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Cup of Jones - January 10, 2019 (Patreon)

Published:
2019-01-10 17:55:16
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

There are a lot of big dates coming up for me and Easy Allies, so I want to go through them all at the top of this episode. We did some tests on our streaming stage this week, and a bunch of new equipment came in the mail. Not much else to report on the studio before the big move next week. I'm trying to get as caught up as I can on potential GOTY nominees before we battle it out tomorrow in our awards deliberation. Then, WE MOVE!

Thank you for your continued support during this wild transition.

- Brandon

Files

Previews only

Cup of Jones - January 10, 2019

Your weekly Cup of Jones!

Comments

Professor Metal Gear

With you turning 40 years old soon, where would you like to see yourself in 40 years?

Andreas Köther

The audience question „lottery“ jar worked great on the group stream the other night and I‘m strongly in favor of using the same method for the Q&A questions. The reality for Patrons is that you pretty much have to post within the first 15-30 minutes after the collection post goes live to have a shot of geting onto the show. As a result it‘s often the same people who are able to hover over the keyboard waiting for the posting - good for them, no disrespect, I do it myself sometimes. However, many people usually don‘t stand a chance, but especially since it‘s a perk of the higher Patreon tiers they deserve one and with the lottery approach it would be guaranteed. So would you consider trying a printout jar lottery since it seems to be the most fair solution?

Skankman

Hey Jones, you mentioned potentially stepping away from some of your content creation responsibilities in the future to take on more of a management role and it got me thinking about reviews. Have you thought about having some reviews VO'd by the person who has written them? Not all of them, the patented Jones professional voice over is certainly fantastic and still worth it's weight in gold, but after Ben's great VO on Don't Skip and imagining Huber emphasising some words reading his review of Resident Evil 2 or Shenmue 3 would be a fun experiment. Something to think about anyway!

VGJunky
>>18791346

It would be cool to see the "official" review be classic Jones and the "Syndrome version" for specifically Huber-games like RE2 and Shenmue

VGJunky

You might want to sneak in some gameplay during the HoG stream as a farewell to the garage

Megan Linart

Hey jones, so my favorite Rockstar game still to this day is Bully, I know how much you love rockstar and their games but I don’t hear you talk about it. So if they are making a sequel to Bully what would you like to see? Could a sequel to this game exist in the climate we live in today?

Snowcone Guy

Hello Jones! I would like to make a case why Easy Allies should visit Gamescom in 2019. With Sony and Microsoft being rumored to announce their next generation consoles this year, I think there is a good chance to get some hands-on time with the games of the future at this year's Gamescom. Also: You have a lot of friends in Europe. It is extremely complicated and expensive for us, to ever meet you at the concerts or meetups. A meetup surrounding Gamescom would finally give us a chance to shake those hands and get those autographs. That is all I can say.

FatherCashew

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question about the strengths of EZA, Jones. I wanted to continue that line of thinking with the next logical question in a SWOT analysis: What are EZA's greatest weaknesses? I know the current focus is on the studio and all of the great things up ahead—the future is obviously bright, but now that Easy Allies has been in business for almost 3 years, I'm sure a few larger things have come up that are potentially hurting the business. So, barring minor nitpicks from the community, have you identified specifically what areas need the most work to take EZA to the next level? If so, what are you/the group doing to improve?

Daniel Garza Andrade

Hi Jones! how is your work today and in the future with EZA compared with GT, do you get more tired than before? more life quality? Cheers!

Jaylyn brooks

Whats your fav clothing item in games?

Josh Read

Hey Jones. why make the first stream in the studio a Tuesday group stream? I completely understand and desire everyone being there, but this moment feels bigger than a normal 2-to-3-hour stream. This is the thing EZA has been building to for the last almost-three years. I feel like it needs to have a big, celebratory, all-day (or at least many-hours) stream. And doing this would release you from the shackles of having to wait a full week (if all goes well) after the sets are finished. L&R, Josh Read.

Steven Beaumont

On the Eve of the first Public uploaded Episode of the Easy Allies Podcast, is there any way you can reupload the first episode of the Easy Allies podcast to see how far you guys have come. Alternately wouldn't it be cool to have an Easy Allies podcast #1 watch party on Twitch before the Studio episode drops!?

Shubham Goyal

Something isn't right. Video starts at around 20 minute timestamp, and doesn't allow me to view from the beginning

Ren Solo

Shubham Goyal is right about the video. I'm receiving the same error.

