Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Content

This week for community questions on the podcast, we'll have Ben Hanson, Michael Huber, Kelsey Lewin, and Haley MacLean. It's your turn to make the show better by leaving a question, news story, BetterQuest goal, or anything else for us to read on the show as a comment below! We’ll choose our favorite and iam8bit will ship out the great prize below for the winner! We'll stop pulling questions around 8am Central on Wednesday.

On this week’s episode we’ll be talking about...

Hellblade 2

1000xResist

Crow Country

Everybody at the Backstage Pass tier can watch us record the show live on Wednesday at 3pm Central, with an exclusive pre and post show. The unedited archive will be available to view after the fact. You could do us a favor by subscribing to the audio version of the podcast on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, telling a friend, leaving a review, and subscribing to our YouTube channel!

https://apple.co/3lRbzbE

https://www.youtube.com/minnmax

You can also find this Chicory Piano Collection for sale in iam8bit’s online store, and you can use the promo code GOTITFORMYMOMMA for 10% off everything under $100. Psst… please don’t post that promo code anywhere else on the internet. It’s a MinnMax-exclusive thing. https://www.iam8bit.com/collections/all

Files

Comments

Stevelution

You can have a Mario Kart tournament with any three historical figures. Who are you picking and why?

whitemex

Hey there crew, Ben congrats on being a homeowner! I'm sure packing and moving your belongings will help with this question. What is the oldest item you own? But not something you bought that is just old, I'm talking about an item you've had with you for the longest and what's the story behind it?

John Scovic

What is a small quality of life mechanic that makes you instantly like a game more than games that don't have it? Mine is when a game with a dash lets you jump once, then dash in the air, THEN double jump, that's easily +2/10 on a review from me. Thanks!

Sam Kennedy

If humans could do photosynthesis, what would restaurants be like?

RickyWinterborn

Anyone at minnmax into coffee? Espresso, pour-over, matcha, the HIPSTER stuff. If so, whats your rig like.

Cody Ficker

Love the 1000xRESIST attention. I don’t know the correct way to pronounce it. I’m saying “one thousand resist” and I think that’s right but idk.

Christian Hall

If you had to lose one sense, which would it be and why?

Tommy Carver-Chaplin

Hi cohorts. Do you hold videogame grudges, and which game characters do you refuse to forgive or get over?

Kraven Morcome

Hey MinnCrew, Another week and another announcement of acquisitions in the industry, except this time its on the media side. How long until we hear about layoffs as a result of the ign purchase and what do you think about mainstream media being consolidated to a single entity?

David Dubs

Hey Gang, what are some of your most interesting moving stories? I moved from Chicago to Charlotte a few years ago. Driving through the mountains, in the rain, in a 20ft uhaul is an experience I hope to never re-live

Sam Boyle

How long is too long for a beard?

kajmo

Hi gang! I've recently started my first ever game of D&D (only done one session) and was wondering if you have any thoughts on how to make it as fun as possible? Loved the One Shot!

James from Michigan

Ahoy cohorts, you ever hear of Yung Gravy? He's a funny rapper from Minnesota, anyways would you ever be interested in doing interviews or other content with local artists or musicians? Also what's up with Crossfade? Bye!

Conner McCabe

Hi Ben, Kelsey, Michael, and Haley! Ben’s local Minnesota Timberwolves just knocked off the defending champs and are in the conference finals for the second time. They’re having possibly their best season ever. Ben, are you or your Minnesotan friends invested at all? It made me wonder, what’s the most each of you have ever been invested in a sports moment?

jacob cummings

Howdy doody minnmax! When I was a young teen it was my dream to see an Assassin's Creed game set in Japan. Now that it's finally here, I'm an adult and don't care whatsoever about the series anymore and likely won't bother with it. Have any of you experienced finally seeing a dream game/movie/etc. come to be long after you stopped caring? What was it? Did you check it out just to see if the younger you would have been satisfied?

Anna Ratliff

What is the most controversial food? I’m convinced it is cottage cheese.

Justin

No question - Haley is right, brown noise is the best. I use it to sleep everynight. It's the sweet spot between white noise and loud window unit AC.

