Cup of Jones - June 17, 2019

Let me add, that Damianis moderation skills have greatly improved during the last years.

Hey Brandon, First of all, congratulations to becoming a father and all the best to you and your family! I have noticed that in some episodes of your shows (e.g. Friend Code, Trailer Jones) the moderator is very passionate about the topic which leads to a long monologue and the rest of the penal zoneing out. E.g. Damiani talks about a Nintendo related topic for like 5 minutes only to realize at the end that he did not ask the penal a question. So he adds something like „What do you think?“. Something similar happens during Trailer Jones. Even though I am watching the shows to hear these passionate takes, I think that you are at your best when you have lively discussions. In contrast to that I think that Kyle is very good at phrasing challenging questions during the EZA podcast that are good discussion starters. But the content is news. It is usually not about Kyles passion topics. I work as a moderator and facilitator and one golden rule for me is to separate the form from the content of the discussion. As a moderator you should engage and challenge the panel so that they provide the content. You should not be the one having to say most about the topic. Therefore for Friend Code and Trailer Jones I suggest that someone else should be the moderator so that they can give you the space for your insights. Please don’t take that as a criticism of your moderator skills. What I am describing is a matter of group dynamics. I understand that EZA shows exist because at least one ally wants to make it happen, who also usually takes the moderator role. But maybe you can reflect on your shows with this aspect in mind. L&R, Robin

Hi Jones! It has been a while since I asked since I have not been caught up with Cup of Jones, so did you ever get a chance to try out the mobile game The Battle Cats? If so, what did you think?

Parasitepaladin

Hello father in training Jones! I want to discuss leaks in video games. We have a lot of very outspoken members of the community mentioning during E3 how much they despise leaks. I also think leaks are bad. However, getting in fights with people who leak like Jason Schreier is not the way to move forward. Instead these companies should be tightening up their security and making sure to punish those who leak, like the infamous Nintendo Ninjas. Journalists have ethics and rules they need to follow, and reporting the scoop on something happening is their ethical duty. Games journalism is not just for promotion of video games, it is covering the stories, leaks, and news of what is going on around those games. I would love to hear your thoughts about this and maybe help me see the other side of the argument? Leaks to me are a sign of inefficient company, not a sign of ill intent journalism. Hope you are enjoying your post E3 break <3

Logan Young

Hi, Jones. In one of the Cup of Jones episodes, Amanda talked about how during that whole Mysterious Monsters Concert period, your anxiety was so high that the techniques you use didn't work. I get anxious very rarely, but when I do, I just can't sleep. Even if it's about a good thing, I just can't relax enough till the sleep settles in and I usually stay awake most of the night - this happened on the Sunday of the last episode of season 8 of Game of Thrones. Could you please go into detail on what those techniques do and how effective they are? I'm sure I'm not the only one that could benefit from them. Thanks in advance. L & R

Daniel Ribeiro

Hello Jones! This thought might be coming out of left field, but I pitch it here anyways. Though the easy allies podcast is Kyle's baby, I would like to see the allies as a WHOLE make a commitment to making it a "leak free" podcast. Leakers are attention seekers. When outlets like EZA spend their time covering the story of a leak, it validates and brings attention to those leakers, and encourages the trend to continue. Given how much EZA complained about leaks during e3, I would like to see some level of commitment towards changing the culture around covering these leaks, and for EZA to refuse coverage towards those leakers. Maybe if EZA makes a big deal about refusing to cover leaks, other outlets will slowly follow suit, giving less reason for leakers to, well, leak! Just a thought, but I think this would be something that could be tried out to see it's potential impact and reception among the eza community. Anecdotally, EZA is my primary games-news outlet, and I would be much happier not knowing about these grimy leakers. L&R, Kiraz

Kiraz

Hey Jones, Disney Pin trading newbie here! Do you have any preferred locations for trading at Disneyland/California Adventure? Do you prefer trading for complete sets or just trading for pins you like the looks of? Unrelated, but is Blue Bayou worth it? Thanks, L&R, Dave!