VGJunky
>>18793335

I get the feeling that it would be even more tough for them to do Europe heh

SoulCaster

Might want to re-upload this? still having it only show 2hrs.

Brandon K Gann

Hey Mr. Jones! Sincerest apologies ahead of time for the following’s length, and you know I try to keep it short, but I really feel a thorough explanation from one Patron’s point of view is necessary: Last week, Mr. Bosman created a Patreon post asking for each Patron’s GOTY, and as I expected before finishing reading the title of the post, I expected the comments to be wild in terms of their number and sure enough, I saw the number 157. I had to let out a chuckle because as stipulated in the rules, people could not post a repeat of a nomination or their comment would be deleted. By the time I already had clicked “load more comments” and waiting about 3-5 seconds each time until I reached the top of the list, more comments were added by then, some claimed some nominations were missing, others introducing new games, and of course duplicate nominations were present. I DO want to shout out all those in the comments looking to post dummy comments to keep the originals from deleting, pointing out the duplicates, AND doing what they could to keep it under control. With all of that out of the way, I wanted to ask: In your estimation, do you believe EZA should create a google doc or some other method via a link for these kinds of posts moving forward to help the poster (or EZA in general) prevent so much work on the poster’s side of things? Being a Patron of other Patreons, I can vouch every time one of them solicits from their Patrons, they provide a comprehensive google doc for what they’re looking for. Between asking Patrons for their GOTY, their predictions, or even soliciting feedback about E3 as a specific example, I feel these kinds of posts draw the most comments in the shortest amount of time every time, and maintaining order in the comment banks (especially with Patreon’s being one of the most unreliable) is an unmitigated (and preventable) disaster. P.S. For the caption of the screen grab of all the Allies in the final group stream garage... Should it be, "Sic Parvis Magna" ? ( ;-] )

Spencer from Canada

I have a Star Wars hypothetical. Solo has been labeled a heist movie, which I agree with to an extent. It nails several things through out the film while the majority of it felt wrong. I believe the main culprits are these 3 things; 1. Pacing 2. Pacing 3. Pacing Pacing is what generally kills movies for me. I can deal with bad writing, cinematography, direction, etc but pacing ruins everything. I believe wholeheartedly that if Solo had been placed like Oceans 11 (Clooney version), or The Italian Job (whalberg version) it would have actually been at minimum considered "good". Between the two heists happening, the final showdown, the unfortunately awkward Lando introduction, and so much more there are much better examples of pacing from the two aforementioned films. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Criticisms?

Preston

Hi Brandon, I was watching an old GT review and it made me curious about something. The old reviews were broken down into subcategories (Presentation, Gameplay, etc.) which were discussed individually, then given a component score in addition to the overall score. I was wondering if this approach (possibly without the actual component scoring part) was something that you would ever consider bringing back at EZA. I like the reviews just fine as they are, but I also think that having the equivalent of subheadings would make for a nice and consistent flow, and ensure that each one covers the same basic information. A few other reviewers do this, and I like how there's a sort of grading rubric that I can follow. Apologies if this has been discussed before! Love and respect, Preston

EasyAllies

Sorry, the episode still seems to be stuck in processing for some reason. I've e-mailed YouTube about it. Hopefully they'll be able to fix or it will fix itself soon. -Bloodworth

Corey Swafford

Hello Brandon! I was just watching a “Best of Mandatory Update” video on YouTube after not having gone back to watch the old GT stuff in a long time, and I noticed a huge difference in the type of language some of the Allies used back then when compared to now. Is there a conscious effort to keep EZA a little more PG than Gametrailers was?

Jeffrey Tessar

Imagine if Jones focused his career on acting and stage performance..... You always get these lil glimpses of his talent and I just wonder where he would have gone. Things worked out better for him and us this way I think, cause he was gametrailers and is EasyAllies. Neither would have existed without him. Thanks for taking this path my dude.

Ray Aldiar

Hi Jones - You mentioned Kinda Funny’s restructuring fundraiser on this week’s episode, and I was wondering how closely you were following their changes and updates, and if you were taking some inspiration or motivation from it? Some of the choices they’ve made were very smart (for example, splitting the Morning Show into more specific series and consolidating their Patreon tiers), and I was curious if you were keeping an eye on their methods with the thought of doing something similar in the future. I also know you’ve been wanting to raise money for travel, and their fundraiser was well balanced between IRL meetups and shows that their whole audience could enjoy. Good luck in the studio, and I’m excited to see what’s next for you guys.

