10, not even to a three, okay, but a little bit um more. It remains lo-fi. It remains lo-fi. You can pause it and tear down the roads that you already have and add different roads. Okay. And I feel like the cutesiness and the sound effects really and the color palette really solidify it in this lo-fi corner. Nice. Alright, so that's number two. Number three, I think probably the game that you were thinking of when you when I was bringing up Islanders. Yep. Still not my ultimate recommendation, but I have Terra Escape. Terror Escape for sure. Terror Escape, I became briefly uh very obsessed with, love it so much. Um, I want to say it's newer, so it's not even like Steam Deck Terrace uh Steam Deck. Terror Escape or Terranil? Well, we'll get to Terranil later here. Terror Escape, though. Okay. So it's smaller, and you once again have like a randomly generated map. And it's kind of like, what do you call that aesthetic when like there's kind of like the floating island in the sky type of thing? Like, that's what the island looks like that you're building on, and you have like just so think of it as like a game board for like um like a board game, and then yeah, I'm riffing, it's almost like I should have written an outline. Fuck off. Alright, so you're once again given tiles, and then it's almost like a deck building. Yeah, because like you open what they call packs, so there's like a farm pack, there's like a fishing pack, there's like a city pack, and you're given these play cards, and the play cards give you like kind of like tiles, like you mentioned, like Civ 6 style. Right. All my Civ nerds definitely know what's up. And then what's really fun about this game is you discover over time through experimentation and the way the game guides you, like different synergies that actually transform the tiles in a really cool way. So, for example, you have like a house, and if you put three farms around the house, it becomes like a manor, and then like all the tiles around that new tile like get like green grass, which changes their attributes too, and then you can build on that, and like you can put like a hunter down, and if like the natural stuff that was over there, like deer, and there's different ways where you combine these things and it'll propagate like deer or like fish in the water. It's very chill. You do kind of lose, but not like in the other games, like you eventually either run out of space or you um don't have anywhere to put anything that's good, and like you just kind of you feel very relaxed while you're building. It's scratching a very nice itch of nerdiness, and then that like that growth and that transformation, and then the aesthetic. This one has like extremely cool aesthetics. So this one I think this might be available via Netflix game. Terascape? It might be, yeah. Terranil was a Terranil. Okay. No, Terrascape's probably I'm gonna take a wild stab and say like the smallest in-size, like popularity game that I'm gonna recommend. But that's my third. Terrascape. If you're a board game slash city builder kind of nerd, it's kind of a fun little combo between the two. So my fourth game is actually my favorite one. Oh yeah. Didn't hold that for last. No, that would make more sense, wouldn't it? Whatever. Fine, we'll do Terranil because you keep talking about it. Fourth one, Terranil. You're saving the environment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You are reversing over industrialization. So there's like it's still got the lo-fi aesthetic, still got the lo-fi sounds and sound effects, but it's reverse city builder. You are creating nature from it's a weird cycle in that game, too. Like, yeah, because some of the stuff you do does end up creating pollution, then you kind of kind of like kind of mitigate it. Yeah, exactly. Gotta fix it. Yeah. Um, and I guess probably the strongest lo-fi element is just that you're making it into this beautiful thing. Yeah. And that kind of odd satisfaction scratches really, really hard. Have you ever tried it? Yeah, I played it. It's actually pretty difficult. Uh yeah, it's not the easiest game. But it's cool. It's like it's one of those it it is a vibe for sure. Uh, I have the tendency to like want to minimax these like any game I'm playing. Um, so like that once you let go of that, it becomes more vibey, more lo-fi, yeah. Yeah, and it's it's a puzzle. Like, there's appears to be like a right thing to do. So it's less free-forming than a lot of the other games that I've mentioned this far. You feel like you're failing when when it's not working in the way that you want, but then like, but it feels really good to fix it. So it does. There's that. Alright. So there you go. Right on. One, two, three, four. Honorable mention time. No, dude, was what's your what's the number one? Honorable mention time. Oh, I see. Include a build-up. Uh Townscaper. Yeah, dude. Where you just one