David Lingenbrink

With the launch of Super Mario Maker 2 coming this week and excitement for its release coming from multiple Allies, could we possibly we see a regular play/create stream or even a semi-regular Don’s Design Lab/Challenge in the future? The Super Mario Maker videos from both GT and EZA were some of my favorite content from you guys and I would love to see SMM2 featured beyond just one group stream after launch.

redskyy

This was my first Cup of Jones as I recently became a patron, and I was so impressed with how you tackle all the feedback and quesitons. I'm not really sure what I expected, but i really appreciate the transparency in all your answers. Now a story and a question. Before my daughter was born I bought Gears of War 4 with the codes for the other 4 Gears games, but never got around to playing any of them. Then my daughter was born, and I suddenly found I needed to be up at crazy hours of the night to help her sleep, as she would often fell asleep on my chest at 2am. Of course, I couldn't move her to the bassinet, because she would inevitably wake up within 30 minutes and we'd start all over. So, I played Gears. It kept me awake, and my wife and daughter slept through the night(as much as any newborn does) with me taking naps during the day. I beat all 5 of them in those 2 weeks of paternity leave. My question then is: What would be your game to keep you awake all hours of the night, and do you have one already planned for your leave? Congratulations to you and Amanda! L&R

Why do you still write on cards for scoring and betting on Trailer Jones and the Podcast instead of using the whiteboards you got a few months ago and haven't really used at EasyAllies since?

Evan Charles Teague

Hey Jones, you taking a step back from EZA because of the EZbaby got me thinking: I know you take great pride in being THE voice of GT and EZA but have you ever considered building up a secondary voice over person. I remember there being at least one more voice for GT reviews. I get that there are many reasons why a second voice wouldn't be a good thing (mainly that you probably hate the idea) but I guess long term there ought to be scenarios that will keep you from doing VO work for a couple of weeks. So I figure it's probably better to have a second voice that does VO work on EZA videos every now and then sooner, for people to get used to, rather than throwing a completely new voice at people after you got abducted by aliens or something.

Deniz Schreiber

Hello Jones, As a Disneyland Resort enthusiast myself, I was always a big fan of the post-E3 Disneyland trip. Yet, E3 coverage has evolved to go beyond the final Thursday of E3, making the trip more difficult to make. Do you still plan to keep the tradition of the Disneyland Trip in a new form, possibly moving it to the weekend, or do you think you would keep the tradition of the Friday after E3, most likely joining up with everyone later in the day? L&R Austin

Austin Kruckmeyer

Videos getting demonetized is a pretty normal thing when creating content like ours that often relies on including music and video from games. Essentially, if our content is found to match something claimed by another company, any ad revenue that video earns goes to them. Music is the more frequent cause, as licensed songs are often used in video games and trailer, and many times, you wouldn't even know that the music wasn't original. There are also times when cut-scenes will be matched against something from Capcom or Bandai-Namco etc. It seems to come more often from Japanese companies that have a different approach on copyright. As far re-monetizing goes, there are a couple ways that can happen. If the music is non-essential, there's a tool on YouTube that can actually edit the audio after a video is posted, removing the song in question while leaving the rest of the audio intact (although sounding a little weird.) In cases when the copyright match is false or erroneous, such as a band claiming Tetris music because they did a remix or another channel that covers games getting claiming a match rather than the original copyright owner, there is a method to file a dispute and ask them to remove the claim. There are also times when companies change their copyright policies and release claims themselves. Nintendo used to claim a lot of videos with their content, but at some point decided to relax that approach, allowing dozens of our videos to become monetized again. Now, there's an entirely different matter that you've referenced as well in which YouTube will de-monetize videos for offensive content that advertisers would not want to be associated with. This was a pain when the algorithms detecting such content were first implemented, but as they evolved, it's rarely an issue for us now. When it came up more frequently, we often had to request videos be manually reviewed by actual humans, who typically cleared the flag and allowed us to move on. As you said though, some things like Mortal Kombat continue to have limited monetization even after being reviewed by a human moderator. All that said, for us having a video de-monetized is mostly just an annoyance thanks to the fact that we are directly funded by you here on Patreon. The ad revenue on YouTube is only a fraction of that amount and isn't really enough for us to rely upon. So if we put up a big review and it gets demonetized, it's not that big of a concern. The bigger issue is if a copyright policy causes a video to get blocked instead. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Brandon, I know you and the Allies have considered doing more prepared videos to litter throughout E3 but haven't had time. I would love it if EZA did a special E3 wrap up video on the last day. It just feels like something nice to close the week(s) out with. L&R Chris aka TravelingSnowman