Jovan Sreckovic

Hey Jones, two things on my mind for the upcoming Cup of Jones. 1. You know what would be great? A send off for the garage. It’s been home to EZA and many of us watching over the past three years. As pumped as I am for the new space I can’t help but feel sentimental that the days of the garage are numbered. Will we get a final send off for the old garage? 2. The one constant over the GT and EZA timeline is… the lightning stand. What will become of her during this new phase of the EZA timeline? How will she fit into this new, more professional environment?

Lucid Ludwig

With KH3 coming out in a few weeks, I went and revisted the old KH timeline on GT's youtube channel. I found it amusing that people saying "it may be time to update this...", but it got me thinking. Would promoting the existence of EZA on this video (and other's like it) but offside with IGN or do you have a good enough relationship with them that they could direct viewers to your page/patreon?

Dale Payne

Not really a question, just a request for a spoiler mode with Ben, Damiani, brad, And Huber for kingdom hearts 3.

GermanScientist
>>18813796

I second a garage send-off, though with GOTY, HOG and the move, another big stream might be unlikely considering what will hopefully be a decent length studio premiere stream.

Jesse.P

Hey Jones, As a patreon for all most two years now your comment about moving away from stuff like "EZ anime" and "Gundum construction to what sounds like more click bait stuff to generate numbers has me a little upset. Now of course you do not owe me anything I just want to let you know I watch Easy allies purely for your personality and opinions I am far more interested in your long form content then anything you guys produce. I hope you know that a fair few of us patreons feel this way. And I personally hope the gundam and anime shows come back. Thank you for your time.

strawhatninja

Jones, you guys do an amazing job keeping all of us entertained on a daily basis. I was just wondering if any of the allies are getting tired of doing the same shows over and over again and want to do a new type of show, or is everyone pretty happy with everything?

Barrett Jayjohn

Not sure if this is the best place to ask this. But I was trying to get the RSS feed into my podcast player on my phone, and I did, but it took me to a channel called Easy Allies Early Editions and there are only 6 episodes from April 2017. Nothing else is on there. Is there something I am missing?

GermanScientist

Hi Brandon. If I recall correctly, the control room is in between the desk set and the streaming set. So, for the studio premiere stream (Assuming that it'll be longer than your usual group stream and that everything is ready), will/could you please move between segments and sets, like a presenter on the desk presenting the making of video, to video games on the streaming set, then perhaps back to the desk for some card/board games, etc. etc. If not now, would that be possible in the future? I would love to see an opportunity like that be utilized well... I'm sure it could even be used creatively for a show in some way. Excited for the future! L&R

EasyAllies
>>18809764

Well, they're saying to wait 48 hours before addressing. So now we wait I guess... -Bloodworth

Stefan Vlemmix
>>18788880

In a retirement home kicking some old people ass at the weekly lan party down in the rec room.

Stefan Vlemmix

Hey Jones! Quick question: what is your favorite snack and beverage during gaming? L&R Stefan

Matt McCarthy

Hey Brandon, Have you considered using the Patreon API in your easyallies.com website? I ask because every so often there will be a Patreon poll that's handled with comments. With duplicate posts being inevitable, the comment system seems like a pain for the allies and probably doesn't yield the most accurate poll. There are polling sites but if the poll is meant to be patron-exclusive, that's not a viable option. With the ability to sign into Patreon on your site, a custom poll component could be built for all future polls. You could also have patron-exclusive videos and posts safely on your site for those logged in (replaced with a call-to-action for non-patrons maybe?) Digging around in the site a bit, it looks like yall are using a JS framework of sorts so I think this implementation wouldn't be all too difficult. That being said, I know there's a lot on everybody's plate so if needed - and I hope I'm not being too presumptuous here - I'm happy to help in whatever way is appropriate. It might feel old school but I do sort of miss the GT days of having an account with your site. Forums are one thing but I think a direct link between your Patreon and your website could really be beneficial. Love the work you do. Happy New Year!

GmanSir

Hey Jones! What are your thoughts on the Yoshi's Crafted World Story Trailer?

VGJunky

Sequel done much later with recast lead as if nothing happened? Sounds like Mad Max - that turned out pretty great

Tokyo Slim

Just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday, Jones! By the time you read this, I will be in France. Bowl a 300 for me!

