WEBVTT - The Full Motion Video Era - Home Gaming 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.520 Get in touch with technology with text stuff from stuff 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:14.440 dot com either and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.960 Strickland and I'm Lauren folc Obama. And now we're going 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.640 to present to you something that we've already talked about. FMV. 0:00:21.760 --> 0:00:25.400 Are fm V that's full motion video video games, yep, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.840 and you may if you've listened to our last episode, 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:29.840 you heard us talk about how it turned out to 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.559 be a lot longer than we had anticipated. So, as 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:34.800 it turns out, we enjoy shotten Fred here on the show, 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.000 we sure do. So we had a lot to say 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:40.200 about the various games we're going to concentrate in this episode, 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:43.239 about the home video game market and how fm V 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.239 played a role in that. So we now return you 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:54.800 to our podcast already in progress. Was also the year 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:56.680 when we see, at least from what I could tell, 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:01.000 the first home video game to feature full motion video 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:06.360 Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, and it had live action video 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.839 segments where you would play as a detective you're trying 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.520 to solve a specific mystery, and most of the gameplay 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.399 was done on kind of a cartoonish h view. You 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:21.680 just had the screen of like a map and you 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.919 could do things like investigate clues. You could get the 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.679 the irregulars, you know, Sherlock Holmes's network of pickpockets to 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:33.600 all go out and look for clues. You could interview 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.120 suspects that kind of stuff. But all of that was 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:39.440 just done in text and cartoons, and it was only 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:41.840 in sort of cut scenes that you really got the 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:47.240 full FMV live action stuff. Um, it was actually the 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.840 performances were actually pretty good. I was watching some of 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.920 the video and they they were you know, kind of 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.160 the stuff you would expect to see in a Sherlock 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.160 Holmes uh television movie or something. So you know, one 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.520 of the one set during actual Victorian era, not the 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:10.320 modern not not not not balderdash Cumberbuns version. Um. I 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.760 love Sherlock and I love Ben Thedict cumber Batch. I 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.160 just love, also love how British his name is. It's 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:18.840 pretty ludicrous, it is. So anyway, this was actually pretty 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:20.880 good one. I mean again, you had I think you 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:23.640 had like three different mysteries you could play on that 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.800 first game. Um, and you would get points, which was bad. 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.080 You didn't want to get points. You wanted to be 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:33.280 able to solve the mystery with as few points as possible, 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.080 and you would actually be compared against Sherlock Holmes at 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.359 the end of the mystery and see how well you did. 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.280 And the example, I saw the end score with something 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.520 like two fifty points and Sherlock Holmes's score was twenty six. 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:49.000 So it was one of those are like, Okay, I 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.480 guess uh, I guess we we pew, poor puny mortals 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:56.080 have no chance against the supreme intelligence of Sherlock Holmes, 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:59.400 which I guess is the point that is, Yeah, then 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.400 we get one of the more infamous FMVs. We're not 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.360 covering every single FMV title because oh no, certainly not. 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.440 There were. There were definitely a lot of them, and 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:10.040 many of them honestly not worth our time. And some 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:14.240 of them were you know, kind of never really heard 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:17.840 or seen from again, like stuff that either got released 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:22.240 but barely was was adopted at all. So we're just 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:24.960 really concentrating on the really famous ones, particularly some that 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.720 some of our listeners have asked about, including this one 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:32.560 from Sewer Shark. Sewer Shark, Yes, uh, this this was 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.800 for the three d O eventually like a CD which 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.840 had come out, I believe in that was what we 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:45.440 decided and uh, yeah, one of the earliest console games 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.200 to use fm V, maybe the first one. Uh. And 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:51.960 you're you're flying as a You're playing as a pilot 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.960 who flies a ship that flies through sewers. Uh. It's 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:59.440 set in a post apocalyptic future where everybody's moved underground, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.080 but there are rumors that there are some places above 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:05.440 ground that could still be habitable, but the government is 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:09.480 very much about, you know, keeping those rumors under under check. 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.600 And you play a pilot who's trying to find um, 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.400 well one, trying to fight this kind of totalitarian government 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.160 and to trying to get to the surface. And so 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:21.800 that you had all these sequences where you were flying 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.440 through pipes and that was all full motion video stuff, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:30.040 and you really uh kind of had sprites on top 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:33.120 of the video that represented monsters that you had to shoot. 