click and you turn me out of that game too. Yeah, uh, if you have a brand new PC, just buy this game. Because that's what I did. Oh. And hey, all of these games are like starter-packed. Townscaper's great for the Steam E D, too. Yeah, that was part of my appeal on this list. Was these are all like little starter pack games for your new Steam ED. It's just one click, there's nothing happening other than you building. Yeah, it's the truest of sandboxes. You're just one click, and then sometimes you can pick up the color scheme if you want to take up this color scheme. And there's nothing like there's no being good at it. Yeah, it's almost like drawing in a way. Yeah. Or like playing on like uh blocks or etch a sketch or like a what are the light bright. Yeah. You just keep adding to it, and then like it'll add these beautiful little things and touches, and then there is a not to the same level as some of the other games you were just mentioning, like Terescape, I guess. But like uh as you put little blocks next to each other, like if you do it in certain ways, like it combines and creates like bigger, like the it's just such a structure that's just kind of cool. And then you have the button to take out, so sometimes you can build up a structure and you can take out and like a window will appear, or like a tunnel, right, right, or like an arch, and it's like super cool. Uh, there is a recent game that has come out, which is basically the same thing, but it's like more medieval. Oh, interesting. So I'm just gonna point that one out too, because I can't officially recommend it because I don't have it yet. Someone wants to buy me a game of Christmas. Finally Gonsteam. So here's my list of games people should buy me. Alright, Tiny Glade. Okay. And Tiny Glade has an even cutesier aesthetic, in my opinion. Nice. And it's very similar and it's very cool right now. So, for my number one game, number one while I'm playing it, I'm just like, oh my god, this is so lo-fi, this is so cozy, this is so fun. Recently already successfully got Alex to buy it. Dorf Romantic. Yeah, dog. It's good. It's fucking good. So fucking good. So uh good on the CBD, good on the PC. If it's is it available elsewhere? I don't know. It's not, I don't think so. Right on. Um, PC gamers, could get on this. Although worth looking into because it is like you ever played Carcassonne? Well, yeah, one time that's like more competitive, but like it reminded me of the same because once again, unlike the other games I mentioned where you either have the hexagonal tiles that you're building on, or like Islanders where you're adding to this island with these different game board pieces, this is more like you just have like you're in the nothingness, you have like one hexagonal square like tile down, and then you have a stack of like chips almost, which are those different tiles, and they keep throwing things at you, and then you're building your own map and you're trying to get however you want, and you want them to mesh because they give you little missions to get more tiles. So, for example, yeah, you'll have like a little thing that says like no more than eight farm tiles. So if you have a piece that has two farm tiles and you're at like seven, you actually can't use it or else you'll fail that mission. So you gotta end it perfectly on eight, and then the better you get, the more this map, and it just becomes so like I just get into such a little like chill flow state. Once again, the music's awesome. Yeah, this is one of those games, it's like one of those aesthetics beautiful. Yeah, because it's not like visually overwhelming or anything, but it's like the aesthetic is so nice that as you're building it, it's you're you're vibing, but it's like really cool to just see like the map that you create. It's so and they actually sell a board game at Target, dude. Oh, really? I've just googled it. That is awesome. So I don't think I see it on anything other than Steam or a literal board game because as I play it. I wonder which one came first, the game and the board game. Almost swear it was the game. Stealth's almost like romantic. Hey, it's on the Switch. Nice, which is perfect for it. And then they have different like seasonal biomes. So if your map gets big enough, you'll have like a snowy area. Yeah, and then you have your other little areas, your little like fall area, and it's just so cozy. I can dig it. Cozy games. Beautiful, so cozy lo-fi recommended lo fives, low five. I can dig it, bro. Yeah. Well, if you were thinking about what to get the gamer in your life, and you're like, I think this person should listen to Luke and get some lo-fi games. All these games are 20 and under two. That's that's key. So, like, you know how when you're not exactly a trip to Super Nintendo world, but no. But if I get you enough of them, I'll have caught up, Al. No, uh a lot of times, like, if you're