Robert Sullivan

After listening to bonus pod and hearing you talk about tomb stones what would everyone go for if you could have any funny quote. All of my friends know I want “there goes flawless” on mine

Cath

Hey everybody. Since the price is about chicory then video game I thought I’d ask a question related to it: What is your inner monologue is telling you and how do you battle it? I,myself, always feels I’m bothering people and I fight it by asking if I do and reminding myself that my friend are frank enough thst if I annoy them I would! What is one of inner bad tought you often have and how do you fight it?

Jump On Everything

What are some real words you only know because of video games.

Boondock-Bandit

Hey all. How does everyone feel about when NPCs complain about whenever you go off the main track to get collectibles? Playing through Guardians of the Galaxy at the moment (flarking awesome!), and hearing the gang complain whenever I go on side routes is entertaining, but I’ve stopped playing games before for the exact same reason. Almost like the devs don’t want me to get the shiny things they took the time to add in. What say y’all!?

Lamb Dance

Who do you think was the first Video game character people had a crush on? I thought about this because of that old ad for Pitfall! Jack Blacked appeared in as a kid. A girl in it says "Since I met Pitfall Harry, no other man will do." So maybe Pitfall Harry thirst was real...

SenttheProphet

Do you think there is any worth in preserving the current generation of consoles? For example - I have the Zelda Switch. Would keeping it in a box for 30+ years when Switch 2 comes out be valuable or wasteful to you?

Tye McWhorter

Hello MinnMax: This week the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals! Luka Doncic, the star player of the Mavericks, recently posted a screenshot of him being in the top 500 of tanks in OverWatch 2. This has me wondering: keeping current job obligations, what hobby would/could each panelist be top 500 in? Would it require sacrificing other hobbies or social life?

Thom Blackburn

If the Oscars has "best editing", why doesn't the game awards have "least bloated"?

Veggie

The release of Crow Country has got me thinking about just how many unique ways there are to go in picking an art style for your game. It's interesting how successful it can be for an indie game to pick a bold aesthetic direction when it lands well with people, as opposed to the common AAA strategy of going for hyper realism and high fidelity graphics. While the AAA strategy might seem low risk in that you can please as many people as possible, I worry that it makes those games look more homogenous and generic as a whole in the long run, compared to indie games as a whole. In your personal opinions, do you have any favorite qualities in an art style that you love? Any traits that you particularly hate about the way a game looks to the point that it turns you off from playing it?

Jaser Helu

Cohorts, The FTC recently placed a national ban on Non Competes. I come from the world of commercial insurance, which is chock full of Non Competes and Non Solicitation agreements. So I have often wondered and wanted to ask if & how these types of agreements impact your jobs within games news media? Especially due to the overlap and sharing of talent between MinnMax, Easy Allies, Game Informer, Kinda Funny, etc. I've wanted to ask this question for WEEKS, but the timing now seems better than ever.

Sparky

Is there a type of game that when you see it, your eyes just glaze over and you lose interest in what you're looking at? Maybe a genre of game or a game that has a certain visual style?

Jonathan Valdez

What is your favorite long animation attack/spell/summon in a turn based game? I’m almost to the end of infinite wealth now and there are many that could be an all time favorite like summoning Nancy or a certain characters firey dish attack but it’s very hard to beat the epicness of knights of the round for me

Floof Queen Emily

Bob pushes John into a black hole, but because of the time dilation John won't die for another couple hundred million years. Can Bob be tried for murder?

Victor Pham

What movies are you looking forward to this year?

Adrian Creates

My son is graduating from high school this week. He’s had so much stress and a huge variety of emotions. Why is it that graduating from high school feels so monumental but then when you look back you’re like “meh, it wasn’t that bad”? Is it a cultural thing we’ve done to ourselves?

resnet

Hey MinnMax, So I finally checked out Cyberpunk 2077 the other day. I was walking around the neighborhood when I ran across two cops barging on someone's door. Standing behind those cops my intrusive thoughts got the better of me and I just started whaling on them with my baton. Of course I regretted this immediately since the entire NCPD started coming after me and I haven't saved the game for a while. Do you have an in-real-life moment when you wished you just quick saved and could do a quick load right away?

Benjamin

What room in a house is the most important to you?

SlyCut

Hello all, What are your sleeping conditions? Pitch black? Night light? Complete silence? Fan on? Fully clothed?