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:34.839 So and so in a way, it was kind of 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.719 similar to that previous game where you had the vector 0:04:37.760 --> 0:04:42.680 graphics crosshairs on top of the yeah, Cobra command. So 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:45.160 it's similar to that in that sense, except this time 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.960 they were sprites, not vector graphics and yep. And you 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.120 also had lots of full motion video with your your 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.400 your compatriots as well. As the villain, and they were 0:04:56.400 --> 0:05:02.040 all ridiculous, over the top hammy actors kind of kind 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:05.200 of awesome. Yeah, we're both actually big fans at that 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.440 school of acting, I think. Yeah, I mean, if it's 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.680 if it's done knowingly, it can be it can be 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.240 a real blast, but even unknowingly it can be kind 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:18.920 of a sort of a charming train wreck. Yes, yes, oh, 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.080 I mean, and so much so that Sega decided to 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.400 ship it along with their Sega CD system. Yeah. So 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:28.880 this was one of those games that actually was pretty popular, 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:30.600 only in the sense that people who bought the Sega 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.360 c D system also got a copy of Sewer Shark. 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.240 A listeners DJ and Daniel, both on Facebook asked us 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.360 to mention this one. Yeah, so thanks very thanks for 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.800 writing in guys. Now here's another game that I played 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.520 a little bit, The Seventh Guest, which was a kind 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.960 of a mystery game. It had a lot of puzzles 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.160 that were sort of missed like in nature. Like, uh, 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.839 I remember one specific puzzle. You're you are presented with 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:59.360 a cake and the cake has tombstones and skulls on it, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.599 and some piece is that the cake don't have either 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:05.440 tombstones or skulls, and you have to remove five pieces 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.480 of cake at a time. They have to be consecutive. 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.800 They had to touch each other, and each time you 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:13.080 remove them. They have to have two tombstones, two skulls, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.400 and one piece of plain cake. So you had to 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.880 figure out exactly how did you remove those so that 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.440 you would get all the cake removed, you wouldn't be stuck. 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:23.800 It's kind of like those puzzles you would see where 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.640 you'd have you know, uh, like in a do you 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:29.000 know what you're just shaking your head over now, I'm 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.120 just I'm just that sounds like the worst puzzle ever. 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.000 I that that sounds like the kind of puzzle that 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:35.479 I happened upon sometimes in video games and just go 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:37.960 maybe I would like to go read a book. I 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:40.880 I think of the puzzles that you would find in Uh, 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.000 this is gonna be a regional reference for some of 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.040 you guys out there. A cracker barrel, Yeah, that's sort 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:48.640 of thing. Yeah, the little wooden triangle where you have 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:50.359 the pegs and you have to try and make the 0:06:50.360 --> 0:06:53.440 pegs jump each other until you're only left with one peg. Yeah, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.760 it's kind of like that. They had other puzzles to 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:58.159 not just that one, but they also had all these 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.240 live video segments where they were other it was supposed 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:05.960 to be people who had attended a party at this 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:10.480 house years ago, and you are encountering the remnants. They're 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:14.160 they're kind of psychological imprints. Okay, Yeah, so sort of 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:17.440 like a murder mystery dinner party, except everyone is already dead. Yeah, 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:21.360 and you're you're the one solving the mystery. Um and 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:27.480 and the acting was pretty pretty spectacularly awful. If you 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:32.440 have ever attended a like cringe worthy murder mystery dinner 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.760 theater type thing, that's what this was in video game form. Uh. 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:41.600 Still kind of charming, but definitely I'll show you some 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.040 video after this podcast is over so you can appreciate it. 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.160 But we'll try to. We'll try, by the way, to 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.680 put video of as many of these as we can 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:50.720 up on social media. The ones that are the ones 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.920 that are socially acceptable. They found they sound very charming. Yeah, 0:07:53.960 --> 0:08:00.480 this this next one not so much night trash. Uh 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:02.640 that This one was also mentioned by a couple of 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.480 our listeners on Facebook. Paul and Daniel, thank you guys 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.240 for writing in about this one. Uh, it was it 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:10.720 was a multi platform game. It was big enough that 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:12.520 it was all over the places on Sega, C, D, 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:16.040 three D, O, MAC and PC. And it was a 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:19.520 survival horror title, right yep. And it got got some 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.280 attention from a little group called the United States Government. 