just giving someone a gift throughout the year, like it's kind of one thing that's pretty funny about the Steam community is like I've never had people randomly buy me a PlayStation game. Sure. I've never had somebody randomly buy me an Xbox or a Nintendo game, but like some about Steam and like the sales and the interface and all those things is you'll just like even like gag gifts. People people have gifted me shitty games. Bad, bad rats and like Some other weird stuff where I'm never gonna play it, but it's just kinda like a funny thing, like here's a stupid game. Like these games go on sale and they're already cheap, but they'll like drop down and it's like it's such an easy send and an easy gift to give someone, and like I can get a lot of hours into some of these games. They're very tranquil, so I can dig it, dude. Uh I will give one game to the listeners. Is it lo-fi? It's not. Uh Cyberpunk 2077. Sure. So in our year 2025, if they don't have it yet, go get them. And you know why? One, great game. Two, that is the game that we're currently playing for our next podcast. So you'll be able to experience uh Night City with us. Well, with that, bud, you want to take a little break here from our sink sponsor? Yeah. Right on. Well, this month is brought to you in part, unofficially, by hedge. Not cheese, dude. Not dick cheddar, dude. Dick cheddar. Nah, man, we just smashed some bun me's. It was delicious. So maybe brought to you by bun me because bun me is fucking sweet. So good. Uh I was almost wondering have we done this before? Because we got back to our roots of eating too much before a podcast and me slowly dying throughout reporting. I'm ready for my nap, bro. Stifling back yawns or burps. For sure, for sure. But I'll tell you, but yeah, for sure. The bun me, dude. Like, if people don't know, like get get yourself a bun me. Uh super tasty sandwich. But in the broader sense, dude, like the local sandwich shop. You know what I'm saying? Sure. You probably do you have like, I mean, you got Jersey mics, you're telling me. Do not besmirch Jersey mics, first of all. Um, second of all, do I have a sandwich shop? In the Twin Cities, there was uh I used to talk about this over the years, like there just wasn't like a good enough deli. I mean, there are some, like we have some staples, uh, Acne Deli closed down RP. That place was dope. I had them in Winona. Okay, yeah. Which is, you know. We had uh McC what was it, McCaffrey's or something like that in in in St. Joseph, which was like Beanos or Banos, no one could ever tell me how to pronounce it in Winona. There was also acoustic, which is overrated, but still solid, and then the Blue Heron, which is absolute fire. And then lastly, Winona Sandwich Company. Okay. And that's like a it's great college culture stuff, too. Yeah, for sure. Something about deli. Our older brother owned a deli for years. He did. It's dope, dope deli, too. He did Ravage R.I.P. Still thing. You can go check it out. He sold all his recipes, so it's still tasty, I'm sure. Yeah, if they're if they're holding it down right, uh, which he'll say they're not just because it's not him and his prize. It's a it's his baby, bro. But sandwiches, sandwiches, sandwiches shop. Bon me, fun fact. It's like one of the first like fusion foods, dude. Oh, really? One of the first fusion foods is a wild statement, considering we've been fusing cultures forever. But uh one of the only positive ramifications of French colonization in Vietnam. Yeah. So you got your French bread and some French ingredients, and then bringing us back to head cheese, you have some Vietnamese ingredients. So we get the Vietnamese cold cuts because there's some simpletons. We're like, sounds good, dude. This place uh D's bun me over here in Minneapolis fireplace. Just checked out for the first time. Uh, and we're like basically, I was like, I'm just gonna do this icon. It's kind of like looks like they're special. Luke's like, that's what you gotta do, bro. You gotta go with like the special, gotta get the staple before you move on. Cause I wanted to try the curried tofu because a strange man. So we're eating these things though, and they're they were good. We're like common, we're like, this is pretty tasty. There's like one cut in here, a little weird. Luke's like, I don't know, like it kind of fell out and I ate it and like a little tough, a little weird. And I looked at my sandwich, I was like, Yeah, there's one, there's definitely a cut in here that like looks weirder. Yeah. Uh not to you like I didn't take it out and like have it solo, so I can't like speak. It looks like marbled and fat here, but like didn't taste like you know, I'm not squeamish. I'm not like gonna not eat the fat in my meat, but it looked like like stiff fat. Yeah, so curiosity killed the cat, right? So I couldn't let it go. I was like, this is delicious. I'm gonna eat this whole thing. It's a rest of the sandwich, that is. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Uh well, yeah. So I'm gonna eat this whole sandwich. I'm not gonna let the like weird meat like bother me at all. And then, but I'm like, what is a what is a Vietnamese cold cut? And then I like go to the website to see what's up on there on the menu to see what they say, and they didn't say Vietnamese cold cuts. It's like, okay, that's that's vague. So let's just go a little deeper, a little deeper. We're gonna we're gonna Google cold cuts from you know, Vietnamese cold cuts. Uh head cheese is is what we were that's what we were tasting, which is brain. Yeah, shaved brain. Shouldn't answer. We did not just get a full brain sandwich. No, no, no. It was just one of the cuts. One of the cuts. Just the one that wasn't good stood out to us. So after further review, we wasn't bad either, though. But then when you learn what's going on. Oddly tasteless. Yeah. But thankfully, I was like straight up done with my sandwich by the time Alex got done with the research. So, like, if I was biting into just that, like I ate the whole slab when it fell out of my sandwich. And I because it's the curiosity was killing me. I was like, this looks like it's gonna be so flavorful, but it just kind of tastes tough. A little tougher, which is like not like a lot. Yeah, yeah. Apparently, that's a good idea. I appreciate the uh authenticity of it, right? Yeah, but but like I would I'll probably go, I won't, I'll get a different flavor next time. It's just like this is what it is. Pate is liver, right? Yeah, so we're eating straight up liver and we're not. Yeah, we're not scoffing about that. It's just a weird eat brain, bro. But the brain, yeah. Uh brain got us. The low five lore. You know who love, I mean, like extended low-five lore, that'd be really good. You know who loved head cheese? It has nothing to do with gaming. Cramp. Yes. All right. He's the only guy that could possibly be. Why? He's like, there's a butcher like nearby the house or whatever. He grew up in a time where like we still have butcher shops, and like that's another thing. Like, go check out your local butcher if you you know if you got one accessible. Dude, did I do brats for Unsanction Sponsor the song? Because I fucking love it. Yeah, dude, but you can't. Well, that's just it. Like, yeah, dude, honestly, like, I mean, like, I don't really go shop at Cub anymore because like Cub is like low-key expensive for whatever reason. Yeah, whatever reason. No, but like their clues. Their butcher's like decent though. Like I've always thought. Their brats are better than high Brats, I'll stand on that. But uh, but yeah, dude, so there's um I just always remember grandpa always had like he'd he would be like nibbling on like fucking head cheese and be like, you know what this is? And I'd be like, no. That's crazy because it just don't taste like a lot. So unless you're getting off on how goofy it is, I don't really know what the deal is. Well, I think it's a time thing, right? So like you grow up in the Great Depressions, like you're you're using all the meat or whatever, so that's like part of it. I think probably. I'm just I'm this I'm making this. I don't know. I don't know this shit for sure. My neighbor, uh, she wanted shit on a shingle one day. You know what that is? No. It's dried beef on toast. Oh, okay, yeah. You like spread the sp the dried beef, and that's shit on a shingle. Two the vegetarians are are canceling us right now. Hey man, there was vegan options upon me there. There was on me. We weren't we weren't mad about it. That's true. If I wasn't worried about getting my head cheese in for the day, I would uh what's all the names and all that shit? Head cheese, shit on a shingle, like which would I eat this? Shit on a shingle is like clearly just like it looked like poopant. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and that's like kind of like not its official name. But head cheese seems to be its official name. Why can't they call it head like just brain? Just because no one wants to eat brain. Head cheese cute. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but I'll tell you what, dude. Fucking bun me, delicious. It was good. And your local sandwich shot. Doesn't it doesn't have to be the one we play? It can be, you know, any rolls. Dude, that's what's up. Grinders. Phillies done? Yes. Now we're talking. Yeah. Go get you a sandwich, everybody. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. But really, this pod is at our best when we're in person and we have just eaten too much. And we're burping and yawning. Ready for naps. And being like stumbling through the pod, being like, this isn't good content. Why did I eat so much? But that's it's a place in my heart for being a piece of shit. Yes, sir. Well, with that. Let's get some side questing. We'll be right back, everybody.

