Author: BlackLightOni

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• THE NEW TWITCH META IS BREAKING TOS!
  • Tara Babcock does it right
  • Twitch banned (suspended) some of the channels, until…
  • Twitch revised its TOS, and unbanned these channels, until……
  • They walked it back (big surprise)
• THE DAY AFTER: a dollar short!
  • Really “The Day Before” but everyone got it confused with a movie 
  • Soda_Pop reports that its full of bugs, bad graphics, and made of lies
  • Fntastic shuttered mid-controversy, sparking more controversy
  • This was worse that LOTR: Gollum
• TRI-BAR BREAKDOWN!
  • GOTY: Who won, and why, LOE’s opinions
  • Segment starts around the 1 hour 19 minute mark
• ERIC JULY RETURNS: CAGE MATCH CHIEFTAIN VS YOUNG RIPPA
• HASC*NT (HASBRO): BLACK EDITION!
  • Disney’s Failures
  • Mismanagement of DnD, MTG, GI JOE, and more
• RIP ANDRE BRAUGHER
  • Best known for Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Homicide: Life on the Street
  • Died of Lung Cancer

To see the Live, check out the following link. The E3 discussion begins around the 19 minute mark.

You think you own your Playstation Network purchases? You might want to check your Library because, with the updates on licenses, Playstation has removed many titles.

No refunds.

This became quite the discussion on object permanence and the current trends of markets.

Guest Host Maya shared some personal experiences with her gaming collection through the years. The blessing of a digital collection is, of course, convenience. Whether it’s the instant gratification of a purchase, the saved shelf space (RIP HHD), or the lack of human interaction, there are some benefits to an online archive.

Of course, the drawbacks may not be worth it to others. Physical copies tend to have an appeal to those who value preservation, such as art, credits, special codes, trinkets, or, most importantly, a physical game copy. A respect for the craft and love of the work seemed apparent in every game, but is all but extinct in the digital age.

Neither is right or wrong. Gaming preference is incredibly personal, but the double-edged sword of cloud-copies of media is hardly a cozy business model. Beholden not by the consumer transaction but by licensing for maximum profit, Playstation is playing a dangerous game that may have more severe consequences for the industry if allowed to fester.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• FINAL FANTASY TACTICS REMASTER: CREATOR SAYS NO
• CD PROJECT RED IS FINISHED WITH CYBERPUNK 2077
• “THE DAY BEFORE” IS A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT
• SODA’S SIX PACK: SHE GOT CAUGHT DOING WHAT ON THE BEACH?!?!?
  • warning: this story takes a dark turn
• OUTCAST: A NEW BEGINNING MAY REIGNITE FRANCHISE LOVE!

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The Take-Two discussion begins around the 48 minute mark.

For all the talk of Artificial Intelligence, it seems one title is attempting to utilize it for the gaming good. Call of Duty, Chieftain’s FPS of choice, has decided to test out an AI to minimize “campers” and snipers from matches, implementing suspensions and bans for those who are caught.

Chieftain was especially excited because he hates campers. By logging times and patterns of players, the AI will determine if “camping” has occurred and act accordingly. Chieftain is pleased with this decision since he hates players who don’t play COD as intended.

The group had some varying opinions, of course.

Hiro and Soda, though not as big of fans, see the benefit(s), namely in that gamers would play with like-minded gamers and the rounds would run more smoothly. The lifespan of a game- even if it’s COD– is a major concern to keep profits up. The younger players will push boundaries and are a large contingency of gamers, so keeping them online is still a necessity.

“By-The-Hour” play is, suffice to say, an interesting opinion. It makes sense from a business perspective: Maximize profits by charging a subscription-like service for your 40+ hour game. With that being said, completionists, casuals, and die-hards quickly saw that the price would be too steep to continue their pursuits. In this economy, when hobbies are a luxury we try to afford and make time to enjoy, it quickly loses its charm. That’s not to mention that many games hardly seem worth the “regular price” as it is and some games are played for literal decades by fans.