TravelingSnowman

Hey Jones, Have you guys ever had one of your videos demonetized? If so, did you ever get it remonetized and was it a smooth process? I've noticed many of the YouTubers I watch, some gaming and some not, have had their fair share of troubles with demonetization, such as it happening just because the video was about MK11, so I was wondering if you guys have been having any of the same experiences. L&R

Logan Tawse

Hi Brandon, Crack number 5 I would like to hear you... let's say... re evaluate your take on Keanu Reeves. Sure, he's a huge get for cyberpunk: famous for cyberpunk movies, famous for being cool and chill, star of John wick 3, the movie that upended Dave Lang's raid 2 movie ranking scale, and probably the biggest action star out there right now. However! HOWEVER. is his inclusion truly a SURPRISE? Let's examine the facts. 1. CD Projekt red is the biggest deal in enormous games and large production values after their release of the Witcher 3, which arguably picked up and furthered a torch that Bethesda was championing with skyrim. They have the goodwill of millions of people who love open world single player RPGs. And as such, they've got infinite money. What does one do with infinite money? 2. Hire celebrity talent. Before e3, we already knew that lady Gaga is going to be in the game. So, the fact that a celebrity could be in this is a known quantity. If you're accepting that celebrity roles are welcome, that means that 3. You want celeb names that fit the role. Let's look at GTA San Andreas. Top of their game and release schedule Rockstar hires Samuel L Jackson for their game. Getting a prominent black actor to play in their game riffing off of many famous black movies matches quite well. So, who is the name of names for cyberpunk movies? None other than our man Keanu, johhny mnuemonic himself. It couldn't have been anyone else! So, let's dig into sega. Sega is a big company but, unlike the Rockstar and CD Projekt reds of the world, they get by on a lot of small releases. As such, profit margin is a lot bigger deal. So that brings us to the first point: 1. Translation is a high risk prospect. Unlike the most anticipated game to be heard about in quite a while, many non mainstream Japanese games get very little press or attachment. If you're translating a game, you're rolling the dice. Without a proven market, you may just be throwing money away. If it was a guaranteed thing, Nintendo would release mother 3, which is one of the highest demanded non translated games out there (with way less text than pso2) 2. MMOs are risky. Unless you're already established, it's a ton of work to launch a current mmo, much less a 7 year old one, and expect anyone to care more than a week. As part of this... 3. MMOs have a lot of text. Active MMOs are also always updating. When you're trying to balance effort vs return, localizing an endless game, keeping up with the ways characters speak, trying to do more than just a bare bones translation and actually give the characters good, localized voices is a lotttttt of work. Even with Microsoft funding here, doing this project at all is a big risk. No one is going to play it. So, with all of that said, i ask you, which is more surprising? A rich company that's on top of the world, discourse, popularity, can do no wrong for a large portion of the gaming populus, working on only one game, hiring a guy who is famous for cyberpunk roles to play a cyberpunk role in their game? Or A company that has made bad decisions before and is more adverse to risk, a company that is working on tens or twenties of games at a time, a company that will almost certainly get more money from it's other projects than this one, spending their time localizing a game that never ends? Spending time on something that if they suddenly turn around and STOP localizing, will get thrown under the bus? Taking on a project that there's no win state for, no end to the drama, hoping none of their text changes breaks the game in a way that the Japanese client isn't? Spending time on something that already has a fan translation that the most hardcore have already used? Even though Keanu is probably a better reveal, i cannot accept that it is more SURPRISING. Thanks for listening to my crack. Love and respect<3 fixbane

Mick Roper

Just getting this idea out there early, if you guys haven't considered it, game of the decade award.

