WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The Full Motion Video Era - Home Gaming 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:14.880 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.080 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.960 and the Love all Things Tech. It is a Friday, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:23.680 so it's time for a classic episode of tech Stuff. 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.680 This episode originally published on August four, two thousand fourteen. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:32.240 It is titled the Full Motion Video Era Home Gaming. 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:36.120 So last week we did a full motion video classic 0:00:36.320 --> 0:00:39.559 about arcade games. This one's about home video games. If 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:42.560 you're not familiar with full motion video, these are games 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.240 that incorporated live action video into the games themselves, to 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:51.159 varying degrees of effectiveness and hilarity. So let's listen in 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:54.960 on this classic episode. We're not covering every single imp 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.680 title because oh no, certainly not they were. There were 0:00:57.760 --> 0:01:00.160 definitely a lot of them, and many of them honestly 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:02.800 not worth our time, and some of them were you know, 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:07.000 kind of never really heard or seen from again, like 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:12.440 stuff that either got released but barely was was adopted 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.000 at all. So we're just really concentrating on the really 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.679 famous ones, particularly some that some of our listeners have 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:23.280 asked about, including this one from sewer Shark sewer Shark. Yes. Uh. 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:27.680 This this was for the three D O eventually a 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.039 CD which had come out, I believe in that was 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:36.440 what we decided. And uh, one of the earliest console 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.679 games to use FMV, maybe the first one. Uh. And 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.440 you're you're flying as a You're playing as a pilot 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.440 who flies a ship that flies through sewers. Uh. It's 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:50.880 set in a post apocalyptic future where everybody's moved underground, 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.560 but there are rumors that there are some places above 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:56.920 ground that could still be habitable, but the government is 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.960 very much about, you know, keeping those rumor under under check. 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.080 And you play a pilot who's trying to find um 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.840 well one, trying to fight this kind of totalitarian government 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:10.640 and to trying to get to the surface. And so 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:13.560 you had all these sequences where you were flying through 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.560 pipes and that was all full motion video stuff, and 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.760 you really uh kind of had sprites on top of 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.600 the video that represented monsters that you had to shoot. 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:26.280 So it's so in a way it was kind of 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.160 similar to that previous game where you had the vector 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:34.120 graphics crosshairs on top of the yeah, cobra command, So 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.639 it's similar to that in that sense, except this time 0:02:36.639 --> 0:02:41.400 they were sprites, not vector graphics and yep, and you 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:44.560 also had lots of full motion video with your your 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.840 your compatriots as well as the villain, and they were 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:53.480 all ridiculous, over the top hammy actors kind of kind 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.680 of awesome. Yeah, we're both actually big fans at that 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.919 school of acting, I think. Yeah, I mean, if it's 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.160 if it's done knowingly, it can be it can be 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.680 a real blast, but even unknowingly it can be kind 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:10.399 of a sort of a charming train wreck. Yes, yes, oh, 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.520 I mean, and so much so that Sega decided to 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.880 ship it along with their Sega CD system. Yeah. So 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.320 this was one of those games that actually was pretty popular, 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.080 only in the sense that people who bought the Sega 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.840 c D system also got a copy of Sewer Shark. 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:28.720 A listeners DJ and Daniel, both on Facebook asked us 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:30.840 to mention this one. Yeah, so thanks very thanks for 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.240 reading in guys. Now here's another game that I played 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:38.000 a little bit, The Seventh Guest, which was a kind 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.440 of a mystery game. It had a lot of puzzles 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.680 that were sort of missed like in nature, like, uh 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:47.280 I remember one specific puzzle you're you are presented with 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.840 a cake, and the cake has tombstones and skulls on it, 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.680 and some pieces of the cake don't have either tombstones 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:57.000 or skulls. And you have to remove five pieces of 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:59.040 cake at a time. They have to be consecutive, they 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:01.839 had to touch each other, and