I, however, am less optimistic or forgiving. If you want to prevent people from utilizing weapons and their intended use, why not exclude those weapons? Why not focus on the market you want (and are legally marketed toward)? I think there will also be unforeseen issues with the AI and algorithm that I am far from qualified or intelligent enough to predict.

I guess we’ll see who captures this objective.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• UBISOFT’S OOPSIE WITH BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL REMASTER!
  • The game was accidentally released and then pulled, forcing an actual release
  • Someone flubbed the release date, or used the wrong link, or something
  • How can this even happen?
• CARRON (KAREN) OF DEADSPIN WHIFFS AS THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS KID WINS
  • Kid dressed up with Native American headdress and face paint
  • Deadspin called “blackface” and “cultural appropriation”
  • The kid is just a fan and actually Native American, AND A KID!!!
  • Deadspin and Carron are now being pilloried on the internet, justly so
  • The group gets into a discussion about what racism is
• STAR CITIZEN MAKES A NEW FUNDING RECORD (BUT Y DOH?)
  • Is this game out? Is this game playable? Is this game even in beta?
  • Hiro reports this game has been in alpha for 11 years.
  • Despite this, they had a record breaking fundraiser: $3.5 million
  • Star Citizen seems to be a “first person third person eve online no man sky star field” (Thank you, Ghost!)
• THE FALLOUT TV SHOW IS OFFICIALLY CANON
  • “Not canonical if you change the canon,” The Mariner
  • Hiro is concerned that Amazon didn’t learn their lessons from “Rings of Power”
  • What’s been seen of the costumes and sets is encouraging
  • The year the show takes place is said to be 2277, right in the middle of the known Fallout Canon timeline
  • See The Mariner’s article reviewing the teaser and the discussion around it
• A BALDUR’S GATE 3 CINEMATIC LEAD PASSED AWAY
  • Jim Southworth was the lead animator
  • Diagnosed with cancer last year and succumbed last week
• SODA’S SIX PACK: GEARBOX STUDIOS GAMES!
  • Soda was looking forward to a new Tiny Tina game
  • Gearbox has seemingly canceled that and another game, Brothers in Arms
  • They’re reportedly focusing on Borderlands 4
• IMPROMPTU TOPIC: LADY BALLERS
  • New comedy movie by Daily Wire
  • Taking on trans-genderism in sports
  • Daily Wire has made / is making other movies

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The Take-Two discussion begins around the 48 minute mark.

Remember the days when developers– and, more specifically, their leadership– respected gamers? Those were good times…

Times long gone, apparently, because Take-Two Interactive’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has come out and said that games should be charged by the hour of play.

No, I am not joking.

It has been said by Chieftain and plenty of other game industry professionals that video games are severely underpriced for the comparative cost of production. This has, of course, caused some… tension when there are discussions, because of the divisiveness of this issue and the reasons behind them.

“By-The-Hour” play is, suffice to say, an interesting opinion. It makes sense from a business perspective: Maximize profits by charging a subscription-like service for your 40+ hour game. With that being said, completionists, casuals, and die-hards quickly saw that the price would be too steep to continue their pursuits. In this economy, when hobbies are a luxury we try to afford and make time to enjoy, it quickly loses its charm. That’s not to mention that many games hardly seem worth the “regular price” as it is and some games are played for literal decades by fans.

That also doesn’t even touch upon the fact that many CEOs are so out of touch with their customer base that they say tone deaf, bullshit comments in public forums and will suffer no consequences with their golden parachutes (coughToddHowardcough).