Luke: 48:02

Sheesh.

Alex: 48:14

You want me to go? You've been side questing. What's going on with the cyberquest? Do be side questing. Uh I'll leave major uh cyberpunk thoughts to the cyberpunk pod. Because everybody gotta go out and buy that if they haven't already. Right. Be like me, you buy that five years ago when it drops, and then you don't get around to playing it until 225. Just pay it, pay max value for it. Then wait five years to play it. I did. Uh I've been playing that. Um the Steamy D has been getting a nice little rotation. Nice. I bought a game recently called The Way. Okay. And it's a Mandalorian or something? No. It's you remember Banner saga, dude? Banner saga saga. I do. Um it is very similar to Banner saga Bannathaga. Banner saga in the terms of art, but it and it also is so not only the kind of that Nordic style, almost somewhere between Nordic and like King Arthur's round table type shit art, um, but also it is a grid-based kind of chess-like strategy game. Now, the big difference is that it's almost like an auto-go-forward thing. Okay. So your character will move up like two spaces and then do their attack, and then think of like a chess board, your opponent, they have all these different characters that do all these different things, and basically every turn you can place a person and play an item card, and the item cards will boost up your guys. And it's a strategy game where there's like a board game inside the game that you're playing, and like the storyline's a little goofy, but when you say board game inside the game, do you mean like it's a game inside the game the way the gameplay works, or there's like Gwent? Like there's a board game. It's like if Gwent was the full game. Uh-huh. So there's a story, and you're these people, and they're playing in this tournament where they play this game. So you're playing the game. Okay. And then eventually, more confusingly, they go to extra tournaments where the the people, the pieces that you're playing are actual people that you're commanding. They say it's like this game that this enemy you have has devised to train their troops for war. Interesting. Yeah. So it's a little convoluted as you can tell. But the highlights is that it's a cool grid turn-based strategy game with cards and items. And those are all, and you can upgrade your cards over time, and when you win battles, you win cards. Those are all nerdy little things that I kind of get off on. Yeah. So I like it. Very loop-coded game. Yes. I remember seeing it on the store, and I'm like, is this AI? Are they just targeting me and my niches? Um, so that was something really cool. I've been playing a lot of dwarf romantic and mini motorways as well. Nice. Yep. And you just heard me talk a lot about DM. Right on. So I'm trying to think if there's anything else that's really worth mentioning. Teenage Meen Ninja Trolls. Reading a lot of Teenage Meeting Ninja Trolls. Oh, yes. And that's cool. And I am heartbroken to find out that someone they're going to make a last Ronin movie. Yeah, dude. They just canceled it. They cancel it or they're reshaping it and they're going to try to make it more Sonic than what the original vision was. And Sonic made like a billion dollars, so I get it. Yeah, the last Ronin when they're going to do that, it was gonna be a good one. It's gonna be a rated R movie. Yeah, it's gonna be dark because that book is dark. Yeah. Um, but yeah, they're they scrapped the Ronin because I think it was just too dark. Uh and they're probably gonna make it more approachable. Yeah. They are doing a Turtles movie, which is cool, but I just wish they'd make it an anime. Yeah, yeah, fair. So I'm reading the Lost Years now, and I haven't heard any news about the game being canceled. Oh, that well, yeah. So since announcing it, which wasn't that long ago, there hasn't been really any updates, so people don't really know, but god the coolest game. It'll be cool. We'll see. All right, what do you got? Man, I've been on a few different side quests. Uh, big one, Gravity Rush for the PS Vita. Also available. They did a remake on the PS4. Nice. Uh, if that's your thing. Uh, but I wanted to play on the Vita. I was invited to talk about it on the Still Loading Podcast. Still Loading Podcast run by Josh. Uh that was a great talk. That's gonna be dropping early January. So, depending on when you get this, uh, you'll be able to listen to that. Head over to Still Loading Podcast. Uh, and and hear us talk about Gravity Rush, dude. Gravity Rush is tight. It was actually a launch title for the Vita. All right. Um, I did not have the Vita at launch, I didn't get the Vita until probably 2000, 2001, or 2020 or 2021. I said the same thing on his podcast. He's like, holy shit, dude. You got like an early Vita or what? Yes, you got the protos. Yeah, but uh it's a cool, it's a cool game, man. It's like uh it's an adventure game, open world, quote unquote. Uh it is open world, but it's like it feels it feels pretty linear, but it is open world, but it's also a handheld game originally, so it's like it's a small open world. Sure. Uh that gives you the opportunity to kind of like go in the direction and do things at your pace. Uh, but super cool. Uh the main protagonist names Kat, uh, and she manipulates gravity in different ways to be able to traverse this world. Um, it's like this flying city. Um, but you can basically just shoot around, zip around, fall. Like this is it's just like you just like gravity is your bitch.

