August 14, 2025 • 33 mins
We dive into the evolving landscape of video game pre-orders and whether they still make sense in 2025 when digital downloads have replaced physical copies and day-one patches have become standard.
• Discussion of nostalgic midnight release events at GameStop versus today's digital pre-order incentives
• Exploration of cosmetic pre-order bonuses and their appeal to completionists ("Space Barbie is the real end game")
• Debate about whether certain pre-order bonuses like XP boosters constitute "pay-to-win" advantages
• Analysis of how physical retailers like GameStop have transformed from game-focused stores to merchandise retailers
• Comparison between pre-ordering and wishlisting games on digital platforms
• Reflection on what's been lost in the transition away from physical media and midnight release events
• Personal experiences with pre-ordering games and the disappointments or benefits received
Let us know in the comments - do you still pre-order games, and if so, why? Continue the journey with us.
If you would like to support the show and help us unlock additional possibilities for future episodes and projects, this can now be done through Patreon!
You can watch us play games LIVE and join our communities to get more connection from every episode:
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Thanks for Listening, and Continue The Journey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Gaming Persona podcast.
This is the show that exploreswho we become when we play games
, whether you're saving kingdoms, leading epic raids or just
vibing in cozy indie worlds.
Join me, dr Gamology and mygood friend Marcus as we search
for all the ways gaming andpersonal growth collide.
Grab your controllers and let'scontinue the journey Now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Continue the journey now.
So.
I'm in a really, really toughposition and I wanted to make
this episode of our podcastabout it.
We're not doing yoga.
I will do yoga, me too.
I will definitely do yoga.
I'll do hot yoga.
Have you ever done that wherethey turn the the temperature up
to like 85 degrees inside theroom and you like sweat it out,
(00:49):
and then when you have to startdoing like after about 20
minutes, that's when the fartsstart coming.
It's actually hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Oh my gosh.
No, I think for Doc and Ithat's just called outdoor yoga.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, that's, very true.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Actually 85 degrees is what happens when your air
conditioner fails yeah, seewhere?
Anyway, sorry, marcus, you weresaying what you were.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah so, um, I'm in a predicament.
So years ago I'm sure you guysremember star wars, the old
republic came out.
You could pre-order the game.
All of these games came out andlike when you went to GameStop
they were like, hey, I'm buyingFinal Fantasy 8.
Oh hey, did you know that nextmonth Cars 2 is coming out?
(01:37):
Would you like to put $5 downand secure your copy, because it
could sell out and we're doinga midnight release.
Do you remember those preorderdays?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I do.
Yeah, I had a really fun nightwith a rock band and star Wars.
The force unleashed to comingout at the same time and I won
the trivia contest at GameStopfor both and I got to bring home
a life-size star killer standeeand like a giant poster for
rock band awesome so you knowwhat I'm talking about, right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
and then the internet era happened and games became
like only as good as their dayone update.
So all these games that I wouldpre-purchase on Steam, because
the only way you can pre-orderthem is to pre-purchase them.
(02:31):
This is before Steam allowedreturns or stuff like that, and
GameStop.
If you pre-order, you buy thegame Once you open it.
Now it's a used copy.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You can't return it as now.
Marcus, what's steam?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
oh, steam is uh online store for video games for
pc players.
I don't know our database, notto be confused with where we
store the dad jokes, but um,anyway, what I was saying is I
would pre-order games, but I'mtrying to remember the last time
I pre-ordered a game Probablythe last one I pre-ordered was,
(03:14):
uh, elden Ring, night Rain andit was only $40, but I
downloaded it.
I was so excited to play it andI was disappointed.
I was purely disappointed inthe game, and it's not because
it was a bad game and maybe Ijust needed to get good, but I
expected something different andI will go back the next one to
(03:37):
Battlefield 2042.
I think that's what it was, or2046.
I don't remember what it wasand within a week of that game
coming out, it was $5 on the EAonline store.
It was that bad, wow.
My point is there's a new game,the new Battlefield 6.
(03:58):
They basically fired theirentire dev team and rehired all
the guys who created battlefieldthree and bad battlefield, bad
company one and two, battlefieldthree and four, which were the
best battlefields, the bestfirst person shooter games like
I ever played, other than halo,and the new one, the open beta,
is now and it's I mean when Itell you it's incredible.
(04:21):
It's incredible, but I have thishesitation to pre-order
anything ever again, because I'mnot worried about the game
selling out.
And most of the time now, theway they get you is, if you
pre-order, you get some kind ofbonus, something new, extra,
(04:41):
like limited edition skins or xor y.
You know what I mean.
You usually get something forpre-ordering and I'm kind of
torn and I wanted to ask you andmake the topic today, because
it's such a big topic for methat I've never gotten to talk
about or I don't remembertalking about it is well, you
guys still pre-order games in2025.
(05:03):
And have you guys had goodexperiences with pre-orders or
bad experiences, and what's youroverall feeling on it?
I kind of hijacked this show,oh geez.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That's a good topic.
One of the things that reallymakes a big difference for me is
completing costume lists iscompleting costume lists and
that's a really dangerous thingto love in an MMO game, because
it really is impossible to haveevery single costume or outfit
in an MMO game unless that gameis your life, because it's that
(05:36):
deep, there's that many thingsin it.
When I pre-ordered Star WarsBattlefront II, which one seven
years ago the modern era cameout right around the Last Jedi
time.
The pre-order bonuses were skinsfor Kylo Ren and Rey that were
(06:02):
their outfits from.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The Last Jedi.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, the Last Jedi.
So they would look like theForce Awakens by default, but
you could choose to have themlook like the Last Jedi, but you
could only get those from thepre-order.
And so when I switched frombeing a PlayStation Battlefront
player to a PC Battlefrontplayer, I no longer had those
(06:27):
costumes, and that bugged me somuch that there literally was no
way to get those, because EAdecided these were, and only
will ever be, pre-order bonuses.
There is no way to get them now.
Bonuses there is no way to getthem now.
(06:49):
And, as stupid as this sounds,even once the rise of skywalker
stuff came out and kylo, ren andrey have even more costumes
available, it's still not goodenough, because I see those
blank spots in their costumelists that I can never fill.