Do I think this proposal is an active threat? No. Do I think it should be ignored? Hell no. The rise in public relation faux pas by development leadership is almost as insulting as piss-poor game releases. Don’t let these people talk in public if this is how they represent your company. It’s a bad look.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• HIRO RUNNING THE SHOW TONIGHT…
  • Leads to…fun (in the form of no audio for the first 10 minutes)
• MAYACONDIOS GUEST APPEARANCE
• DAILY WIRE DRAMA?!?!
  • Candace tweeted a Bible Verse that seemed to trigger Ben Shapiro
  • The two are going back and forth on X (Twitter)
  • Candace did an interview with Tucker Carlson, fueling Shapiro’s ire
• PETER CULLEN GETS A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD!
  • The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) has announced that award-winning voice actor Peter Cullen will be the Lifetime Achievement Honoree at the 2nd Annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards
  • Read the Article
  • “He voiced your childhood, essentially,” BlackLightOni
• RICK AND MORTY DOESN’T SEEM OK!
  • The new season is not doing well and getting pilloried 
  • There’s a brief review of reason behind change in show and the double standard that exists
  • MayaConDios wonders if it’s a perception thing, “it’s not terrible, but it’s not right, either.”
• IT’S FINALLY OK TO HATE ON THE MCU!?!? THE MARVELS BOMBED
  • Performing worse than The Flash, $47 million on opening weekend
  • Everyone agrees that movie mediocrity is the reason these movies are failing, despite Hollywood claims
• ANNOUNCING THE LAGGIN’ OUT PODCAST: THE RETURN OF ERIC JULY

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The Take-Two discussion begins around the 2 hour 28 minute mark.

And they will probably continue to port GTA V for a generation or two more!

I kid, but having confirmation on what we already know is still a bit of a comfort, especially when big names have shuffled and shelved titles like they’re going out of style (or copyright). Rockstar’s crown jewel was riding on mods and ports for the last decade and fans have been salivating for updates on par with The Elder Scrolls VI. 

Unlike Bethesda, Rockstar actually sounds happy to share the details and wants their fans to keep the hype up (minus that illegal leak from 2022). Their off-color brand of humor, wild modding community, and passionate fans keeps GTA in the top titles of gaming, so hearing that a trailer will be dropping in December (more details to follow!) is just the early Christmas present they crave.

Of course this brought Chieftain and Soda down memory lane, reminiscing on the original title to the recent iterations. Though Hiro and I are more Saints Row gamers (and I use that vaguely with myself), we both respect that, without GTA, there would be no Saints.

With that being said, hopefully Rockstar doesn’t fail where Volition did. “F” in the chat for Volition.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• HAPPY ARMISTICE DAY!
• HAPPY MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY!
• HAPPY VETERAN’S DAY!
• NINTENDO CONSOLE DETAILS LEAKED!
  • Nintendo denies its existence
  • Nothing is available about the specs
• LEGEND OF ZELDA MOVIE…. IN LIVE ACTION?!?!?!?
  • Hiro is skeptical because of the people involved
  • But Nintendo is in charge, so there’s hope it doesn’t go the wrong direction
• THE MARVELS IS PROJECTED TO FLOP
  • Chieftain thought this was going to be on Disney+ because of the quality
  • Projected a $45 million box office total…down from $75 million (revised downward twice)
  • People are saying Ms Marvel (Kamala Khan) is the best part of the film
• RIPPAVERSE AND CLOWNFISH PRODUCTIONS REVIEW
• MR BEAST DIGS 100 WELLS FOR AFRICANS, CRITICS CRY ABOUT WHITE PRIVILEGE
  • Keyboard warriors have had trouble with his other generous acts
  • BlackLightOni would like the keyboard warriors to Google water-born diseases and parasites
• RIDLEY SCOTT TELLS HISTORIAN TO GET A LIFE OVER NAPOLEON BEING CRITICIZED FOR INACCURACIES
  • Scott made a ‘documentary’ about the French (Corsican) general 
  • BlackLightOni takes issue with the fact that Scott had to use historians to make the film
  • She also points out that it’s important to honor the people who live through the history being portrayed
• JUST STOP OIL Fs UP AGAIN!
  • JSO is a group of middle-class twats who protest new gas and oil production not realizing the hypocrisy of their existence and clueless about their cause
  • They assault works of art, disrupt events, glue themselves to streets, and block traffic
  • The working class has had enough of their antics
• GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE TRAILER!
  • Quick review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife
  • This is a follow-up film 

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The A.I. discussion begins around the 1 hour 12 minute mark.