Kif

With news that Hangouts on Air will be shutting down by the end of this year, what are your plans to handle the EZA Q&As in the future?

Professor Metal Gear

Hi Brandon, first let me say: thank you for the fantastic E3 coverage, loved every minute of it! <3 Now to a serious question (my first one, as my first one ever was eaten up by the patreon-comment-monster): I looked at you Patreon-numbers through the whole E3 and was hoping to see a massive bump in your earnings as it was the case almost every year, but that wasn't the case unfortunately. Even with a more professional presentation and overall a thoughtful appearance, I see your Patreon-Dollars taking a hit. Consuming a good portion of your content, I am still trying to figure out, why you struggle to get over 52k most of the time. The best thing I can give you is my feedback on that matter on what was annoying me the last few months some time or the other. In the last few months some of your discussions left a bitter taste in my mouth, which I didn't feel as much in over 3 years since inception of the easy allies. Just to give you three examples: 1. Borderlands 3: I know it's a favorite to make fun of this game an the game gives plenty of room for it, but the dismissiveness of how big the game could get at the reveal of the game in the podcast, made me feel like its somehow not just plain making fun, but real bitterness towards the game. 2. Google Stadia: I think I don't need to say as much, because sometimes you even looked a bit annoyed by the hate it got. I know there is plenty much to critisize, but I think the critique at sometimes felt more like an extreme aversion just because it's someone not normally in the gaming space (remember Netflix at the beginning or when Microsoft wanted to launch a console ;) ). And the latest 3. The Scarlett or Scorpio game in the Podcast. I know great to make fun of Microsoft for their hyperboles when it comes to their console, but the same could be said about the presentations of PS4 and PS4 Pro (which also feature very similar talk). Even not being the the biggest fan of either Borderlands 3, Stadia or Xbox (I love my PS4 Pro and Xbox One X just the same), I feel like how these topic were discussed, sometimes did not feel like they were dicussed in the Easy Allies mantra. Strange to say in 2019, that the Boss of Xbox (namely Phil Spencer) sometimes exudes more Love & Respect than the discussions of the Easy Allies. I'm so sorry, that you always have to be voice to talk about these kind of issues, even if I think you personally aren't really responsible for it. So my question: do you think the negativity increased in the last few months amongst the allies? I know, we all make fun of certain topics and others may get offended, but these aren't even my favorite topics and sometimes I felt the "hate" (for a lack of a better term). I'm just asking, because I feel like I get more bitter when I get older and I would not like to see happen to you guys also. I also think we don't need another gaming podcast, where the main goal is complaining about something, there are plenty of these around already. But maybe I am just feeling a strange vibe and need the jones voice to calm my fears down. Be that as it may, I will still love you and will support you guys at all times. So even if you get more bitter over time, we shall grow old 'n bitter together and sometimes in disagreement like an old couple. ;) L&R Obscho (sorry for the long comment and for bad language, english is only my third)

Obscho

Hey Jones, Catan just came out on Switch and since you like the board game I was wondering if you or Ian would be interested in doing a sort of how-to-play or 'checking out' on it as when I watched the trailer it looked very deep Cheers

Steven Beaumont

Hey Jones, I know it's very hard to schedule guests appearance on the show. I'm just curious if the guests such as kinda funny, what's good games, etc are interesting in doing Mysterious Monsters Game Show? It would be great for a cross over game show event.

Mark Chaivasin

Just an idea for next Trailer Jones - E3 Special. Instead of scoring, you could rank the trailers from worst to best. Maybe this would take too long though, I don't know.