Joey Crundwell

Hello MinnMax! First, Ben’s Instagram Stories always autocorrects MinnMax to “MidMax,” which is both inaccurate and also very funny. Second, it took the film industry decades to value preservation and prestige enough to start The Criterion Collection. Do we think the video game industry will ever reach that point? What would a video game Criterion Collection look like?

BechamelTest

You've stepped into an alternate reality where US currency has been replaced by the 1999 commemorative gold-plated Pokemon cards from Burger King. Which Pokemon represent which denominations (e.g. a Polywhirl is $20)? The Pokemon on the gold-plated cards are: Pikachu Jigglypuff Charizard Polywhirl Mewtwo Togepi

thejjuan1

Hello Minnmax crew. What is your One Piece of gaming? You know the game or games that is taking years for you to finish? Mine is FF14, now just finished shadowbringers, I’m closer to finished my journey.

Forbin

Ben would be happy to know that I’m deep into Forza Horizon 4. I really like the rewind feature not just in races but in the open world too. Makes me wish we had that in other games. Hate to admit how many times I’d venture up to the sky islands in TOTK only to zone out and walk off the edge of the cliff. Frustrating in a game with a literal rewind feature that I couldn’t just rewind myself back up to where I was. So my question is what other games could benefit from a rewind feature?

Mike Lynch

When you were a kid, did you ever write a game company with a pitch for a game idea? Did you ever get a response? (Back in the 80's I sent Nintendo an illustrated outline for a Peanuts game, which they respectfully declined with a typewritten letter 😄)

Rabat or Rabbit

Do you all have one type of sock that you always buy, or some sort of variety?

Forrest

Hello! Do you ever get video game burnout, and if so, how do you address it?

RabidLime

Ahoyhoy, with the release of Animal Well, people are comparing it to Fez and The Witness, talking about secrets within secrets etc., I want to give a shout-out to Full Metal Furies. it's the sophomore effort for Cellar Door Games who did Rogue Legacy and Rogue Legacy 2. commercially, Full Metal Furies was a failure. huge bomb. there's a great article on Destructoid (link below) about what went wrong. long story short, they hid the secrets *too* well. however, it's a really superb title. art style, writing, gameplay, it's all pitch perfect. the one downfall (for me) is it's 4 player (you can play solo) and is very story-heavy. so if you have any dialogue or cutscene skippers, they'll be bored. regardless, it's an absolute blast and i'd love to see them get the credit they deserve. question: my dog Rosie smells like Fritos if we haven't given her a bath in a while. is that weird? *https://www.destructoid.com/why-is-rogue-legacys-follow-up-considered-a-pretty-massive-failure/

Andrew J

Salutations cohorts! I was driving into work the other day, sunglasses on, windows down and as I turned the corner into the car park, What A Man by Salt-N-Pepa came on the radio and I have never felt cooler. It felt like a scene ripped straight from an ad or movie and I was the new hunky guy ready to shake things up in the office! Of course nothing could be further from the truth but I don't think I have ever felt cooler in my life! When was the last time something happened to you guys that made you think 'God I'm cool'? Cheers!

Loud EEL

Hello MinnMax Crew, Where do you think art and content intersect? Is art content and when can content be art? Is the new project of your favorite artist or musician content? Is your favorite streamer and YouTuber making art?

Poofydoo

Do you eat your burgers upside down? One day I noticed my wife when she takes a bite from her burger she does the following: 1. She grabs the burger 2. Flips it upside down 3. Takes a bite with the top bun facing down. Do any of you guys eat your burgers/sandwiches like this? Have I been doing this all wrong?

Michael Rohrssen

What are your thoughts on ARGs in games? I've been a big fan of ARG stuff since the episode in Person of Interest inspired by the real life Cicada 3301 puzzles. This kind of puzzle was also very popular in Inscryption and other games by Daniel Mullins. However, with the release of Animal Well many people are upset that the information to 100% a game isn't contained inside the game

Duderado

If you were walking down the street and your life turned into a video game, what's one food you would actually eat off the floor if it dropped from a defeated enemy, trash can, or random brick in the wall?