In fact, mortal combat 1 Ididn't fall in love with it
because it's that thing.
You look at the costume listand you just realize I will
never have all the costumes forthese characters, so why bother
(07:13):
investing at all?
Very negative perspective, butsomething that happens in my
brain all the time.
I want to be able to choose anyoutfit for characters that I'm
using a lot.
So those pre-order bonusesbecause of what Battlefront 2
taught me, I probably willpre-order a game if I think I'm
(07:34):
going to care about it, becausethis might be my only chance to
get the item that I think I willwant at some point when I'm the
most invested in the game.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Okay, okay, doritos.
The last cream I pre-orderedWas, I'm not sure.
The only thing I reallyPre-ordered was Destiny 2, but
the Boy, my memory is failing me.
(08:10):
Now.
The last expansion, not thecurrent one.
Marcus, help me out the onewith the witness Final Shape.
Yeah, final Shape was the lastone I pre-ordered.
Otherwise, I typically don'tpre-order mini games.
When there's more cosmetics ora gun or something like that,
(08:36):
that those are nice to have.
I'm not that kind of uh, those,those, those aspects of a game
necessarily mean a whole lot tome.
Okay, I don't have the rightcostume, Okay, I'll make do with
what I have.
That's.
That's more my pace of it.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, you would rather clear a hard mode raid
and get a sword from that raidthat's a rare drop and have that
, then preorder a game to get ablue outfit when you're wearing
a green one.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Right, and the time I'll preorder something is if I
know that, oh, I definitely wantto continue this story.
It's in the budget right now togo ahead and pre-order it.
It might not be when it getscloser to release, so to secure
the fact that I really want toplay whatever game it is, I'll
go ahead and get it that way.
I know it's in my list of.
(09:26):
Okay, you're going to get thesewhen it releases and be able to
get that content.
The extras sometimes are nice.
Most of the time I'm notworried about get that content.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The extras sometimes are nice, but most of the time
I'm not worried about.
There are some goodies that Ithink are pretty nice with
pre-orders that I just thoughtof as Doritos was running down
the different ways they do this.
I pre-ordered WWE 2K25 at thehighest level I think the
Bloodline edition is what theycalled that and when you do that
, they gave you, with yourpre-order of 2K25, 2k24 to play
(09:58):
right now.
I already had 2K24, so not abig deal, but that's a really
cool incentive.
If you're joining a franchiseout of nowhere.
It's like, yeah, this game comesout in five months.
Here's the previous game freeof charge, because you just
bought the new one that youdon't have yet.
Play it, get used to us, enjoyit.
(10:19):
That's cool.
I also pre-ordered the mostrecent Final Fantasy 14
expansion, dawn Trail, and whenyou do that, they send you a
earring for your character towear.
That boosts your EXP forclasses under a certain level so
you can get more classes up tomax level to be ready to use it
(10:42):
in Dawn Trail when the level capincreases.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
See that Okay.
So, speaking, that's a greatthing because see, that I think
is a great pre-order bonus for agame like an mmo, because
you're getting an a permanent xpboost for all of your
characters so that you can getto max level, so all of the new
characters can enjoy that umexpansion, rather than when the
(11:14):
expansion comes out, you onlyhave one character at max and
now you're going back, you wantto play the new content but the
you're too busy leveling allyour other characters to get it
through the last expansion, toget it up.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
so that is a really good pre-order bonus yeah, you
can wear it at level one and youcan wear it regardless of the
class that you are.
So I can play an hour as adancer, I can switch over to
Gunbreaker and then I can playNinja, and that earring is the
best in slot for every level upto level 90.
(11:49):
And so, like that also fills agear spot no matter what you're
doing.
So it it it instantly makes youa better account playing the
game.
That's, that is really cool.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Um, the other reasons that, yeah, is that not a, a
style or a version of pay to win?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
no, because leveling up is not the same as winning.
That earring does not help youwin savage raids.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
You know like right, okay, I'll, I'll yield to that,
yeah yeah all.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
All that is is if.
If it takes me 10 hours tolevel up three levels wearing
that earring, it now will takeseven and a half to level up
three levels.
Right, it's not the same.
Also, people that are upsetabout pay to win should be way
(12:47):
more upset about living in acapitalistic society.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
But that maybe, is not what the gaming persona is
meant to talk about differenttopic altogether no, but yeah
but it almost it's going.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It's not pay to win, but it's, it's almost rewarding.
So if you're like oh, look at,I want to pre, I'm going to
pre-order this game.
If I pre-order this game, I'mgetting the desert camo, I'm
getting the desert camo skin,I'm getting a desert camo helmet
and a black t-shirt which, oncethe game comes out, are
unavailable.
You're essentially paying towin that.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, marcus and Doritos, I want to just say that
, like Instagram, I didsomething for the first time
this month that I've never donebefore is I paid to boost one of
my reels.
I just put.
I put like $5 a day for sixdays, right, so total of 30
bucks on one of my reels.
(13:46):
I wanted to see what wouldhappen.
Um, because usually whathappens is YouTube outperforms
Tik and TikTok outperformsInstagram.
Just the style of reels that Iput out, which are just game
highlights.
They're clips from my streamand what happened is my
Instagram started getting newfollowers.
(14:08):
It started getting over athousand views on each reel very
quickly once I would uploadthem.
And so if you take somebodysmall like me who's just trying
to spread a message about mentalhealth and video games, and I
say, like Instagram's, pay towin, okay, but think about WWE.
Their PLEs are going to be onESPN starting next year, right,
(14:34):
a whole new.
ESPN app.
Right, if you go down thecereal aisle you see John Cena
and Cody Rhodes on cereal boxes.
That's advertising, right.
Those stars being on cerealboxes prompts conversations
between children and parents.
The parents then buy tickets togo see SummerSlam.
(14:54):
Summerslam sells out thatWheaties box or those Gatorade
bottles are pay to win.
Wwe is winning because they'realso spending crazy amounts of
money on advertising, becausethey have crazy amounts of money
in the first place.