Luke: 53:22

Nice.

Alex: 53:23

Uh and it's cool, and you get more powerful as you go along. Super like the story's interesting, kind of heady, like, but it but it's worth it, man. So go go check out go check out Still Loading Podcast, learn more about that game. Check out the game. If you have a Vita for sure, it's like considered one of the must-plays on the Vita. If you have a PS4, uh one of the homies, soccer who was on the podcast, played on the PS4 and gives it a big recko. It's one of his favorite PS4 games of all time.

Luke: 53:46

So wow.

Alex: 53:46

Uh yeah, cool one, cool one, cool side quest. Uh also fun to roll credits on a Vita game. I haven't that's the only Vita game I've ever rolled credits on. I'm gonna say that's mostly like a little fuck around toy for you. So I don't know if you've ever actually dedicated any time. Yeah, I treat I treat the Vita kind of like an arcade machine. I don't have a lot of schmupps on there, a lot of like arcadey games, and like so that's typically how I treat that uh system. Uh another big side quest, NBA 2K. I'm just playing. I'm okay, I'm playing, but not playing. Like not a huge side quest. I'll bring it up. I bring it up for this, though. Uh, people who've been listening know NBA 2K. It's my it's my comfort food. I comfort food. I play it every year, I buy it again. Silly of me. Uh, I even wrote about it recently, and I was like, I'm gonna buy it again. I do. I wait for it. I don't get it at launch because it's gonna drop to 50% at like clockwork around Black Friday or whatever. Yeah, pretty early. Dude, I have I've only put in maybe three ish hours, three, four hours I haven't been playing, dude. It hasn't been calling to me. It is 2K done, is it dead? Like, do I not care about it anymore? Do you just need to go to the arcade again, dude? I've been watching real basketball. I think that's probably part of it. Like, I used to play a lot of 2K when I didn't have as much access to actually watch the or like go out of my way to access the basketball games. So, like, that's part of it. So, time that I would be playing 2K, I'm just watching basketball. Like most sports games, they need a competitor. Yeah. Um, and although I will say that this year's is like, because you got last year's version, you're like, what is this ridiculousness? All the gameplay is like good, but like, but the um but this year's they've done a better job of cleaning that up. The gameplay is great, but I just it just hasn't had my heart like it has in the past. So very small side quest there. A big one, the analog 3D, finally dropped. Long time listeners of the podcast know that I love my toys, and I uh will pick up the various different analog systems. Say what you will about the company and how they run their operations, it can be uh really annoying. I I'm with you for the folks that are in the know on that, it is very annoying. That said, their products are great, so like that's kind of the conundrum that we're in. But the analog 3D is a FPGA Nintendo 64, um but it has HD connections and it has a it's just like really slick. It plays all of your N64 games and you can play it on a modern TV and it looks it looks beautiful, super cool. So I've been playing a bunch of N64 on there. You know that I fired up Ocarina at a time, played a little bit, I didn't get super far, but you know I've been playing that a little bit, and the other games that I've been commanding my time on the on the 64 via the analog 3D, cruising USA, Mario Golf, and ready to rumble boxing. Ready rumble, hell yeah, dude. Yeah, side quest that I also was gonna mention. You've already mentioned it. Dorf Romantic. I have been getting in a little bit of Dorf Romantic time, dude. So cutesy. Mm-hmm. You ever listen to the music when you're playing? The dwarf music? Yeah. Yeah, that's all I I'm not like. Although there are some games that I'll listen to podcasts, like actually 2K when I'm playing 2K now. I know I like listening to podcast shit. Yeah, I usually listen to the music in the game, so I do, and it's nice. It's a it's a vibe.

Luke: 56:42

Yeah.