Vilis

Howdy y'all, Ben moving into his new place had me thinking: what outdoor aspect of your house are you most proud of? Whether a gardening feat, a particular tree you're fond of, or maybe you spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours installing an impressive water fearure.

Bloody Waffle

What is the first game you beat? Why that one? How old were you and what part of the game was the hardest to overcome?

CptCobblePot

What’s the deal with pasta? You have penne, farfalle, gemelli, linguine, shells etc. Do we need that much variety in our pasta lives?

Michael Berry

People's bucket lists typically have grandiose things like travel the world, find love, yadda yadda yadda. But what is the dumbest thing on your bucket lists? For my dumbest thing, the idea originated in high school, when a bunch of friends and I discussed getting into 4 different cars at a non busy 4 way intersection, each of us at each road of the intersection, and then we could line the timing up and collectively turn right at the same time like synchronized swimmers. I have not done this yet but I think about it at least twice a month.

Catpurrnicus

If you had a chance to be an extra on a TV show, what show would it be and what would you be doing? Some examples: dead body on a crime show, background character on a Sci Fi show, eating dinner in a restaurant.

Nicholas Cross

I asked this in discord, but I'd be curious to hear Kelseys advice on selling retro video game collections whether it's directly or to a retro video game store. What can I do to make it go more smoothly?

Travis in Fargo

My kids have a knack for finding the most annoying, intolerable YouTube content geared toward kids. Can you recommend any children’s YouTube creators that are actually good, and enjoyable for adults, too?

Zane Dukes

What are thoughts on the new MAX show where jack mcbrayer basically plagiarizes House Hunter Rise?

Tanner Hoisington

Let me start my saying who am I to question the minds at Nintendo, so on and so forth. But are they out of their minds for going the entire lifespan of the Switch and a pandemic and not releasing a Nintendogs game? Do they not realize the money they are leaving on the table? My wife asks me every few months if it's coming, and she doesn't play much else.

Josh LaBaw

Do you think Nintendo is going to release a Super Mario Bros. Game, based on the the next Super Mario movie?

Isaac Cooper

Are the voices in Hellblade 2 scary?

Travis in Fargo

Finish the chant: “first is the worst, second is the best, third…” (I just recently discovered that there are regional variations for the end).

Vindicated

If you could merge any two game IPs to make a whole new game experience, which two IPs would it be, and what would you want it to be like?

BEEFCAKE

What question would you write into this podcast?

Derek Achoy

Link does not have nipples in Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom. If we are to infer that all Hylians do not have nipples, does that indicate they do not breastfeed? If this is the case, how do you hypothesize they feed their newborn young? Thank you.

Matthew W

Hi MinnMax! How do you think your life would change if you viewed yourself from a top down perspective instead of a first-person perspective?

Ari

Hi Minnmax, What kind of summer jobs did you all have growing up?

Limp Bizquick

Hey gang 👋 If each member of the cohort was individually tested on how well they know the other members (without studying or any other kind of prep) who would score the best?

Zach Killian

Hey Minnmax, People talk about the best games they own, but what is the worst game you own or owned? Keep up the great work!

Daniel Doran

What the heck is bringing all these studios to Warsaw? Activision’s got a new studio over there, Larian just opened up another studio over there. What’s up with that??

Aging_Poorly

Man, Crow Country sure is ugly. But maybe that’s OK? What’s your favorite “ugly” game?

Crayter

I assume this is mostly a question for Haley and Kelsey, but what's the wildest legal, electrical or physical means of preventing piracy or counterfeit software or hardware that you know of? Any interesting stories come to mind? I'm thinking things like how Activision circumvented atari's cartridge patent by removing the little flap on the carts, to sega flashing their trademark on the screen to be able to sue counterfeit hardware makers. Or, my favorite, tengen lying to the patent office to get nintendos lockout chip schematics.

Victor Hensley

Hiya MinnMax! Were there any hometown businesses/restaurants/spaces that closed down from your childhood that changed the trajectory of your life? When I was a kid, my town suffered two monumental losses. In about a 6-month span, the local reptile store and the only trading card store in the area — two separate stores btw — shut down and lemme tell ya, you woulda thought my 8-year-old self’s world exploded! I’m sure I’ve never fully recovered.

SuperCerberus

Here’s a philosophy experiment for the cohorts. Is the following statement true or false: “This statement is false”?