Time for everyone’s favorite question: Can you cancel South Park?

Short answer: No. Obviously. That hasn’t stopped Kathleen Kennedy from trying, after Colorado’s finest town paradied her choices regarding her creative endeavors.

Given her… propensity to race, gender, or sexuality-swap characters for no other reason than tokenization, Matt Stone and Trey Parker did what they do best and took the piss out of her career. Taking cues from her directorial decisions, South Park’s characters were given the Kennedy-treatment, resulting in the real Kathleen Kennedy having papers sent to Comedy Central to cease-and-desist.

Let’s all have a moment of silence at her futile attempt to censor them.

No one is above parody or scrutiny by Stone and Parker. Thirty years on and people still haven’t gotten the memo.

After that, Gina Carano teased those emails from when she was fired (through CC) by Disney. We eagerly await the tea on that.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• TRI-BAR GAMING AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENT
• RIP RICHARD MOLL (TWO FACE FROM BATMAN)
  • Also played Bull in Night Court
  • This Two-Face was from the best version of Batman: The Animated Series
  • Watch the Live (link below) to see how this conversation snowballed
• TEEN FACES PRISON TIME OVER A SWITCH
  • Teacher warned teen student to stop playing with video games during class
  • Student said “F*** you,” and beat up his teacher
• RIPPAVERSE ALPHACORE TEASER!
  • Out now!
  • Written by Chuck Dixon (writer of many comics)
• IS DISNEY DOING A LIVE ACTION REBOOT OF GARGOYLES?
  • Reportedly no longer in production (thankfully!), but still…rumors abound
• (SOFT) TOPIC OF SMOOSH

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The A.I. discussion begins around the 14 minute mark.

Since the Pandora’s Box known as A.I. was opened, it has been a thorn in the side of artists. Finding ways to protect themselves (and their works) has been a challenge for artists, but it seems humans have found a way: A poison, of sorts.

Although not the first time, new programs are finding more creative ways to cheat or trick these algorithm-sieves by adding “invisible” pixel edits to corrupt the data pool. This not only protects the individual artwork, but also taints the entirety of the A.I.’s result.

This method may only be a temporary countermeasure against the computer challenger, but it grants a level of protection and comfort for the human creators for the moment.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• THE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!
  • Hiro dressed as John Wick
  • BlackLightOni dressed as Astarion Ancunín from Baldur’s Gate 3
  • Soda_Pop had a Vampire avatar
  • Chieftain dressed as a “Loser” Astros Fan
• RAYMAN IS A DRUG ADDICT?!?!?
  • Ubisoft is apparently ok with Rayman being a “Coke Snorting Fascist” in it’s latest Netflix show
  • Hiro is not impressed
  • No one else had any plans of watching
• CRITICAL ROLE ONE SHOT CAMPAIGN TO GUEST STAR SAM RICHARDSON AND TONY HALE
  • Every year Critical Role hosts an event for Red Nose Day – a children’s charity
  • Critical Role is mainly known for streaming their TTRPG play of Dungeons and Dragons but have played other TTRPG games as well.
• NINTENDO INTRODUCES NEW TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES
  • Spoiler: they’re not Tourney friendly
  • Nintendo released ‘guidelines’ for running an official Nintendo tournament
  • Tournaments must be sponsored and sanctioned by Nintendo (which is hard to come by)
  • The prize pot got limited to $5,000, which was not popular with the internet
  • BlackLightOni said she was surprised Nintendo made up its mind and didn’t age restrict it.
  • Soda_Pop mentions watching tournaments that turned into knock-down-drag-outs 
  • Nintendo (the company) is known for not being Tournament friendly
  • BlackLightOni gives a short history of Nintendo’s slow movements in the gaming market
  • Chieftain calls it ‘losing money’
  • Hiro calls this ‘leaving money on the table’
• SOFT TOPIC: BALDUR’S GATE 3’S ASTARION IS A THIRST TRAP!
  • The internet is nuts for this guy.
  • As evidenced by BlackLightOni’s Role Playing him during the stream.
  • (I single-handedly made this the most 18+ stream in LOE history. You can all thank me later. ~ Astarion)
• SOFT TOPIC: RYAN REYNOLDS MAKES FUN OF THE ACTORS GUILD FOR BANNING COSTUMES FOR HALLOWEEN
  • Quick review of the strike as it’s proceeded so far
  • The actors guild specifically banned actors from dressing as characters from struck studios.
  • Ryan’s comment turned the internet against the actors guild
• GAMEMILL WAS ONLY GIVEN ONE YEAR TO DEVELOP SKULL ISLAND!
  • Guess the quality
  • Horribly rated and horrible bombed
  • People from the company anonymously commented on the conditions of the contract