each time you remove them, 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.520 you have to have two tombstones, two skulls, and one 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.360 piece of plain cake. So you had to figure out 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.720 exactly how did you remove those so that you would 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.360 get all the cake removed, you wouldn't be stuck. It's 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.480 kind of like those puzzles you would see where you'd 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:18.320 have you know, uh, like in a do you know 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:20.560 what you're just shaking your head over now, I'm just 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.800 I'm just that sounds like the worst puzzle ever. I 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:24.599 that that sounds like the kind of puzzle that I 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.640 happened upon sometimes in video games and just go maybe 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.800 I would like to go read a book. I I 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.360 think of the puzzles that you would find in Uh, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.479 this is gonna be a regional reference for some of 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:37.479 you guys out there. A cracker barrel, Yeah, that sort 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:40.120 of thing. Yeah, the little wooden triangle where you have 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:41.800 the pegs and you have to try and make the 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.920 pegs jump each other until you're only left with one peg. Yeah, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.200 it's kind of like that. They had other puzzles to 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.640 not just that one, but they also had all these 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.680 live video segments where there were other it was supposed 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.040 to be people who had attended a party at h 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.640 this house years ago, and you are incounter ring the remnants. 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.560 They're they're kind of psychological imprints. Okay. Yeah, so sort 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:07.920 of like a murder mystery dinner party, except everyone is 0:05:07.960 --> 0:05:11.360 already dead. Yeah, and you're you're the one solving the mystery. 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:18.640 Um and and the acting was pretty pretty spectacularly awful. 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:23.120 If you have ever attended a like cringe worthy murder 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.359 mystery dinner theater type thing, that's what this was in 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:31.520 video game form. Uh. Still kind of charming, but definitely 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.520 I'll show you some video after this podcast is over 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:36.719 so you can appreciate it. But well, we'll try to. 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.920 We'll try, by the way, to put video of as 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:41.119 many of these as we can up on social media. 0:05:41.200 --> 0:05:43.320 The ones that are the ones that are socially acceptable. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:46.039 They sound they sound very charming. Yeah, this this next 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:52.920 one not so much night trash. This one was also 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:55.600 mentioned by a couple of our listeners on Facebook, Paul 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:58.479 and Daniel, thank you guys for writing in about this one. 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:01.599 It was it was a multi platform game. It was 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:04.640 big enough that it was all over the places on Sega, C, D, three, D, O, 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.640 Mac and PC. And it was a survival horror title, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.600 right yep. And it got got some attention from a 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.120 little group called the United States Government. So this is 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.880 right around the time when the US government was starting 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:23.000 to get concerned about video games and the content inside them. Yeah, 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.559 and what they were doing to our children. Um, which 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.200 I I just dramatically overstated, because I think that it's 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.400 a very dramatic overstatement that yeah, okay, I do believe 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.120 in the rating system. And this is actually one of 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.040 the games that helped create the ratiostom in a roundabout way, 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:42.120 because people started saying, hey, uh, there's some slightly scandalous 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:44.160 content on this. You're just selling it to any kid 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:46.839 who walks in. That's kind of weird use, you know, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:53.200 Mortal Kombat and Doom and stuff. We're Doom, Mortal Kombat 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.840 and Night Trap. We're held up as examples of the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:03.120 won't someone please think of the children. We've got more 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:06.880 to say about f MV games in the home gaming world. 