Philip Bessenecker

missed joke opportunity: when ben asked a cohort how this whole thing operates they could have said "from our generous supporters over at raytheon". the joke being that the cohort has been mishearing patreon this whole time and believed that minnmax was funded by a weapons manufacturer, making them complicit in countless deaths and war crimes across the globe. missed joke opportunity after dark: last week, when jake solomon referred to van helsing as humpable, you could have said "more peter cushing for the peter pushing if you know what i mean" if you know what i mean. some important context here is that late british character actor peter cushing portrayed dr. van helsing in five separate films. you can skip this one don't worry about it.

Fred Dinovo

What game developer do you all think you have the highest percentage of games played? What about beaten? Personally I'm at 100% for Supergiant Games Nintendo I have to be at like 10%

SwiggsitySwooty

Hi everybody, why do you think some game developers overcomplicate the name of their games? Every time I see Metaphor Re Fantazio I think it should be just called Metaphor.

TheName'sPug

Hey everyone, I hope this isn't too bleak, but I often find myself so overwhelmed with the social, political, and economic issues going on that I'm unable to enjoy a video game. It feels so trivial to spend a few hours engaging with this piece of entertainment while so many larger things seem so catastrophic. Any of you feel this? Any suggestions to get over this hurdle? Thanks!

notweirder

Hey all! What’s the most expensive item you’ve acquired in a video game? I’m talking strictly the value of the item in the game world, so not counting items bought with real world money

Riley

Hi everyone. You all take massive risks. Ben with Minnmax, Huber with the Allies, Kelsey with the stores, and Haley with a niche area of law. Where do you draw your courage from and what more practical advice would you give people to inspire risk taking?

Talyn

Hey Ben and the cohorts. With the news of IGN buying Eurogamer, Rock Paper Shotgun, VG247, and more, what happens to review scores? Obvious crushing fear of incoming layoffs aside, (I really hope not but history repeats) with more reviewers under one roof does this affect game scores on places like the game awards and metacritic? Does IGN get one vote for all of them? What does the minnmax crew feel about this acquisition?

Andy Dwyer

Hey Minnmaxers, When going on vacation how planned to you want it to be? Also are you planner or someone?

Brody Weller

Hey y’all! With Haley talking about her “Like Mike” moment with her clutch 3 pointers in the show last week, it got me thinking: what’s your “Like Mike” (just absurdly better than you should be) moment? It could be about sports or anything else you’d like! Brag away!

Christian F.

If or when AI is so advanced that NPCs in a game are, arguably, conscious, would you play choice-driven games differently? Would even designing a game like Fallout or Baldurs Gate be even ethical? Love your content!

Oliver Watts

Hey everyone, What are your thoughts about Wayfinder and the uncanceling of the game and the shift from MMO-Lite to single player game. It seems to be a unique situation in the games industry and is this something that you think we will see happening in the future?

Dylan

With the success of the Fallout tv show, do you have any other series you would like to see tv adaptations of? Do you think given the success of Fallout and The Last of Us, we could see more game adaptations moving forward?

Joshua Ayers

What personal life/origin story stuff has most effected your ability to engage with/enjoy media? My family was always butting heads growing up, so any media with a dysfunctional family (Incredibles, Coco etc) is physically unwatchable for me!

betoq92 .

Hey Minnies and Maxies when you go out to dinner with a group of friends how to yall handle the check? Is it still an awkward game or have you and your friends gotten better?

MrButtons

Hey MinnMax crew, I’ve been going through Animal Well’s endgame these past few days and love the secrets hidden throughout the world. What is your favorite secret area or item that you’ve found in a game? Did you find it on your own or was it something you were told about through friends or the internet?

Christian Jimenez

Hello, Having recently finished Indika and loved it. What other tabooish subject matter should they make more of in the same vein (black comedy). I'm thinking politics? Veep meets House of Cards, lie your way to the top, and see how far your willing to go to get it all. Thanks.