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:26.640 So this is right around the time when the US 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.600 government was starting to get concerned about video games and 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.440 the content inside them. Yeah, and what they were doing 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:36.280 to our children. Um, which I I just dramatically overstated, 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:41.240 because I think that it's a very dramatic overstatement that yeah, okay, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:43.120 I do believe in the rating system. And this is 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.280 actually one of the games that helped create the ratings 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.040 in a roundabout way, because people started saying, hey, uh, 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.080 there's some slightly scandalous content on this. You're just selling 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:53.960 it to any kid who walks in. That's kind of 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.480 weird us. You know, Mortal Kombat and Doom and stuff 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:02.920 that we're along those to Doom, Mortal Kombat and Night Trap, 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:08.400 we're held up as examples of won't someone please think 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:12.640 of the children? So here's the thing, Uh, they the 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.280 video game industry elected to create the s r B 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:19.439 rating system because it meant that it kept the government 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.000 out of doing it for them because that was essentially 0:09:22.040 --> 0:09:24.000 what the government said was you need to create a 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.080 waiting or we will and they're like, well, whoa, we 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.840 will totally do that because we don't want to have 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.199 too much regulation in our industry because that hurts innovation, 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:38.480 it hurts the developers. So here's the question, what exactly 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:41.560 was going on with this game to make it so scandalous. Well, 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.280 it was kind of creepy, you uh. The basis of 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.480 the game was that there were these monsters called Augers 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.839 that are kind of like vampires, right, and you are 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:57.240 trying to capture them, and you're you're trying to view 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:01.640 them remotely and secretly by using hidden cameras that are 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:06.360 placed throughout a house. Coincidentally, that house is also playing 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:11.400 host to a slumber party of young ladies, so a 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.760 lot of the video involves you looking in on rooms 0:10:14.800 --> 0:10:17.600 that young ladies are in. There was no nudity in 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.080 this game, by the way, the way it sounds like 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:22.880 it sounds like it it got really pretty like Porky's 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.319 esque really quickly. It wasn't. It wasn't that. It didn't 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.440 go that far. So there's no nudity in the game, 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.520 but there were moments where you know, clearly it was 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:34.480 trying to appeal to a more base level in people's nature. 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.679 It was it was sexualized, and some parents realized that 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:39.600 their kids had it, and then they had not really 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:43.720 signed off on it. Yeah. I heard one of the 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.520 game developers, UH defend this game by saying, look, you 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:52.320 you're trying to save people here, that it's the option 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.559 of the game is to capture the bad guys, not 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:56.640 to peep on people, and that you think, yeah, but 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:59.720 the game mechanic is pretty much peeing on people. So 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:02.960 I mean, I don't know how much you can defend it. 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.600 But again, it wasn't like the most It seems tame 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:09.640 in comparison now, especially when you look at the content 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:11.560 that's in some games. You also have to keep in 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:15.480 mind that by we're talking about folks who had been 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:19.240 growing up with video games since the late seventies early eighties, 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.800 and this is something we've seen in the industry overall. 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.040 As gamers have aged, the content inside games has become 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.600 more and more quote unquote mature. So yeah, and it 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.079 makes sense because these are the people who are remaining 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.360 customers of video games even as they get older. So 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.880 I think that was also what we were seeing by 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.960 by ninety three, we're talking about a lot of people 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.320 who were in their teenage years who had grown up 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:46.240 playing video games like you know me, although at this 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.160 point I was only going to be a teenager for 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.960 a very short time. But there were some decidedly squeaky 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.360 clean video games that included f m V out around 0:11:56.360 --> 0:12:00.000 that time. Let Us not forget about missed a very 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.640 popular games, incredibly popular game. It was the best selling 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.040 PC game for nine years running. Um. It also came 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.959 out and it wasn't a a heavily FMV based video game, 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.200 but it did have that FMV element. It had some 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.240 live action video that characters would interact with you through 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:20.680 these these books that you would open and and you know, 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.640 it was like talking through a portal, but the portal 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:27.000 was a person video. Yeah, um, and yeah it was. 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:28.640 It was a darling in the market. It was a 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:33.120 darling of reviewers. It is kind of credited with driving 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.640 personal CD ROM sales and had sequels coming out for 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:43.160 the next ten years plus. Uh. They started in with 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:47.520 Riven and continued using FMV elements up through the fourth 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.000 game in the series, Revelation, which was released all the 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.760 way out in two thousand four. After two thousand four, 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.559 I think that's when we started seeing graphics engines improving 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:00.960 to the point where the luster was really taken off 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.200 of f m V. It was a lot cheaper and 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:08.120 easier and more beautiful to create animation for stuff like this. 