So this whole pay to win thingis society teaching people who
(15:14):
do not have money to be upsetabout things they have no
control of.
Meanwhile, people who know howthings work are spending that
money to be the ones thatcapitalize on this mindset.
So, oh, I'm playing a videogame.
You pay dollars to get a bettergun than me.
Get good, you spend money too.
Then you can beat me, becausethat's how the world actually
(15:35):
works no, so I but back to.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So I do agree with you, but I'm gonna go back to.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I dropped the d20 you have.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I understand your point, um, and for me I don't
really care.
I don't really care if somebodypays to be max level, I don't,
because you wanted to be there.
You skipped all that content.
You did all the things.
That's fine.
Yeah to the pre-order.
If I love, if I love like thenext mass effect that comes out,
(16:13):
I will pre-order it.
The second it's available topre-order just because I'll keep
playing expedition 33, I knowthat but I guess for me, with
the pre-order thing I want toknow, you know, as as game discs
become less and less relevant,there's really no point to
(16:38):
pre-order, because that's thetopic, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
but no, there is a.
There is a point to pre-order,because you get the cosmetics,
you get the things that we'vebeen talking about.
That is the point to thepre-order, because we, we all
know the anecdotal comment ofyou know space, barbie, is the
real end game it is it?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
really is.
Yeah, in in the old republicspace barbie mmo's like in mmo's
cost costume design is isreally just like what you do to
individualize your character andset you apart okay, so I'm in
(17:21):
shadow of the urge tree, okayelder wings different because
you always look like trash inthat game but but not.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You like everyone everyone's outfits are trash, no
, but unless you mod the gameyeah, but that's not what I'm
trying to say.
What I'm trying to say is Iwent into Shadow of the Earth
Tree, beat this ghost commanderguy and he dropped this armor.
And the armor was way betterthan what I had on and the
(17:52):
helmet was way better than whatI had on, but I couldn't change
my Kung Lao helmet.
I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You can't change it because that's who you are.
Mark, it's just like I'm thebig wizard hat yes, but that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So even I do agree with what doritos was saying
about space barbie, because Ican change my outfit, but the
hat has to stay you know one ofthe gaming podcasts I listen to,
play Watch Listen.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I really love them.
Everyone who's on it is frominside the game industry, but
different jobs.
What's it called?
Play Watch Listen?
It's got Alana Pierce andsometimes Troy Baker and Mike
Bithell and Austin Wintory, thecomposer of Journey.
Bithell and Austin Wintory, thecomposer of Journey, and they
(18:51):
talk all the time because one ofthem is a owner of a game
studio in the UK and he talksall the time about the
importance of wishlisting, whichis not the same as pre-ordering
.
But, it is another way topsychologically connect yourself
to the potential ownership of agame and game studios,
especially small ones, look atthose and they then have the
ability to see what kind ofinvestment and what kind of
(19:15):
population they have backing thecreative side of their studio.
And then they know if we canmake a sale or we can partner up
with the Steam Summer Sale orsomething like that.
Then we know a percentage ofthese wish lists probably will
bite if we get the price pointcorrect and then that gets them
(19:36):
predictable revenue so that theycan plan to make another game
in the future.
So while pre-ordering is usgiving our money prematurely
away to a game that we will playin the future, wishlisting is
just I'd like to buy this gamesomeday if the time and the
price is right, and that reallydoes help studios thrive.
Before Steam started doingwishlisting and before you could
(20:01):
actually track that in a waythat made you a part of the game
environment of steam orsomething like that, you know
your release.
Your release date is just aquestion mark you know it's.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Uh, I do agree because I have 37 games on my
wish list I think I have 40,something okay, and I only have
like 12.
No, that's okay, you know, but Iguess you're right.
So if I put them on the wishlist, that's almost like me put
(20:34):
it pre-ordering, saying okay,when it's on sale, this is what
I want to buy.
If I have the time or the moneyto buy it, this is what I'm
gonna buy.
Yeah, yeah, and, and I can, Ican see that, you know, I
definitely.
Or when a game like I have agame that chrono odyssey game
that I played, that was justlike an alpha test was it good
(20:59):
so it's a souls like mmo.
It was hard I'm.
I missed it.
I didn't get to participate,but it was so cool Was it good.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So it's a Souls-like MMO.
It was hard.
Yeah, I missed it.
I didn't get to participate,but it was so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
It was good.
It had a lot of bugs, it wasrough, there was a lot of
shuddering.
I made it to the first boss andI got the boss to like 20% and
(21:27):
then the kids took me, had to,and I didn't come back to it
because it was over.
You know, time is, being ableto have time to play video games
is gets harder and harder everyday because of my kids schedule
and like they're not going tobed until later.
And now, you know, most days Ican't sit in front of my
computer until at least 845.
And some days I'm just like ugh.
But at the same time I'mfinding actual time.
(21:51):
Like if I'm not working on aSaturday, I'll start my day and
play some video games in themorning, which is great, you
know.
But back to the pre-order thing.
It's for the listeners.
Is it worth it?
Like, why do you pre-order?
What is the?
What is your purpose inpre-ordering?
(22:12):
Like, do you pre-order Because,for me, unless, unless a game
has blown me away, likebattlefield 6, I want it, I'm
clicking on it right now.
What do you get if youpre-purchase?
What do you get?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Pre-Eth.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
It doesn't say Play the open beta August 9th and
10th and August 14th and 17th.
But it doesn't say what you getif you pre-order.
I don't know, I don't know, Idon't know where the compare
editions yeah, you get a two.
(22:55):
Oh, yeah, so if you get thestandard edition, you get the
tombstone pack, which is apre-purchase offer, but both of
them do so whatever's in theTombstone Pack, and then the
Phantom, the Premium Edition,you get basically the Battle
Pass.
25 tier skips, all this stuff.
It's basically just a levelskip.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But it makes me say to myself do I want to do that?
Do I want to preorder?
Do I just wait for the game tocome out?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
You could just wait for the game to come out.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, this goes back to the whole the hard copy.
The physical copies aredecreasing in frequency, so you
know it's a question that's kindof been popping in my mind as
we've been talking.
What was more memorable,memory-making?