LlorchDurden

Having both Kelsey and Haley on the show, comments on https://github.com/Zelda64Recomp/Zelda64Recomp please? (Majora's Recomp. ELI5 Traslating the N64 code into DirectX/Vulkan. This is an emulation like done tradicionally) It does seem legal to make/distribute (still requires a ROM to be provided on the other end and that one could come from anywhere) + it's THE BEST for preserving the game since it runs on everything. Imagine Nintendo actually releasing these for the Switch 2 instead of the same ROMs we've had since the Wii

Shimmy Neutron

Oi MinnStars. Alot of poo slingin and dooms dayin about the sustainability of game studios. Rather than that can we try solution brainstorming? I'll start. Operation Big and small. Games take 4-6 years to make on avg. Would it be feasible to take 15 in house people at say a Santa Monica, off their current project, connect them with 20 or so newbies and let them do something creative and small over a 12-18 month time frame? Big studio members get a chance to flex a creative muscle, world class talent on an indie sized game, generates revenue for the big team. After pre production and before the polish phase of the big game you could get 2 or 3 of these games out the door while slowing down the big team by hopefully no more than 6 months. Small team rotates back in after launch, a different set go out, people get there 4 hour games, the high end games are more sustainable. Thoughts, tweaks, or completely different idea?

Travis in Fargo

What book of the Bible would make for the best video game adaptation? Top 3 contenders in my mind are: Exodus, Jonah, and Revelation.

Graham Walker

Hey all. After last week's chat about people being sad they couldn't romance blade in marvels midnight suns, what game would you wish had romancing in that currently doesn't?

Jason Wojnar

I am six feet tall and might go on a date with with a woman who is also six feet tall. At what point should I mention that the fact that they are six feet tall is really attractive? Do I open up with it or wait a while?

Kelsey Sims

Early on in this season of Survivor, there was a segment where 2 players were listing off Metallica and Taylor Swift songs to each other to see who could name the most. It was surprising how long they went, and it got my partner and I wondering what we could name the most of. Ultimately he decided on movies and I think I could name more Pokemon than anything else. And so I now ask the same question to the panel: what do you think you could name the most of? Games? Cities? Fruits? Also side question for Hanson: with less than 24hrs until the finale, who's your winner pick??

CrabPalace

Which video game character would make the best cohort?

Franciscus

Hello, MinnMax, I was born and raised in Czech Republic. There are 4 countries in Central Europe that belong in a so-called V4 political alliance - Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. Can you name a game and/or game developer from each of these countries?

HaulingGas

Hey warboys and gals, To spread the good word of George Miller's Furiosa releasing in theaters this weekend, is anyone here a Mad Max fan?

KC Caleb

Hey MinnMaxers, With Ben’s recent move it got me thinking, what is the best moving food? If you have any friends help you move you must always (as a minimum) treat them to lunch for helping. What is your go to food to pay buddies for moving?

FelixA

Hey everyone! With SGF coming up I was thinking if Geoff might swich it up a bit or do you think it will be relatively the same. I would imagine the venue is the same but maybe more event based? Actually nevermind, the whole show is just Silk Song. Right?

Tess

Now that you've had a decade to sit on it, what are the best games of 2014?

Jordan Brown

Hey Ben and the Cohorts, Not a question, but I just wanted to recommend a game to MinnMax to possibly check out for future conversations (or maybe GOTY consideration). About two weeks ago a game came out called Path of Archa (https://store.steampowered.com/app/2128270/Path_of_Achra/) that is a "roguelike, broken build sandbox game" made by a single developer. It is some of the most fun I've had this year playing around with builds and having a blast trying to win runs. It seems like it would be right up Jacob Geller or Leo's alley and wanted to try and get it on their radars. Cheers! Jordan from Morgantown

Devin B

What's your go-to pair of shoes when you need to buy a new pair? Do you go with a tried and true brand, or do you like to switch things up?

Mike R.

Hi Ben and crew, you mentioned in your latest stream with JeffM that you have Tinnitus, how did you first learn about it and how do you manage it. I have Tinnitus too and I do my best to seek peace and quiet a setting throughout the day. And there is a way to experience complete silence temporarily, I do this to remind myself that one day my Tinnitus will be cured. Here is the clip: https://youtube.com/shorts/YyT9ZwWy5Jc?si=w4SYdDCwPOBy6qSF

Max B-Z

Any thoughts on Game Maker’s Toolkit’s 2 hour video? Like his list? Any you’d add?