FatherCashew

Hi Jones, There is a really fun twitter thread going around, where people are listing their personal GOTY's from 2004 to 2018. What would be your list? (my list is below but feel free to skip this part during CoJ). 2004: world of Warcraft 2005: RE4 2006: twilight princess 2007: bioshock ( best year in gaming on this list) 2008: MGS4 2009: dragon age: origins 2010: mass effect 2 2011: dark souls 2012: mass effect 3 (odd year in gaming) 2013: the last of us 2014: dragon age inquisition 2015: bloodbourne 2016: uncharted 4 2017: super Mario odyssey 2018: God of War

Lucid Ludwig

G’day Jones, Do you have any suggestions, rules or requests on what your audience do or don’t send EZA as gifts? Are there things that you do or don’t want more of? For example, what about collectibles like Disney Infinity or Amiibo figurines? Obviously you have collected quite a few of these yourself, so would it make sense to have more for the EZA games library or even for your own or other Allie’s collections, or are you already drowning in plastic toys and would rather people stopped sending you more? Love and Respect

Broderick Gordes

Hey Jones! Personal question... What will your child’s last name be? Just curious, hope you don’t mind me asking! L&R

Cliff Boyd

Hey Jones, As we're counting down to your paternity leave and what seems like a natural ending point to this madness, I'm checking to see what I've overlooked so far. So here are three big boys for you that somehow slipped through the cracks: - My Fair Lady - West Side Story - Fiddler on the Roof (ps - Please don't ever feel bad about not knowing these. Last week I wanted a tie-in to the Tonys and figured this year's nominees wouldn't be fair. It's just unfortunate that the first Tonys I ever recorded was notoriously one of the worst for musical theatre. But it did have a medley by Nathan Lane and Gregory Hines so not all was lost.) ETA: Oh my goodness, Jones! Please ignore this question and spend the extra minute or two staring at your baby! I'll catch you when you're back again. Congratulations to you and Amanda! And welcome to the world, Milo! Your life is going to be filled with so much love!

Asbo Zappruder

Hey Jones! Congrats on a great E3! You all crushed it with coverage this year and I loved all the guests as well. Personal question for you. I read this week that Disney is laying off employees despite being projected to make $9 billion in box office revenue for 2019 and paying CEO Bob Iger $65 million or more in bonuses. With a company as beloved to you as Disney is, what's your reaction when you hear these types of stories? Does it taint your love of them in any way? Was just curious to get your thoughts and if you had any strong opinions on this one way or the other. Love and respect, Jared Barzee.

Jared Barzee

Hey Jones, I don't know if you guys have finalized the list of games that you'll be playing during Easy Livin', but in the case that you haven't I would like to make a suggestion, if I may. I don't wish to try and tell you how to run your gaming marathon; you guys should play what you want to play, but I would feel sheepish if I didn't at least suggest this game as it couldn't be more perfect for the occasion. (If you're not taking any suggestions whatsoever for Easy Livin' you can stop reading this here, no hard feelings.) For the past two Easy Livins, Brad and Ian have played a From Software game in jolly co-op, and a few months ago, someone sent you guys a copy of The Adventures of Cookie and Cream for PS2. It is an old From Software game that was LITERALLY designed to be played in jolly co-op. Seriously, it is a co-op game where one character is controlled with the left stick, L1 and L2 while the other character is controlled with the right stick, R1 and R2! Plus, it's extremely jolly and suitably tropical-themed. I would really appreciate it if you would at the very least suggest this to Brad and Ian. I won't be upset if they don't, as I don't want them to play it on my behalf, only if they really want to. I'm looking forward to Easy Livin' no matter what you guys play! Love and Respect, Dan

Daniel Schwartz

Perhaps, but the Reactions are already pretty distinct from the impressions simply by having our faces on them. The other trick being that I currently just don't have enough time to make thumbnails until after the show is over. -Bloodworth