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The A.I. discussion begins around the 24 minute mark.

Show Your Work

With such a heavy-topic week (which we barely scratched the surface of, just look at our Discord), we needed something lighthearted to cheer up.

After some playful banter between Hiro and Soda_Pop, this “Squishy Topic” became a great exercise in nerd knowledge, lore delving, and friendly arguments regarding the popular Marvel and DC character comparison. With the lore of both characters, it can be argued that both cape-wearing, boomerang-slinging, upper-crust gentlemen are more similar than they are different, but they aren’t as similar as some characters between the comic champions (Deathstroke and Deadpool, anyone?).

Like any vehicle that’s been sitting for a long time, it needs work. Although protected by the barn, Wisconsin isn’t known for balmy beaches or mild winters. Luckily, a lack of parts won’t be an issue: The DeLorean is as complete as the day it rolled off the lot, if with an extra family of mice.

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• MATTHEW MERCER TO BE THE VOICE ACTOR FOR VINCENT VALENTINE IN FINAL FANTASY VII
  • Hiro is excited for this.
  • Matt Mercer is from Critical Role (DM), Overwatch (Cole Cassidy), and many other voice acting roles.
  • Brief talk about Matt’s work with Critical Role, Soda_Pop enjoys it a lot.
• SSSNIPERWOLF’S IDIOCY ON DISPLAY!
  • Caught doxxing a fellow creative who is critical of her content.
  • As of the time of this writing, Youtube took no action against her, other than temporarily suspending her creator account.
  • Hiro flips the narrative to show the double standard that Youtube applies to creators of different sexes.
  • Chieftain reviews some of SSSniperWolf’s past acts.
  • This leads to a conversation between Hiro and Soda_Pop about Castle Doctrine.
• MICHAEL CAIN RETIRES (but did he really?)
  • Declared he’s retiring at the age of 90.
  • Hiro is skeptical.
• RICK AND MORTY RETURN!?!?
  • Chieftain shows of a Rick and Morty inspired work by our very own TheHoneyBadgr.
  • Season 7 is out now.
  • Chieftain reports that the first episode was alright.
  • Hiro reports that the reviews were not favorable.
  • BlackLightOni points out that comparisons should be made episode to episode across seasons, versus lumping all seasons into a comparison for one episode.
  • She also points out that opening the new season featuring characters voiced by Justin Roiland, who was ousted from the show under false allegations, was an attempt to keep the fans.
• IRON LUNG MOVIE TRAILER DIRECTED BY MARKIPLIER
  • Leads to BlackLightOni making a comparison between Fear and Terror/Horror.
• HAZBIN HOTEL SIGNED FOR SEASON 2
• FRIDAY NIGHT AT FREDDY’S MOVIE
  • Hiro thinks this will surprise people
  • The creator has been very strategic in his marketing for the games.