(23:54):
Is it waiting for the date topop up so you can digitally
preorder something, or was itwaiting in front of GameStop
with the line of 60 other peoplefor the doors to open so you
can go in and put your name onthe list?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, for me, the pre-order, the height of the
pre-order for me, was Call ofDuty Modern Warfare 2, the
midnight release.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2,the midnight release.
That was the pinnacle of apre-order.
You pre-ordered for thatmidnight release because each
store only got 200 copies orsomething.
(24:34):
You know what I mean.
They would take a bunch ofpre-orders and you would find
out if you're on that listbecause 500 people pre-ordered
it.
Yeah, they didn't get 500copies at midnight.
You had to wait until 10 in themorning the next day and you'd
be behind all your friendsleveling up and doing their
thing.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I think the last game that I went and picked up at
midnight might have been finalfantasy 15, which that was a
long time ago really.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, like maybe 2016 , I want to say uh it is yeah,
you're right, november uh, yeah,november 29 2016, almost 10
years ago.
But in 10 years midnightreleases are gone.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Well, I don't have a disc-based game system that I
use anymore.
I have two PS5s that are boththe digital model and I play
games on Steam or just downloadit onto my hard drive on my PC,
so I don't have physical copiesof anything.
By the way, we got to talkabout Expedition 33.
(25:52):
It has a collector's editionthat you buy.
That doesn't come with the game.
It just comes with the statueand the soundtrack and like
artwork and stuff, because thegame is a digital purchase only.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So then, our preorder is going the way of essentially
swag.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah.
They are Like you go intoGameStop now it's almost like a
video game based hot topic.
I like I don't.
I don't seriously look at thegames like that's what you're
there to look at anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Okay.
So actually I have had a recentexperience at GameStop.
So we had about I don't know 30extra minutes to kill and I
pulled into a parking lot andRyan was like hey dad, can we go
to GameStop?
Sure, buddy, let's go.
And our PlayStation is stilldisk-based.
(26:49):
We still have, excuse me, aSwitch One, which is disc-based
as well.
You can buy it digitally, butwe went in there and you're
right.
So the PlayStation area waslike this big and I'm doing this
so you guys can see it in thecamera and I was looking for
games.
(27:09):
They didn't even have them newon disc, games that you would
think would be available.
And I kind of thought to myself, because I remember the days
where you walked in and it was awall of games, like every game
you could ever imagine.
But then when you turn around,they have the you know, the
(27:32):
PlayStation, the Xbox and theswitch, and then you turn around
and it's just Funko pops andt-shirts and like lunch boxes
and stuff like that it'slightsabers and Darth Revan
helmets Right and behind thecounter you have a thousand
(27:52):
different custom controllers youcan buy.
You know they've clearlybranched out or this, this
beautiful thing oh, that's theuh, the uh.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Playstation elite controller right or whatever
they call it, dual shock edgeyes, it's basically the xbox
elite controller.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
It's the yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, it's the upgraded controller, sure it's
so nice yeah that's my last, mylast game stop experience right,
but that's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
So you my you're.
What you're saying is right,you don't.
Most people don't go toGameStop to buy a game anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You know, and for me.
So I'm going to go back to mytrip with my son.
You know what I ended up buyingV bucks for fortnight, you know
.
I think I bought $10 or maybeit was, maybe it was $20 and V
bucks and it Maybe it was $20 inV-Bucks.
And that was my trip toGameStop where, back 10 years
(28:58):
ago, if I had my son then wewould have walked in and we
would have walked out with agame that was $3.
Because, why not?
It's almost like you know I'mgoing to show my age, but it's
almost like going back to thedays of Blockbuster and going
(29:19):
and picking out a movie for thenight.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Oh, Blockbuster.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I miss Blockbuster so much.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
You know, I wish for me, I wish somebody would just
come out with one and it givesyou like a stream code you know
what I'm saying Like a rentalcode for the night, like
somebody brings back becausethey could do it Well, every app
has it now.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
It's called Amazon Prime Netflix.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, you can read movies on, but apple, yeah, but
I guess what I'm saying is if ablockbuster opened up in your
area, you would not tell me youwouldn't, on a friday night, go
for that nostalgia a coupletimes.
Get the thing of popcorn, letyour kid pick out candy, or your
(30:12):
wife or your girlfriend orwhatever it may be, and go pick
out a stream code movie.
And, yeah, you're paying 3.99,but who cares?
And you, you know what I'msaying, even if that link takes
you to amazon prime, just forthat one moment well, they had
red box for a while too, andthat seems to be done well,
(30:35):
there's still some that are outthere.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I mean, heck, I I'd like to see.
I could always hook up my vcrand go if I actually buy, rent a
cassette, video cassette yeah,please be kind, please rewind.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
There you go.
You know I used to go to themwhen I went to my grandma's on
the weekends we would go to itwas called west coast video,
that was our, that was ourblockbuster, and we would go and
I remember like I could geteither a game in a movie or two
movies and I, if I I alternateright, so I would either get a
(31:11):
sega genesis game, rent a segagenesis game and get a movie, or
I would get like wrestlemania 5and I would rent a movie right
you know yeah I think.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
What we're seeing, though, is we're nearing the end
of owning physical media,unless the media is designed to
be retro, like vinyl.
Records have had a huge, hugeresurgence because sound quality
is better for uh, audiophiles,I guess, and it's, you know,
(31:51):
decoration for your house, andit's trendy vibe.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, it's just yeah.
If you're, if you're trying tonetflix and chill with your wife
or your girlfriend and you'resitting on the couch, hey, let
me put on the new uh but thatwould interfere with the audio
from the movie.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Marcus, I don't think that you mix those two putting
on some music.
Yeah, I'm just while you'rewatching a movie, that's weird
before you go to pound town.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Hey, let's listen to the no record you know what?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I mean, like you open this door.
You could have just let it go.
Let's finish the movie firstcome on no way.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
The whole point is to do it while the movie's going
on.
What?