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.200 You would go with like a CG type thing that 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.080 was procedurally generated. This, you know, depending upon the game, 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:15.440 but you know, you could have games where you would 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.640 have a CG scene and your character can move around 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.920 and actually view it from different angles. Cut scenes are 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.760 still largely fm V to some extent. But um, but yeah, 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.200 I agree that by that time we were starting to 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.880 see the sophistication of the game engines themselves take over, 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:35.640 where some of the less um appealing aspects of FMV 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.040 were no longer a concern because you could you could 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:40.520 work around it, you could do something else instead. Um 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:42.400 you Missed was also one of those games that very 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:47.439 quickly appealed to female gamers. Um. One of the reasons 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.880 why it was so popular and non gamers in general, 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.120 people who wouldn't pick up normal video games because they 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:57.480 were perhaps too fast paced or too violent or too 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:59.800 difficult on a learning curve kind of way to get 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.880 you to the controls. Missed was. It was a very 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.920 basically controlled adventure, point and click sort of thing where 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.080 all you had to do was was moved through an 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.240 environment and solve puzzles, and it was a little bit 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.040 less intimidating I think for your average human person. It 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.880 was also really visually appealing and had great sounds, great soundscape. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:21.320 So it was one of those games where it appealed 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:25.600 to people on a level that that basic, you know, 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.840 standard video games didn't like they weren't. It wasn't twitch based, 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.720 you know, it was it could be intimidating if you 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:35.520 ran into a puzzle and you had literally had no 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:37.600 idea how to even start. There were there were a 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:39.640 couple of puzzles and in Missed, I did play and 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.960 I do still love Missed. It's got a very dear 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:44.040 place in my heart. Well, the next one has a 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:49.080 dear place in my heart. Frankenstein through the Eyes of 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.560 the Monster, and you play as Frankenstein's monster, who has 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.920 a woman's hand. By the way, that's a big dramatic 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.480 reveal in the very early part of the game. Goodness, 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:02.520 this hand belongs to a open I'm not okay, I'm 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.280 not sure how gendered hands are precisely, but you can 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:10.600 tell or because his other hand very different. Uh. So 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.280 you were playing as the monster, so you're seeing everything 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.920 from the monster's perspective, so you only see any part 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:18.600 of the monster if the monster puts it out in 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:22.120 front of his face. Um. And you are trying to 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.760 regain your lost memories. You have no memory of what 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:29.520 you were before the experiment that brings you to life. Uh. 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:36.040 Dr Frankenstein is played by Dr franken Further himself, Tim Curry. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.880 He choose scenery so hard in this in this game, 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:43.600 he's one of my favorite scenery. Yeah, he's he's bonkers. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.800 Dr Frankenstein is the first time you see him is 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.040 when your your character's eyes open on the on the 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:54.520 medical table and he's going on and about how he 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.600 created life and then he celebrates by injecting himself in 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.840 the neck with something you assume more but you don't know. 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:05.920 Um and uh yeah, it's a it's if you do 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:08.240 anything wrong, or you do enough wrong things, he shows 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.400 up and kills you and then says something you know, 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:15.320 like you have very snarky and very British, so Tim 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.840 Curry will appear again on this list because Tim Curry 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:20.040 not a man to turn down a job. As it 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.240 turns out. Um, I would not say that Frankenstein Through 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.600 the Eyes of the Monster is a particularly good game. 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.120 It was another puzzle game, another point and click puzzle game, 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.560 very much like Missed, but with a very different you know, 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.800 theme and tone to it. By point and click, we 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.720 mean that you could just use a mouse to point. 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.640 It's something that you wanted to either move towards or 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.120 interact with, and then just click to do that thing 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.400 right and so you It's one of those games where 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:46.400 you had to figure out which thing is needed for 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.880 whatever situation you were in. Uh, And depending upon the 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:53.120 way the game was designed, you would either end up 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.280 with the right result, no result, or with Frankenstein you know, 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.200 Tim Curry would kill you. Um. There was a game 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.160 called Ripper, which I first thought when I started watching 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.320 the video that I owned the game, but then I 0:17:05.359 --> 0:17:07.280 realized I didn't own the game. I owned a CD 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:11.040 that had Ripper as a preview, and it might have 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.280 even been Frankenstein Through the Eyes of the Monster now 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:16.680 that I think of it. So this was another point 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.439 and click game set in twenty forty and you are 0:17:20.480 --> 0:17:23.359 trying to solve a series of murders that mirror the 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.360 Jack the Ripper murders Victorian England. But this one had 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.800 some really all star actors in it. And we've We've 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:36.200 got Christopher Walkin, John Frees, Davies, Karen Allen and just Meredith. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:42.919 You're gonna rip Lightning and corrap thunder. Yeah. Uh, you 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:44.919 guys should be thankful I did Burgess Meredith and not 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.919 Christopher Walkin because my walking impression is the worst thing 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:50.320 in the world. But uh, and I love doing it. 0:17:50.359 --> 0:17:52.720 But you played, you know, this game, and you had 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:54.680 to try and solve these murders. The the preview to 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:59.120 this is phenomenal. You guys. If you learned nothing from 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.840 this podcast other than this, it'll still be worth it. 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:06.000 Go to YouTube and look for the Ripper video game 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:10.280 preview because also it features the music of one of 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.600 the best bands in the world, Blue Oyster Cult, and 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.280 uh and their song Don't Fear the Reaper, which I 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.879 also remember from that preview that I got on the 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.480 c D where the Don't Fear the Reaper came on 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.680 and I was immediately impressed. Then we have a game 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:29.720 that I believe you played, Lauren. Yes, this was the 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:33.000 X Files game. Yeah, we were mentioned this. I remember you. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.639 You brought this one up in the Worst video Games 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:38.520 I think, And yeah, it's pretty high on my list. 0:18:38.640 --> 0:18:41.040 It was another point and click adventure. It came out 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:45.240 for the PSX, the PlayStation one as some people might 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:48.399 call it, and also the PC. And you you played 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.359 as this FBI agent character that was invented Holly for 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.160 the game, who had to find Molder and Scully as 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.480 far as I can tell, because it was really expensive 0:18:57.480 --> 0:18:59.680 and time consuming to get David to Covney and Jillian 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.720 ander Sin to actually come shoot um, and a bunch 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.240 of the other characters from the show. Um, Mitch Pledge 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.600 I never learned how to say is excellent as a 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.520 d skinner. William B. Davis, who played the cigarette smoking Man, 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:16.640 Stephen Williams who was Mr X and the whole smoking 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.960 gun nerd trio for Hickey, Buyers and Langley all had 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.920 small roles in this thing. This tells me where where 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.159 in the X Files Lord happened. Yes, it was actually 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.000 in the Lord. It was set specifically, I believe in 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.560 season three, sometime in nineteen six. Don't make sense for 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:38.400 Mr X, right, Yes, so it was actually shortly yeah, 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:42.320 o MG, spoilers um. And that's this is partially because 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:46.840 the development took four years and six million dollars um. 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.960 It was all prompted by Fox's specific interest in having 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.720 Italie in game for the X Files when they ordered 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.280 it the shows in season two and was really starting 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:58.680 to roll. Yeah, they were as one of those shows 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:01.960 that was getting kind of runaway popularity despite Fox's best 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.960 efforts to keep moving it, moving the X Files to 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:08.640 different time slots. Yeah, and in f m V terms, 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.000 this game was an absolute blockbuster. I mean, it had 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.400 this Hollywood talent involved, and it's sold about a million copies, 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:18.440 which they at least made their money back. At that time, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:21.440 that was a really impressive. You also have to remember 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:23.879 that the video game industry at that time wasn't the 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:28.399 giant beheam with that it is today, right. You know. However, 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.520 the reviews and the player responses to it weren't spectacular. 0:20:32.680 --> 0:20:34.639 Not all of them were as negative as I was, 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:37.639 but but I have very strong feelings about it. It 0:20:37.840 --> 0:20:40.760 took up like seven PC c d s or four 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.920 PlayStation CDs. There's nothing that really keeps you immersed in 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.480 a game, like having to change out one disc for 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.600 another continually. Yeah, I personally, I just like it so 0:20:50.720 --> 0:20:52.440 much because I got stuck in a in an action 0:20:52.520 --> 0:20:57.000 sequence bug that I never could get around, and I 0:20:57.119 --> 0:20:59.159 was like, well, I guess I'm not playing this game anymore. 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:02.160 And this game is and it's done, and we still 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.879 are seeing lots of FMV used and cut scenes and 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.440 support roles. The Command and Conquered games are really well 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.720 known for that. Tim Curry reappears. He um, he was 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:15.600 in Rent Alert three as a a Russian type character, 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.119 and uh, if you can just imagine what Tim Curry 0:21:19.160 --> 0:21:22.239 would sound like doing his best horrible, over the top 0:21:22.320 --> 0:21:26.920 Russian accent, then you're you're n the way there. Civilization 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:31.000 Too had him as your members of your council. I 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.840 love that because, as I recall, the person who was 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.600 in charge of telling you how happy or unhappy your 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:42.639 people were was essentially an Elvis impersonator. And yeah, and 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.440 you're the way the game worked, you would go through 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:47.600 different eras, right, You would go through the ancient era, 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:49.879 so there's Elvis in a toga. You go to a 0:21:49.920 --> 0:21:53.200 medieval era, so there's Elvis in a doublet uh. In 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.359 the Moderneil era, you'd have you know, Elvis, So it 0:21:56.520 --> 0:21:59.359 was it was, it was a blast. And then you 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:03.000 had other the super dorky science nerd guy, the gung 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:08.040 ho h military dude. It was those performances I actually 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:10.280