Alex: 56:43

Uh last one, last major side quest. It is the Christmas season. I have a two-year-old Grinch. I've been hanging with the Grinch, bro. Grinch 2018 Cumberbatch Grinch. And it's good, dude. And my my son's also obsessed with the uh the Grinch song done by Tyler the Creator. Uh, I've heard that song more times than I wish to admit, but it's pretty good. I could it could be worse. I understand that uh it could be worse. What's funny about it is a lot of people complain about that Grinch not being a good Grinch movie. Dog, it's the best one, in my humble opinion. Well, it's funny because my favorite is Jim Carrey, which you'll never believe it came out when I was a kid. Oh, yeah. And I think adults have a funny habit of getting really into it. Really into evaluating children's content and being like, why wasn't this like the Mario movie is gonna be like some kids' like childhood holy grail movie, you know? Mm-hmm. And then there's just I'll never forget adults being like Chris Pratt's performance is pretty pretty flat. And it's like, dude, it's it's a fucking Mario movie. What are we doing here? So like I don't remember disliking this Grinch movie. I watched it last year. I don't dislike the uh any of the Grinch movies, to be honest. I like the Grinch in general. The IP the Grinch IP is is alright. Grinch IP is golden, except for the OG book. Will he sit through it? He will now, yeah. Dude, that book is a novel. It is a long one for a children's book. I'm like, oh my god, it's a long one for sure. Learn your lesson already, Grinch. It's not a good flow, though. Yeah, it's good. Dr. Seuss, bro. It's just shockingly long. It is. Also, like, in essence, like just kind of a weird story. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. Um my favorite is the Ron Howard adaption, how they're like, we just need one random lady from Hooville to be like straight up horny for the Grinch, though. Yeah. That needs to be a subplot. I don't know if that's of the era or something, but a little bit of that for sure. I just love how horny she is for the Grinch. That's my favorite subplot. I was reading an article today about how Jim Carrey was actually went through like uh baby seals training. Yeah, dog. Well, it's been yeah, he offered to give his 20 million back, he hated it so much. Insane. Uh he had the Grinch, bro. Similar subject to the N64 wanting you know our children to experience like our childhood type of thing. I gave I gave the N64 sticks to to Elton to try uh Super Mario 64 the other day. We're like, he's like, what's with this controller? It makes no sense. And you're like, son, of course not. I'm I am an N64 controller apologist. Uh but I started with Kirby before I did the N64, I was like, I pulled out the Game Boy, I was like, you know what, dude? Like I know you're still too young for this, but check this, just check this out. Like, I'm gonna let you because he comes into the office, he starts looking around with the toys, and I'm like, you know, like let's just do it, let's just see what's up with one of these. So I show him a little Kirby. Uh and it was fun to see him like hit the D-pad, like, and then he'd be like, fly. Fun to have him like, you know, I'm holding it and like kind of moving around, but I'm having him press the A button to make him jump, that kind of thing. So it's like to make that to see the like mind process of like, wait, I did that, like I like made the thing on the screen do that was really cool. And then my mistake was going from the Game Boy to the N64. Cause I was like, Well, well, let's let's just show him this thing because it's right here and like whatever. Uh put in super put in Super Mario 64, that blew his mind. Um He wasn't like it is more complicated, obviously. He wasn't able to like hold the controller and run around, but again, like had him push the joystick to see him run, had him push the buttons to make him jump, that kind of thing. And he knows Mario, dude. Mario, like, even at two, like he sees the amiibo, like Mario's just around, well, one, the house, but two in the world enough where it's like a mouse, dude. Totally, totally. Uh, and I also tried to show him Mario. I have uh like my my Mario gaming watch is out like on display in the office too. So I tried showing him that. Uh and yeah, like he's like, What is that? That's not Mario. Like, you just showed me Mario. You just thought Mario was the 3D guy that like on that screen over there. Not the not this Mario. Uh so that was my mistake, jumping to the 64 because like because I don't I don't know if he'll well he will because there's gonna be enough time. He's only two and he's like it's not like a goldfish memory, but like I'm gonna be that dad that is like my kid's gonna play video games, but I'm not gonna be like, oh, let's start with Fortnite. I'm gonna be like, let's start, let's start with Mario, let's start with Kirby, let's start with that stuff. And I'm not because I'm an asshole. Maybe maybe it was a little bit of this stuff, but I feel like it's not because I'm an asshole or because that I want to relive my childhood necessarily. There are bits of that. As long as you don't show them Tetris, I think we're good. You're gonna get Tetris, bruh. But like here's here's my here's my mindset around that though. Those games, especially of that era, completely different to the games that are fed to us in today's age, especially to children. Because you you could lose. You had to learn patterns, you had to figure out problem solving, and to like to let's just use Mario, Super Mario as an example. Like, you run into a Koopa, you die. You gotta start over. You do that three times, you get a game over until you get more lives or whatever. But the point is is you have to problem solve and you have to forget, or you have to like figure out how to progress and how to like get past the next thing. And like in today's, and there's you know, that's I'm not saying that today's games are bad for this. It's a pretty hard ass mat for a two-year-old, dude. Yeah, I was telling him, I was like, dude, you have to understand. Pull yourself. Just listen, look at me in the eye, listen to me. Nah, this is more like my inner dialogue. This is like my inner thoughts and dialogue around the idea, like, I don't do this to my son now. But uh, but I do like my my like I do plan to like unleash the video games because he's gonna have a lot of games to play. But my hope and my desire is to to unleash like a buying of similar space per year list to buy him some robots, too. But see, but my my my desire is to kind of roll out a similar game path because the thing is is like yes, it's tapping into our childhood, but it's also the technology we had available at the time, right? But it's like I just love I really love the problem solving and the having to deal with failure to like push through and figure something out that you don't get in a lot of like modern day games. Think in like Elden Ring. Well, like kindergarten, kinda, yeah. Kinda, no, not like that, but like but it's fun. So it's it was fun to it was fun to like just show him that. Now he comes in and he's like, Mario? And I'm like, ah, maybe not, bro. We gotta go to school. But it is it is a cool little thing. Hell yeah. Right on. Luke needs a nap. Dude, the bun me is killing me, dude. Thanks all for listening. Love you much. Happy holidays. And if you're not listening to this as it releases, you know, happy whatever day it is. Happy low-fire day, baby. Yeah, low-fi vibe day. Thanks for listening. Head to the website, join the Discord, buy a t-shirt. That should have been on our list. Lo five merch. Much love. Give us some give us a rating. Uh, you guys, you all been throwing us some ratings. Super do appreciate that. I'm always like, oh, cool, people listen. Uh yeah. And not only do people listen, they listen to me when I say give us a rating. So please continue that. All right, buddy. It's for my ego. Wrap it up, buddy. Much love. Peace. Peace.