Is the gaming persona becomingwhat you allowed me to come into
and you open the door you couldhave just left it at netflix
and chilling, you could havejust let it go, but you couldn't
I'm a very literal person, Iknow that, but you know why yeah
, you know why you're literaland you're an award-winning
(32:43):
author.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I wrote a book you wrote a book and you direct
people too oh yeah, he's thedirector.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
But I guess the moral of the story is do you
pre-order?
Why do you pre-order?
Let us know.
Find the comments.
Please let one of us know,because I want to know.
Do you still pre-order a game?
Continue the journey.
Welcome to the Gaming Persona podcast.
This is the show that exploreswho we become when we play games
, whether you're saving kingdoms, leading epic raids or just
vibing in cozy indie worlds.
Join me, dr Gamology and mygood friend Marcus as we search
for all the ways gaming andpersonal growth collide.
Grab your controllers and let'scontinue the journey Now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Continue the journey now.
So.
I'm in a really, really toughposition and I wanted to make
this episode of our podcastabout it.
We're not doing yoga.
I will do yoga, me too.
I will definitely do yoga.
I'll do hot yoga.
Have you ever done that wherethey turn the the temperature up
to like 85 degrees inside theroom and you like sweat it out,
(00:49):
and then when you have to startdoing like after about 20
minutes, that's when the fartsstart coming.
It's actually hilarious.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Oh my gosh.
No, I think for Doc and Ithat's just called outdoor yoga.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah, that's, very true.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Actually 85 degrees is what happens when your air
conditioner fails yeah, seewhere?
Anyway, sorry, marcus, you weresaying what you were.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, yeah so, um, I'm in a predicament.
So years ago I'm sure you guysremember star wars, the old
republic came out.
You could pre-order the game.
All of these games came out andlike when you went to GameStop
they were like, hey, I'm buyingFinal Fantasy 8.
Oh hey, did you know that nextmonth Cars 2 is coming out?
(01:37):
Would you like to put $5 downand secure your copy, because it
could sell out and we're doinga midnight release.
Do you remember those preorderdays?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I do.
Yeah, I had a really fun nightwith a rock band and star Wars.
The force unleashed to comingout at the same time and I won
the trivia contest at GameStopfor both and I got to bring home
a life-size star killer standeeand like a giant poster for
rock band awesome so you knowwhat I'm talking about, right?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
and then the internet era happened and games became
like only as good as their dayone update.
So all these games that I wouldpre-purchase on Steam, because
the only way you can pre-orderthem is to pre-purchase them.
(02:31):
This is before Steam allowedreturns or stuff like that, and
GameStop.
If you pre-order, you buy thegame Once you open it.
Now it's a used copy.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
You can't return it as now.
Marcus, what's steam?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
oh, steam is uh online store for video games for
pc players.
I don't know our database, notto be confused with where we
store the dad jokes, but um,anyway, what I was saying is I
would pre-order games, but I'mtrying to remember the last time
I pre-ordered a game Probablythe last one I pre-ordered was,
(03:14):
uh, elden Ring, night Rain andit was only $40, but I
downloaded it.
I was so excited to play it andI was disappointed.
I was purely disappointed inthe game, and it's not because
it was a bad game and maybe Ijust needed to get good, but I
expected something different andI will go back the next one to
(03:37):
Battlefield 2042.
I think that's what it was, or2046.
I don't remember what it wasand within a week of that game
coming out, it was $5 on the EAonline store.
It was that bad, wow.
My point is there's a new game,the new Battlefield 6.
(03:58):
They basically fired theirentire dev team and rehired all
the guys who created battlefieldthree and bad battlefield, bad
company one and two, battlefieldthree and four, which were the
best battlefields, the bestfirst person shooter games like
I ever played, other than halo,and the new one, the open beta,
is now and it's I mean when Itell you it's incredible.
(04:21):
It's incredible, but I have thishesitation to pre-order
anything ever again, because I'mnot worried about the game
selling out.
And most of the time now, theway they get you is, if you
pre-order, you get some kind ofbonus, something new, extra,
(04:41):
like limited edition skins or xor y.
You know what I mean.
You usually get something forpre-ordering and I'm kind of
torn and I wanted to ask you andmake the topic today, because
it's such a big topic for methat I've never gotten to talk
about or I don't remembertalking about it is well, you
guys still pre-order games in2025.
(05:03):
And have you guys had goodexperiences with pre-orders or
bad experiences, and what's youroverall feeling on it?
I kind of hijacked this show,oh geez.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
That's a good topic.
One of the things that reallymakes a big difference for me is
completing costume lists iscompleting costume lists and
that's a really dangerous thingto love in an MMO game, because
it really is impossible to haveevery single costume or outfit
in an MMO game unless that gameis your life, because it's that
(05:36):
deep, there's that many thingsin it.
When I pre-ordered Star WarsBattlefront II, which one seven
years ago the modern era cameout right around the Last Jedi
time.
The pre-order bonuses were skinsfor Kylo Ren and Rey that were
(06:02):
their outfits from.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
The Last Jedi.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Oh, the Last Jedi.
So they would look like theForce Awakens by default, but
you could choose to have themlook like the Last Jedi, but you
could only get those from thepre-order.
And so when I switched frombeing a PlayStation Battlefront
player to a PC Battlefrontplayer, I no longer had those
(06:27):
costumes, and that bugged me somuch that there literally was no
way to get those, because EAdecided these were, and only
will ever be, pre-order bonuses.
There is no way to get them now.
Bonuses there is no way to getthem now.
(06:49):
And, as stupid as this sounds,even once the rise of skywalker
stuff came out and kylo, ren andrey have even more costumes
available, it's still not goodenough, because I see those
blank spots in their costumelists that I can never fill.
In fact, mortal combat 1 Ididn't fall in love with it
because it's that thing.
You look at the costume listand you just realize I will
never have all the costumes forthese characters, so why bother
(07:13):
investing at all?
Very negative perspective, butsomething that happens in my
brain all the time.
I want to be able to choose anyoutfit for characters that I'm
using a lot.
So those pre-order bonusesbecause of what Battlefront 2
taught me, I probably willpre-order a game if I think I'm
(07:34):
going to care about it, becausethis might be my only chance to
get the item that I think I willwant at some point when I'm the
most invested in the game.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Okay, okay, doritos.