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:18.720 But first let's take a quick break. So here's the thing. Uh, 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.560 they the video game industry elected to create the s 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.480 r B rating system because it meant that it kept 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.120 the government out of doing it for them, because that 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:30.160 was essentially what the government said was, you need to 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:33.360 create a waiting or we will And they're like, well, whoa, 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.080 we will totally do that because we don't want to 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.800 have too much regulation in our industry because that hurts innovation, 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:45.000 it hurts the developers. So here's the question. What exactly 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.160 was going on with this game to make it so scandalous. Well, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.880 it was kind of creepy, you. Uh. The basis of 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.680 the game was that there were these monsters called Augers 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:59.440 that are kind of like vampires, right, and you are 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:03.840 trying to capture them, and you're you're trying to view 0:08:03.920 --> 0:08:08.240 them remotely and secretly by using hidden cameras that are 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.920 placed throughout a house. Coincidentally, that house is also playing 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:18.000 host to a slumber party of young ladies, so a 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:21.360 lot of the video involves you looking in on rooms 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.200 that young ladies are in. There was no nudity in 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.640 this game, by the way, the way it sounds like. 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.480 It sounds like it it got really pretty like Porky's 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.880 esque really quickly. It wasn't. It wasn't that it didn't 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:35.040 go that far. So there's no nudity in the game. 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.120 But there were moments where you know, clearly it was 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:41.040 trying to appeal to a more base level in people's nature. 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:44.280 It was it was sexualized, and some parents realized that 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:46.200 their kids had it, and then they had not really 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:50.200 signed off on it. The yeah, I heard one of 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.800 the game developers, uh defend this game by saying, look, 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:58.520 you you're trying to save people here, that it's the 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.920 option of the game is to after the bad guys, 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:03.160 not to peep on people, and that you think, yeah, 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:05.320 but the game mechanic is pretty much feeing on people. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:09.040 So I mean, I don't know how much you can 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.440 defend it. But again, it wasn't like the most It 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.440 seems tame in comparison now, especially when you look at 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:17.840 the content that's in some games. You also have to 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.760 keep in mind that by we're talking about folks who 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.400 had been growing up with video games since the late 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.240 seventies early eighties, and this is something we've seen in 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:31.800 the industry overall, as gamers have aged, the content inside 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.000 games has become more and more quote unquote mature. So yeah, 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:37.800 and it makes sense because these are the people who 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:41.440 are remaining customers of video games even as they get older. 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.559 So I think that was also what we were seeing 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:46.280 by by nine three, we're talking about a lot of 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:48.760 people who were in their teenage years who had grown 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:52.760 up playing video games like you know me, although at 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:54.600 this point I was only going to be a teenager 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:58.840 for a very short time. But there were some decidedly 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:02.600 squeaky clean video games that included f m V out 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.400 around that time. But let us not forget about missed 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.280 a very popular game. It's incredibly popular game. It was 0:10:09.360 --> 0:10:12.920 the best selling PC game for nine years running. Um. 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.920 It also came out and it wasn't a a heavily 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.280 FMV based video game, but it did have that FMV element. 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:23.120 It had some live action video that characters would interact 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.439 with you through these these books that you would open 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.600 and and you know, it was like talking through a portal, 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:32.960 but the portal was a person person video. Yeah, um, 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:34.960 and yeah it was. It was a darling in the market. 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.400 It was a darling of reviewers. It is kind of 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:43.400 credited with driving personal CD ROM sales and had sequels 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:48.040 coming out for the next ten years plus. Uh. They 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:52.800 started in with Riven and continued using fm V elements 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.880 up through the fourth game in the series, Revelation, which 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:58.640 was released all the way out in two thousand four. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.880 After two thousand four, I think that's when we started 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.160 seeing graphics engines improving to the point where the luster 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:08.400 was really taken off of f m V. It was 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.640 a lot cheaper and easier and more beautiful to create 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.480 animation for stuff like this. You would go with like 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.560 a CG type thing that was procedurally generated. This, you know, 0:11:18.600 --> 0:11:20.600 depending upon the game, but you know, you could have 0:11:20.640 --> 0:11:23.120 games where you would have a CG scene and your 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.000 character can move around and actually view it from different angles. 