Easy Allies

Hello Brandon, E3 is a chaotic time for Easy Allies, its also a crazy time for the Easy Allies Youtube channel. I want to thank Blood for having to deal with uploading all these videos on the channel, but I have a suggestion that I think will make the videos a little easier to find as the E3 2019 moniker on the thumbnails on its own does not differentiate the videos enough to help people easily navigate the recently uploaded videos on the channel. Next year I suggest you categorize the videos by having an "E3 2020 Press Conference" title in the thumbnail for press conference reactions and discussions, an "E3 2020 Reactions" for the standalone game reactions and "E3 2020 Impressions" for impression videos. I think having these titles visible in the thumbnail each with different colored font next year will make the videos easier to sift through and cause less frustration.

Alejandro Orozcoborrego

Hello Brandon, Personal Question Back to does it hold up or not. Again if you have not see any of these movies it is completely fine. I decided on going with what I movies from the 60's that I think still hold up. Does The Great Escape,, The Good, Bad and the Ugly, and The Magnificent Seven hold up?

Mr.V

Mr. Jones, Opposite question of last week! Is there anything about American culture that you are proud of, happy to be a part of, or would gladly defend?

Morgan Mohalla

Hey Jones You were wondering last week about how you might warn the audience about spoilers in pre-conference discussion. How about having a preset color for the room and lights for spoiler discussion that you guys can use for all the podcasts and reactions? You have all the LED lights set up already, I think that would be a nice visual indicator especially for those who might mute the audio. Maybe a red theme that would stand out from the default colors.

Kola Aina

Hi Jones, I wanted to let you know I have the Scarlett interface and it works amazingly for the input of my mic sounds. So smooth. Just thought I'd let you know. L&R

JessieBlu

Your studio keeps changing over time. New equipment, new setups, new improvements, fanart and other goodies will change that space slowly but continuously over time. We once got a studio tour when it opened up, but I think with all the changes, it would be interesting for your audience to see how the studio develops. (Or at least for your Patreons.) My suggestion: Once a year, (every time the studio has it's birthday) you make a short update video that shows how the place currently looks. Give us a short tour, and maybe talk about the background of some of the changes, or ideas that you have for the future. Otherwise, the image that your Patreons will have of "the other rooms" will forever be based on that one video from day one. l&r Snowcone Guy

Snowcone Guy

Clip out the Galaxys Edge part for YouTube. Great story

VGJunky

I doubt coolness is the pivotal factor. I suspect that Keighley Money is going to outclass EZA Money for the forseeable future.

TurboChickenMan

Jones, I will be listening to this episode in podcast from, so I would like to feel as immersed in Cup of Jones as I can. What color is your shirt?

GmanSir

Hey Mr. Jones! If it hasn’t been posted before you answer this, will there be another Patreon post asking about feedback on how the E3 coverage was implemented? I loved how the studio was put through the E3 paces, so I’m excited to see how it could further grow, and wanted to give a couple of notes about things I noticed, or felt would help. Thanks again for taking my question and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers!

Brandon K Gann

Howdy

Varun Kachhwaha

This is a bit too late, but it would be useful to utilize chat commands when it comes to meta-conversations happening mid-stream. Maybe even some text on screen. (Good example is Treehouse live showing animal crossing gameplay during the Nintendo post-show). It's been frustrating at times when new people constantly bring up the same statement over and over, and there's no reaction or acknowledgement on stream.

laughter47

Business Question: Now that you have a studio, which provides a large comfortable space for streaming. It seems a little redundant to rent a vacation location to produce content. Is the specific location provided really worth the cost?

laughter47

Hey Jones, Congratulations you two! I just had to get that out since I could not thinking of (fake) a question for next week's CoJ. BUSINESS: With the two new TVs in the Studio, any plans in the future to use them to showcase other things (for example game play footage) or are they just there to help with branding/EZA awareness?

SoulCaster

How much cooler Easy Allies needs to become to convince Kyle to spend E3 with you instead of Geoff Keighley?

Alexander Zyryanov