The last cream I pre-orderedWas, I'm not sure.
The only thing I reallyPre-ordered was Destiny 2, but
the Boy, my memory is failing me.
(08:10):
Now.
The last expansion, not thecurrent one.
Marcus, help me out the onewith the witness Final Shape.
Yeah, final Shape was the lastone I pre-ordered.
Otherwise, I typically don'tpre-order mini games.
When there's more cosmetics ora gun or something like that,
(08:36):
that those are nice to have.
I'm not that kind of uh, those,those, those aspects of a game
necessarily mean a whole lot tome.
Okay, I don't have the rightcostume, Okay, I'll make do with
what I have.
That's.
That's more my pace of it.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yeah, you would rather clear a hard mode raid
and get a sword from that raidthat's a rare drop and have that
, then preorder a game to get ablue outfit when you're wearing
a green one.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
Right, and the time I'll preorder something is if I
know that, oh, I definitely wantto continue this story.
It's in the budget right now togo ahead and pre-order it.
It might not be when it getscloser to release, so to secure
the fact that I really want toplay whatever game it is, I'll
go ahead and get it that way.
I know it's in my list of.
(09:26):
Okay, you're going to get thesewhen it releases and be able to
get that content.
The extras sometimes are nice.
Most of the time I'm notworried about get that content.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
The extras sometimes are nice, but most of the time
I'm not worried about.
There are some goodies that Ithink are pretty nice with
pre-orders that I just thoughtof as Doritos was running down
the different ways they do this.
I pre-ordered WWE 2K25 at thehighest level I think the
Bloodline edition is what theycalled that and when you do that
, they gave you, with yourpre-order of 2K25, 2k24 to play
(09:58):
right now.
I already had 2K24, so not abig deal, but that's a really
cool incentive.
If you're joining a franchiseout of nowhere.
It's like, yeah, this game comesout in five months.
Here's the previous game freeof charge, because you just
bought the new one that youdon't have yet.
Play it, get used to us, enjoyit.
(10:19):
That's cool.
I also pre-ordered the mostrecent Final Fantasy 14
expansion, dawn Trail, and whenyou do that, they send you a
earring for your character towear.
That boosts your EXP forclasses under a certain level so
you can get more classes up tomax level to be ready to use it
(10:42):
in Dawn Trail when the level capincreases.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
See that Okay.
So, speaking, that's a greatthing because see, that I think
is a great pre-order bonus for agame like an mmo, because
you're getting an a permanent xpboost for all of your
characters so that you can getto max level, so all of the new
characters can enjoy that umexpansion, rather than when the
(11:14):
expansion comes out, you onlyhave one character at max and
now you're going back, you wantto play the new content but the
you're too busy leveling allyour other characters to get it
through the last expansion, toget it up.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
so that is a really good pre-order bonus yeah, you
can wear it at level one and youcan wear it regardless of the
class that you are.
So I can play an hour as adancer, I can switch over to
Gunbreaker and then I can playNinja, and that earring is the
best in slot for every level upto level 90.
(11:49):
And so, like that also fills agear spot no matter what you're
doing.
So it it it instantly makes youa better account playing the
game.
That's, that is really cool.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Um, the other reasons that, yeah, is that not a, a
style or a version of pay to win?
Speaker 1 (12:13):
no, because leveling up is not the same as winning.
That earring does not help youwin savage raids.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
You know like right, okay, I'll, I'll yield to that,
yeah yeah all.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
All that is is if.
If it takes me 10 hours tolevel up three levels wearing
that earring, it now will takeseven and a half to level up
three levels.
Right, it's not the same.
Also, people that are upsetabout pay to win should be way
(12:47):
more upset about living in acapitalistic society.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
But that maybe, is not what the gaming persona is
meant to talk about differenttopic altogether no, but yeah
but it almost it's going.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
It's not pay to win, but it's, it's almost rewarding.
So if you're like oh, look at,I want to pre, I'm going to
pre-order this game.
If I pre-order this game, I'mgetting the desert camo, I'm
getting the desert camo skin,I'm getting a desert camo helmet
and a black t-shirt which, oncethe game comes out, are
unavailable.
You're essentially paying towin that.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, marcus and Doritos, I want to just say that
, like Instagram, I didsomething for the first time
this month that I've never donebefore is I paid to boost one of
my reels.
I just put.
I put like $5 a day for sixdays, right, so total of 30
bucks on one of my reels.
(13:46):
I wanted to see what wouldhappen.
Um, because usually whathappens is YouTube outperforms
Tik and TikTok outperformsInstagram.
Just the style of reels that Iput out, which are just game
highlights.
They're clips from my streamand what happened is my
Instagram started getting newfollowers.
(14:08):
It started getting over athousand views on each reel very
quickly once I would uploadthem.
And so if you take somebodysmall like me who's just trying
to spread a message about mentalhealth and video games, and I
say, like Instagram's, pay towin, okay, but think about WWE.
Their PLEs are going to be onESPN starting next year, right,
(14:34):
a whole new.
ESPN app.
Right, if you go down thecereal aisle you see John Cena
and Cody Rhodes on cereal boxes.
That's advertising, right.
Those stars being on cerealboxes prompts conversations
between children and parents.
The parents then buy tickets togo see SummerSlam.
(14:54):
Summerslam sells out thatWheaties box or those Gatorade
bottles are pay to win.
Wwe is winning because they'realso spending crazy amounts of
money on advertising, becausethey have crazy amounts of money
in the first place.
So this whole pay to win thingis society teaching people who
(15:14):
do not have money to be upsetabout things they have no
control of.
Meanwhile, people who know howthings work are spending that
money to be the ones thatcapitalize on this mindset.
So, oh, I'm playing a videogame.
You pay dollars to get a bettergun than me.
Get good, you spend money too.
Then you can beat me, becausethat's how the world actually
(15:35):
works no, so I but back to.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
So I do agree with you, but I'm gonna go back to.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
I dropped the d20 you have.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I understand your point, um, and for me I don't
really care.
I don't really care if somebodypays to be max level, I don't,
because you wanted to be there.
You skipped all that content.