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:29.760 Cut scenes are still largely fm V to some extent. 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.160 But um but yeah, I agree that by that time 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:36.080 we were starting to see the sophistication of the game 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.480 engines themselves take over, where some of the less um 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:44.040 appealing aspects of FMV were no longer a concern because 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:45.520 you could you could work around it, you could do 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.160 something else instead. Um You Missed was also one of 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.679 those games that very quickly appealed to female gamers. Um 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.760 one of the reasons why it was so popular and 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.640 non gamers in general, people who wouldn't pick up normal 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.439 video games because they were perhaps too fast paced or 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:05.800 too violent, or too difficult on a learning curve kind 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:08.120 of way to get used to the controls. Missed was 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:12.560 it was a very basically controlled adventure, point and click 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.920 sort of thing where all you had to do was 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:17.360 was moved through an environment and solve puzzles, and it 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:19.480 was a little bit less intimidating I think for your 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.319 average human person. It was also really visually appealing and 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.199 had great sounds, great soundscape. So it was one of 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.400 those games where it appealed to people on a level 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:33.880 that that basic you know, standard video games didn't like 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.480 they weren't. It wasn't twitch based, you know, it was. 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.160 It could be intimidating if you ran into a puzzle 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.240 and you had literally had no idea how to even start. 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.520 There were there were a couple of puzzles and in Missed, 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.840 I did play and I do still love Missed. It's 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:50.040 got a very dear place in my heart. Well, the 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:54.760 next one has a dear place in my heart. Frankenstein 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.400 through the eyes of the monster, and you play as 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.680 Frankenstein's monster, who has a woman's hand. By the way, 0:13:01.679 --> 0:13:03.760 that's a big dramatic reveal in the very early part 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.840 of the game. Goodness, this hand belongs to a woman. 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.160 I'm not okay, I'm not sure how gendered hands are precisely, 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:17.199 but you can tell because his other hand very different. Uh. So, 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.880 you were playing as the monster, so you're seeing everything 0:13:20.880 --> 0:13:23.480 from the monster's perspective, so you only see any part 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:25.200 of the monster if the monster puts it out in 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.720 front of his face. Um, and you are trying to 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:31.320 regain your lost memories. You have no memory of what 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.640 you were before the experiment that brings you to life. 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:42.600 Dr Frankenstein is played by Dr franken Further himself, Tim Curry. 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.440 He choose scenery so hard in this in this game, 0:13:46.520 --> 0:13:50.199 he's one of my favorite scenery. Yeah, he's he's bonkers. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:54.400 Dr Frankenstein is. The first time you see him is 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.640 when your your character's eyes open on the on the 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:01.120 medical table and he's going on and about how he 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.200 created life, and then he celebrates by injecting himself in 0:14:04.200 --> 0:14:08.880 the neck with something you assume morphine. But you don't know. Um, 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.120 and uh, yeah, it's a it's if you do anything wrong, 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:15.080 or you do enough wrong things, he shows up and 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:19.080 kills you and then says something you know, like you have, 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.640 very snarky and very British. So Tim Curry will appear 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:25.280 again on this list because Tip Curry not a man 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:28.880 to turn down a job. As its turns out. Um, 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.480 I would not say that Frankenstein Through the Eyes of 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:33.760 the Monster is a particularly good game. It was another 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.200 puzzle game, another point and click puzzle game, very much 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.520 like Missed, but with a very different you know, theme 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.600 and tone to it. By point and click, we mean 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:44.480 that you could just use a mouse to point. It's 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.680 something that you wanted to either move towards or interact 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:49.080 with and then just click to do that thing right. 