Luke: 1:04:11

Yeah. Low fire. Low, low fire, low fire, and low, low. Two mice, one catch, let it go, go. One just drop. Back on the road, rope. Top that game. Never keep scrolling. Low fire, low fire, and low. Mr. Minute. Still in the zone. It's finished. Still feel hopeful. If it hit once, let's go. Two but it top. Triple lip bounce. Hit record. Let it spin around. Spin. Hot screen glow in the background. Yeah. But it up body, no run around. Retro boots, new stay slot. In hell, home in the parking lot. In over deep, like that's a lot. Still got notes, still got thoughts. Minus clean, music slaps. Why that jump just slightly cast tape? Write that down. Hold up the stove, spin out now. Yeah. Hold up. Wait. Yo, no five, low five hands low, low. Two mics, one couch, let it go, go, one, just drop. Back on the rope, bro. Top that game. Never keep scar. No five, low five, hands low. Ayy, Mr. Middle. Still in the zone. It finished. Still feel hope. If it hit once, let's go, go, go stay slow, doing stuff. Had these games, never end it off. It's good, we don't yeah. One on like I got dogs as well. Somebody mad, somebody chills, somebody still playin' out of spike. Money got no rush. Grind life first. And some borrowed time. Talk to number one small thing. Study man, you got emotional weight. It's a start like testing up. Yeah, I do a roll. Hello, hello. If you know, you know. You know, you know, you know. Lo five, lo-fi, hands low, low. Stink out. New taste, let it go. Go on the mud. Still tapping it, still a tough game like this back then. Lo five, lo five, hands low. Ain't no high state. Just let it play. Like if you hit it, you wanna fall. Lo five, damn it. Hands low, low. Never cut it.