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The Batman-Moonknight discussion begins around the 2 hour 15 minute mark.

Mr. Eric July is a respected friend of the channel and accomplished entrepreneur in his own right, so media interactions are a huge part of his job. With his opinions regarding politics, business, and personal beliefs on public display, it’s no surprise that he will butt heads with some folks.

A lawsuit, though, is a bit different.

According to Mr. July, he was given copyright papers with regards to his leading character and first comic, Isom, by the International School of Ministries (I.S.O.M.). After reviewing the documents, Mr. July contacted a representative of I.S.O.M. to settle everything amicably outside of litigation; and it seemed to have been a success!

Until I.S.O.M. made a public statement that the Rippaverse had left the negotiation table ready for court.

Disregarding the implications of a religious organization lying (and to the public, no less), the fact that an international Christian group would file such a lawsuit against a comic book creator and his company only sullies their own character.

Although many companies file seemingly pointless lawsuits over copyrights, this may become a more serious case as it develops.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the only thing Mr. July has had to contend with. A detractor made a very personal trip to visit a relative of Mr. July, leaving behind racist litter, and photographing themselves while wearing a mask.

Very tough, such big brave; especially when you find out this relative is the inspiration and namesake of Mr. July’s main character, Isom, his great-great-great grandfather who passed away in the 1920s.

Yes. Someone was so motivated by hatred that they researched his family, drove to a private cemetery, left racist icons, and then took a masked photo of themselves to share to social media while throwing up some hand sign.

Also, they were clearly… let’s say not a Person of Color.

Laggin’ Out Entertainment vehemently disavows these actions taken against Mr. July and his family and hope that this individual/individuals is/are held to account. 

Chat Comments

To see the Live, check out the following link. The Eric July discussion begins around the 25 minute mark.

Sometimes we hear about wholesome news! We may be crotchety old-foggies, but we do love nostalgia, cars, and hidden loot.

Out in the Dairyland of America, a barn was hiding a precious, geeky treasure in the form of a DeLorean. Rare cars being rediscovered isn’t unheard of, but this blast from the past had a grand total of 977 miles on the 1981 DMC-12.

Like any vehicle that’s been sitting for a long time, it needs work. Although protected by the barn, Wisconsin isn’t known for balmy beaches or mild winters. Luckily, a lack of parts won’t be an issue: The DeLorean is as complete as the day it rolled off the lot, if with an extra family of mice.

With some TLC and restorative work by the owner of DeLorean Midwest, Michael McElhattan, who found and purchased this collector car, this throwback will be back to the future in no-time!

“Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”

Other Topics Discussed on This Live…

• DISNEY’S COMPETITION, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS GETS A SPECIAL DISTRICT
  • Was this a ploy to reveal a double standard?
  • Will this generate jobs?
• BUNGIE STEPS INTO THE CULTURAL SHIT STORM!
  • Anything other than ‘Latino’ or ‘Latina’ is a slur, according to any Latin individual
  • Bungie immediately gets sued afterward!
• GOLLUM GAME APOLOGY WAS WRITTEN BY CHAT GPT
  • Allegedly
  • Leads to a discussion about how people, let alone A.I., should be able to spell check 
• THE ROCKETEER REVIVAL IS COMING TO DISNEY?
  • Maybe. We’re skeptical given the ratings of most of their recent projects
  • Oh, and a financial analyst says Disney and Lucasfilm (one and the same, really) need to STOP!
• MICROSOFT OWES $28 BILLION IN BACK TAXES (AND CLAIMS THEY’RE STILL LEGAL)

To see the Live stream, check out the following link. The DeLorean discussion begins around the 1 hour 45 minute mark. (Due to technical difficulties, the first 38 minutes of the live is in a separate video.)