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:51.040 And so you It's one of those games where you 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:53.440 had to figure out which thing is needed for whatever 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.680 situation you were in. Uh. And depending upon the way 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:59.840 the game was designed, you would either end up with 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.840 the right result, no result, or with Frankenstein. You know, 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.720 Tim Curry would kill you. Uh. There was a game 0:15:06.760 --> 0:15:09.800 called Ripper, which I first thought when I started watching 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.920 the video that I owned the game, but then I 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:13.880 realized I didn't own the game. I owned a CD 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:17.640 that had Ripper as a preview, and it might have 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.880 even been Frankenstein through the Eyes of the Monster now 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.240 that I think of it. So this was another point 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:27.360 and click game set in twenty and you are trying 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:30.240 to solve a series of murders that mirror the Jack 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.040 the Ripper Murders Victorian England. But this one had some 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.600 really all star actors in it. And we've We've got 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:43.120 Christopher Walkin, John Frees Davies, Karen Allen and just married it. Yeah. 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:49.520 You're gonna rip lightning and corrap thunder. Yeah. Uh, you 0:15:49.520 --> 0:15:51.520 guys should be thankful I did Burgess Meredith and not 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.520 Christopher Walkin because my walking impression is the worst thing 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.920 in the world. But uh, and I love doing it. 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.320 But you played, you know, this game, and you had 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.560 to try and solve the murders. The preview to this 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.880 is phenomenal, you guys. If you learn nothing from this 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:08.680 podcast other than this, it'll still be worth it. Go 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:13.360 to YouTube and look for the Ripper video game preview 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.000 because also it features the music of one of the 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:20.560 best bands in the world, Blue Oyster Cult, and uh, 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:23.160 and their song Don't Fear the Reaper, which I also 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.520 remember from that preview that I got on the c 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.200 D where the Don't Fear the Reaper came on and 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.360 I was immediately impressed. Then we have a game that 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:36.720 I believe you played, Lauren. Yes, this was the X 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:39.600 Files game. Yeah, we were mentioned this. I remember you. 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:42.240 You brought this one up in the Worst Video Games 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.320 I think, Yeah, it's pretty high on my list. It 0:16:45.400 --> 0:16:47.880 was another point and click adventure. It came out for 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:52.240 the PSX, the PlayStation one as some people might call it, 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.480 and also the PC. And you you played as this 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.440 FBI agent character that was invented Holly for the game, 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.560 who defined Molder and Scully as far as I can tell, 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.160 Because it was really expensive and time consuming to get 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.159 David to Coveney and Jillian Anderson to actually come shoot 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:12.760 um and a bunch of the other characters from the show, Um, 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.119 Mitch Pledge. I never learned how to say excellent as 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.560 a d skinner. William B. Davis, who played the cigarette 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:22.359 smoking Man, Stephen Williams who was Mr X, and the 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:26.840 whole Smoking gun NERD trio for Hickey, Buyers and Langley 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.520 all had small roles in this thing. This tells me 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:33.280 where where in the X Files Lord happened. Yes, it 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.159 was actually in the Lord. It was set specifically, I 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:40.080 believe in season three sometime in nineteen six makes sense 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:45.000 for Mr X. Yes, so it was actually shortly yeah 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:48.960 O MG, spoilers. Um. And that's this is partially because 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:53.720 the development took four years and six million dollars um. 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.600 It was all prompted by Fox's specific interest in having 0:17:56.640 --> 0:18:00.439 Italie in game for The X Files when they ordered it. 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.760 The shows in season two and was really starting to roll. Yeah, 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:05.840 they were as one of those shows that was getting 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.760 kind of runaway popularity despite Fox's best efforts to keep 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.240 moving it, moving the X Files to different time slots. Yeah. 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:15.959 And in f m V terms, this game was an 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:19.080 absolute blockbuster. I mean it had this Hollywood talent involved, 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.560 and it sold about a million copies, which, uh, they 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.240 at least made their money back at that time. That 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.240 was a really impressive. You also have to remember that 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:31.919 the video game industry at that time wasn't the giant 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.320 beheamoth that it is today. Right. You know. However, the 0:18:35.440 --> 0:18:39.359 reviews and the player responses to it weren't spectacular not 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:42.359 all of them were as negative as I was, but 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.600 but I have very strong feelings about it. It took 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:49.080 up like seven PC c d s or four PlayStation CDs. 