You did all the things.
That's fine.
Yeah to the pre-order.
If I love, if I love like thenext mass effect that comes out,
(16:13):
I will pre-order it.
The second it's available topre-order just because I'll keep
playing expedition 33, I knowthat but I guess for me, with
the pre-order thing I want toknow, you know, as as game discs
become less and less relevant,there's really no point to
(16:38):
pre-order, because that's thetopic, isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
but no, there is a.
There is a point to pre-order,because you get the cosmetics,
you get the things that we'vebeen talking about.
That is the point to thepre-order, because we, we all
know the anecdotal comment ofyou know space, barbie, is the
real end game it is it?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
really is.
Yeah, in in the old republicspace barbie mmo's like in mmo's
cost costume design is isreally just like what you do to
individualize your character andset you apart okay, so I'm in
(17:21):
shadow of the urge tree, okayelder wings different because
you always look like trash inthat game but but not.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
You like everyone everyone's outfits are trash, no
, but unless you mod the gameyeah, but that's not what I'm
trying to say.
What I'm trying to say is Iwent into Shadow of the Earth
Tree, beat this ghost commanderguy and he dropped this armor.
And the armor was way betterthan what I had on and the
(17:52):
helmet was way better than whatI had on, but I couldn't change
my Kung Lao helmet.
I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
You can't change it because that's who you are.
Mark, it's just like I'm thebig wizard hat yes, but that's
what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So even I do agree with what doritos was saying
about space barbie, because Ican change my outfit, but the
hat has to stay you know one ofthe gaming podcasts I listen to,
play Watch Listen.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
I really love them.
Everyone who's on it is frominside the game industry, but
different jobs.
What's it called?
Play Watch Listen?
It's got Alana Pierce andsometimes Troy Baker and Mike
Bithell and Austin Wintory, thecomposer of Journey.
Bithell and Austin Wintory, thecomposer of Journey, and they
(18:51):
talk all the time because one ofthem is a owner of a game
studio in the UK and he talksall the time about the
importance of wishlisting, whichis not the same as pre-ordering
.
But, it is another way topsychologically connect yourself
to the potential ownership of agame and game studios,
especially small ones, look atthose and they then have the
ability to see what kind ofinvestment and what kind of
(19:15):
population they have backing thecreative side of their studio.
And then they know if we canmake a sale or we can partner up
with the Steam Summer Sale orsomething like that.
Then we know a percentage ofthese wish lists probably will
bite if we get the price pointcorrect and then that gets them
(19:36):
predictable revenue so that theycan plan to make another game
in the future.
So while pre-ordering is usgiving our money prematurely
away to a game that we will playin the future, wishlisting is
just I'd like to buy this gamesomeday if the time and the
price is right, and that reallydoes help studios thrive.
Before Steam started doingwishlisting and before you could
(20:01):
actually track that in a waythat made you a part of the game
environment of steam orsomething like that, you know
your release.
Your release date is just aquestion mark you know it's.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Uh, I do agree because I have 37 games on my
wish list I think I have 40,something okay, and I only have
like 12.
No, that's okay, you know, but Iguess you're right.
So if I put them on the wishlist, that's almost like me put
(20:34):
it pre-ordering, saying okay,when it's on sale, this is what
I want to buy.
If I have the time or the moneyto buy it, this is what I'm
gonna buy.
Yeah, yeah, and, and I can, Ican see that, you know, I
definitely.
Or when a game like I have agame that chrono odyssey game
that I played, that was justlike an alpha test was it good
(20:59):
so it's a souls like mmo.
It was hard I'm.
I missed it.
I didn't get to participate,but it was so cool Was it good.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So it's a Souls-like MMO.
It was hard.
Yeah, I missed it.
I didn't get to participate,but it was so cool.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
It was good.
It had a lot of bugs, it wasrough, there was a lot of
shuddering.
I made it to the first boss andI got the boss to like 20% and
(21:27):
then the kids took me, had to,and I didn't come back to it
because it was over.
You know, time is, being ableto have time to play video games
is gets harder and harder everyday because of my kids schedule
and like they're not going tobed until later.
And now, you know, most days Ican't sit in front of my
computer until at least 845.
And some days I'm just like ugh.
But at the same time I'mfinding actual time.
(21:51):
Like if I'm not working on aSaturday, I'll start my day and
play some video games in themorning, which is great, you
know.
But back to the pre-order thing.
It's for the listeners.
Is it worth it?
Like, why do you pre-order?
What is the?
What is your purpose inpre-ordering?
(22:12):
Like, do you pre-order Because,for me, unless, unless a game
has blown me away, likebattlefield 6, I want it, I'm
clicking on it right now.
What do you get if youpre-purchase?
What do you get?
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Pre-Eth.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
It doesn't say Play the open beta August 9th and
10th and August 14th and 17th.
But it doesn't say what you getif you pre-order.
I don't know, I don't know, Idon't know where the compare
editions yeah, you get a two.
(22:55):
Oh, yeah, so if you get thestandard edition, you get the
tombstone pack, which is apre-purchase offer, but both of
them do so whatever's in theTombstone Pack, and then the
Phantom, the Premium Edition,you get basically the Battle
Pass.
25 tier skips, all this stuff.
It's basically just a levelskip.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
But it makes me say to myself do I want to do that?
Do I want to preorder?
Do I just wait for the game tocome out?
Speaker 1 (23:30):
You could just wait for the game to come out.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Well, this goes back to the whole the hard copy.
The physical copies aredecreasing in frequency, so you
know it's a question that's kindof been popping in my mind as
we've been talking.
What was more memorable,memory-making?
(23:54):
Is it waiting for the date topop up so you can digitally
preorder something, or was itwaiting in front of GameStop
with the line of 60 other peoplefor the doors to open so you
can go in and put your name onthe list?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, for me, the pre-order, the height of the
pre-order for me, was Call ofDuty Modern Warfare 2, the
midnight release.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2,the midnight release.
That was the pinnacle of apre-order.
You pre-ordered for thatmidnight release because each
store only got 200 copies orsomething.
(24:34):
You know what I mean.
They would take a bunch ofpre-orders and you would find
out if you're on that listbecause 500 people pre-ordered
it.
Yeah, they didn't get 500copies at midnight.
You had to wait until 10 in themorning the next day and you'd
be behind all your friendsleveling up and doing their
thing.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
I think the last game that I went and picked up at
midnight might have been finalfantasy 15, which that was a
long time ago really.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Yeah, like maybe 2016 , I want to say uh it is yeah,
you're right, november uh, yeah,november 29 2016, almost 10
years ago.
But in 10 years midnightreleases are gone.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Well, I don't have a disc-based game system that I
use anymore.
I have two PS5s that are boththe digital model and I play
games on Steam or just downloadit onto my hard drive on my PC,
so I don't have physical copiesof anything.
By the way, we got to talkabout Expedition 33.
(25:52):
It has a collector's editionthat you buy.
That doesn't come with the game.
It just comes with the statueand the soundtrack and like
artwork and stuff, because thegame is a digital purchase only.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
So then, our preorder is going the way of essentially
swag.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yeah, yeah.
They are Like you go intoGameStop now it's almost like a
video game based hot topic.
I like I don't.
I don't seriously look at thegames like that's what you're
there to look at anymore.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
Okay.
So actually I have had a recentexperience at GameStop.
So we had about I don't know 30extra minutes to kill and I
pulled into a parking lot andRyan was like hey dad, can we go
to GameStop?
Sure, buddy, let's go.
And our PlayStation is stilldisk-based.
(26:49):
We still have, excuse me, aSwitch One, which is disc-based
as well.
You can buy it digitally, butwe went in there and you're
right.
So the PlayStation area waslike this big and I'm doing this
so you guys can see it in thecamera and I was looking for
games.
(27:09):
They didn't even have them newon disc, games that you would
think would be available.
And I kind of thought to myself, because I remember the days
where you walked in and it was awall of games, like every game
you could ever imagine.
But then when you turn around,they have the you know, the
(27:32):
PlayStation, the Xbox and theswitch, and then you turn around
and it's just Funko pops andt-shirts and like lunch boxes
and stuff like that it'slightsabers and Darth Revan
helmets Right and behind thecounter you have a thousand
(27:52):
different custom controllers youcan buy.
You know they've clearlybranched out or this, this
beautiful thing oh, that's theuh, the uh.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Playstation elite controller right or whatever
they call it, dual shock edgeyes, it's basically the xbox
elite controller.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
It's the yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Yeah, it's the upgraded controller, sure it's
so nice yeah that's my last, mylast game stop experience right,
but that's what I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
So you my you're.
What you're saying is right,you don't.
Most people don't go toGameStop to buy a game anymore.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
You know, and for me.
So I'm going to go back to mytrip with my son.
You know what I ended up buyingV bucks for fortnight, you know
.
I think I bought $10 or maybeit was, maybe it was $20 and V
bucks and it Maybe it was $20 inV-Bucks.
And that was my trip toGameStop where, back 10 years
(28:58):
ago, if I had my son then wewould have walked in and we
would have walked out with agame that was $3.
Because, why not?
It's almost like you know I'mgoing to show my age, but it's
almost like going back to thedays of Blockbuster and going
(29:19):
and picking out a movie for thenight.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
Oh, Blockbuster.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I miss Blockbuster so much.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
You know, I wish for me, I wish somebody would just
come out with one and it givesyou like a stream code you know
what I'm saying Like a rentalcode for the night, like
somebody brings back becausethey could do it Well, every app
has it now.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
It's called Amazon Prime Netflix.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, you can read movies on, but apple, yeah, but
I guess what I'm saying is if ablockbuster opened up in your
area, you would not tell me youwouldn't, on a friday night, go
for that nostalgia a coupletimes.
Get the thing of popcorn, letyour kid pick out candy, or your
(30:12):
wife or your girlfriend orwhatever it may be, and go pick
out a stream code movie.
And, yeah, you're paying 3.99,but who cares?
And you, you know what I'msaying, even if that link takes
you to amazon prime, just forthat one moment well, they had
red box for a while too, andthat seems to be done well,
(30:35):
there's still some that are outthere.
Speaker 3 (30:36):
I mean, heck, I I'd like to see.
I could always hook up my vcrand go if I actually buy, rent a
cassette, video cassette yeah,please be kind, please rewind.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
There you go.
You know I used to go to themwhen I went to my grandma's on
the weekends we would go to itwas called west coast video,
that was our, that was ourblockbuster, and we would go and
I remember like I could geteither a game in a movie or two
movies and I, if I I alternateright, so I would either get a
(31:11):
sega genesis game, rent a segagenesis game and get a movie, or
I would get like wrestlemania 5and I would rent a movie right
you know yeah I think.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
What we're seeing, though, is we're nearing the end
of owning physical media,unless the media is designed to
be retro, like vinyl.
Records have had a huge, hugeresurgence because sound quality
is better for uh, audiophiles,I guess, and it's, you know,
(31:51):
decoration for your house, andit's trendy vibe.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, it's just yeah.
If you're, if you're trying tonetflix and chill with your wife
or your girlfriend and you'resitting on the couch, hey, let
me put on the new uh but thatwould interfere with the audio
from the movie.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Marcus, I don't think that you mix those two putting
on some music.
Yeah, I'm just while you'rewatching a movie, that's weird
before you go to pound town.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Hey, let's listen to the no record you know what?
Speaker 1 (32:16):
I mean, like you open this door.
You could have just let it go.
Let's finish the movie firstcome on no way.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
The whole point is to do it while the movie's going
on.
What?
Is the gaming persona becomingwhat you allowed me to come into
and you open the door you couldhave just left it at netflix
and chilling, you could havejust let it go, but you couldn't
I'm a very literal person, Iknow that, but you know why yeah
, you know why you're literaland you're an award-winning
(32:43):
author.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
I wrote a book you wrote a book and you direct
people too oh yeah, he's thedirector.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
But I guess the moral of the story is do you
pre-order?
Why do you pre-order?
Let us know.
Find the comments.
Please let one of us know,because I want to know.
Do you still pre-order a game?
Continue the journey.
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