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:52.040 There's nothing that really keeps you immersed in a game 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:56.520 like having to change out one disc for another continually. Yeah, personally, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.280 I just like it so much because I got stuck 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.080 in a in an action sequence bug that I never 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.480 could get around, and I was like, well, I guess 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:06.480 I'm not playing this game anymore. And this game is 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.560 broken and it's done, and we still are seeing lots 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.399 of FMV used and cut scenes and support roles. The 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:14.480 Command and Conquered games are really well known for that. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:18.080 Tim Curry reappears. He um he was in Rent Alert 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:24.040 three as a Russian type character, and uh, if you 0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:27.119 can just imagine what Tim Curry would sound like doing 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:30.160 his best horrible, over the top Russian accent, then you're 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:34.640 you're the way there. Civilization too had him as your 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:40.199 members of your council. I love that because, as I recall, 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.920 the person who was in charge of telling you how 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:48.000 happy or unhappy your people were was essentially an Elvis impersonator. 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:51.159 And yeah, and you're the way the game worked. You 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:53.600 would go through different eras. Right, you go through the 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.240 ancient era, so there's Elvis in a toga. You go 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.639 to a medieval era, so there's Elvis in a doublet Uh. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.840 In the modernel era, you'd have you know Elvis. So 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:05.840 it was it was, it was a blast. And then 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.600 you had other like the super dorky science nerd guy, 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:14.199 the gung ho uh military dude. It was those performances 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:16.520 I actually really really love. I wouldn't say that they 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.840 were all nuanced or anything like that, but they were entertaining. 0:20:20.520 --> 0:20:23.359 Other games that our listeners have suggested, we talked about 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.879 where the Wing Commander series from Origin, a lawnmower Man, 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:31.520 Corpse Killer, Ground Zero Texas. We're gonna take another quick break, 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:42.600 but we will be right back. So many of the 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.439 game companies that made fm V based games, especially the 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:50.720 ones that were solely FMV, no longer exist. They either 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:52.760 went out of business or they got acquired by another 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.440 company and folded into them. Uh. It's just one of 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.160 those games that, again the pre production was really expensive 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.480 and time consuming and old Simately, we began to learn 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:07.480 that players seem to prefer gameplay and interaction over the 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:14.440 visual qualities of exam perhaps questionable visual qualities and so again. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:16.600 Using it as like a cut scene is one thing, 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.080 but to use it as the basis for your gameplay 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.440 really limits you. I've got a quote here that I 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.119 wanted to read out from one Jason Vandenberg, who was 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:26.919 one of the programmers on the X Files game. This 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.800 was a quote from Edge magazine, I believe, back in 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.320 the late nineties when the game came out, and he said, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.640 working on the x Files proved to me that interactivity 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.600 and drama directly oppose each other. Thus interactive cinema is 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.320 limited at best and doomed at worst. That was a 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:48.120 devastating realization. Drama is all about being a helpless witness 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.040 to events. The moment you give the viewer agency, the 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.480 emotional spectrum shifts from tension to curiosity. We could never 0:21:55.520 --> 0:21:59.399 get past that fundamental thing. Curiosity kills tension, and you 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.880 end up with a puzzle game with a rich, detailed 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.320 background behind it, which sounds like missed, which sounds like 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.680 missed what you know and I and I wanted to 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:09.200 read it out because I thought it was a really 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:14.280 interesting and very strong perspective, especially coming from a programmer 0:22:14.320 --> 0:22:17.000 of one of these games. However, I'm not positive. I mean, 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:19.520 when you really get down to it, all video games 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:23.479 are interactive to some extent. Yeah, and then, and I 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.959 don't think that curiosity always kills tension. You can have 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:32.240 very tense, very excellently crafted moments. However, perhaps with video 0:22:32.400 --> 0:22:35.720 it's so pre planned and predetermined that it is starting 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:37.879 to kill off a little bit of that spontaneity that 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.159