NoaZo

Hey Jones. Unfortunately, I missed last week, so this question will be a little late, but I really want to get your take on something. In the most recent episode of the podcast, one of the topics of discussion was Rurouni Kenshins inclusion in jump force despite the creator being caught with child pornography. What he did was absolutely disgusting, you won’t see me arguing against that, but still, Kyle’s attitude and take on the situation didn’t sit well with me. While it’s true the creator of Kenshin did some horrible things, Kyle acted like the series itself was now tainted, and shouldn’t be enjoyed. He even half-jokingly said that if the game was group streamed, no one was allowed to pick Kenshin characters. I’m not personally a fan of the series, but I don’t feel like people who are should suddenly be forced to reject a series that is potentially near and dear to them, simply because of someone who worked on it. Shouldn’t there be some kind of separation between art and artist? Should we just never listen to a Michael Jackson song again? I just wanted to get your opinion on this, and if I’m way out of line, don’t hesitate to tell me.

the_finnish_ally

Hey Jones, Are you planning to make any Patreon related announcements during the studio reveal?

BeatenDownBrian
>>18809962

It was a while ago now, but I'm pretty sure he answered this before. If I remember correctly, the answer was yes, because A: they wanted to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, and B: they became more cognisant of swearing after hearing that a lot of people watched their stuff with their kids.

Anonymous
>>18840076

He has said a few times on CoJ that they want to get into the space first and see how the time to produce stuff ends up and find out when or if they could fit new shows in. He also plans to have a twitch/youtube streamer setup at home. So that he can do CoJ from home.

Anonymous
>>18818118

I have heard in the past Gundam construction was shelved because Kyle is busy on box peek - It may come back. The same way you like how these shows sprouted up, you have to let them naturally go away. What you are doing is a mental game, "you can't start a show unless you are committed to it 100% because if that show goes away the community will be upset and resent the new shows you try." As someone who loves final Bossman, sometimes you have to just let it go. Let them do their creative thing.

Anonymous
>>18821996

He has been asked this before, usually says it's not priority at the moment since they have bigger fish to fry, but will keep it in mind for the future.

BeatenDownBrian

Not a question, just a comment. (though you can address it if you want to) Apologies for the length. I’ve been trying to sum up on my feelings on Retros for a few days now, but I’m finding it very hard. Basically it boils down to I think you should examine the possibility of removing Retros as a goal, and perhaps replacing them with Fiasconuats or something else. While this may seem reactionary, it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Don’t get me wrong, I love Retros and it absolutely pains me to write this, but before you even said it in the last episode, I feel it was already pretty apparent that they didn't fit into your schedule very well. I base this on every time I’ve heard you talk about them in the past, which is almost never in a positive light, and hearing about the times where you were sitting up at midnight worrying that you should be working on the Dark Souls Retro, but felt too exhausted from your already busy day, brings me no joy. I’m positive there would be pushback against removing them, but at the end of the day, when it’s something we only get once a year anyway, I feel/hope people would get over it in time. Also, I just want to point out that removing them from the goals wouldn't mean you can’t ever produce one again, but hopefully it would mean that if you guys did decide to tackle one, then it would be because A: That person has the time to take on the project. and B: It’s being made because the person has the passion to want to see it get made, and it’s not being done just because ‘well, it’s been 12 months, so we need to get one out.’ Lastly I realise there are many upsides to Retros. They’re great evergreen content, they bring in a lot of views etc. etc.. I think they made sense as a goal when you started EZA, but also feel they have began to make less sense as time has moved on. I guess I just wonder if it’s time to really sit down and examine the pros and cons.

Jesse.P
>>18818118

I am more talking about shows like these. I don't really need them to come back, I just want more long form content not produced short things.

Daniel Wright

Just a comment on something you seem to be mentioning a lot lately Jones. You're very open about wanting to bring guests and new faces into a wide variety of your content once you enter the new studio, and while that's fine and I understand your excitement, please don't forget that we're all patrons of Easy Allies, not their friends and associates. The obvious affection you all have for each other, and how comfortable you all seem together is possibly the main attraction for me and many others to your content, and I would hate for that to be constantly interrupted by guests. For instance the E3 stream where Blood's friend from his old job turned up, Jonathan was a great guest with an absolute fountain of Nintendo knowledge, but even if subtly, he changed the atmosphere of the stream, and couldn't follow along with the absolutely impenetrable fog of in-jokes and CHIM memes. Similarly, while it was incredible to see Cory Barlog on Spoiler Mode, as soon as I saw that announcement on twitter I knew that episode would be very one note, a lot of gushing and congratulating and less discussion. I felt like an Allies only Spoiler Mode and a separate sit down with Cory to discuss the development and themes of the game might have been a better way to approach that situation. Guests will be a great way to reach out to a new audience, and introduce the Allies to new opinions and perspectives, but I just hope the core experience of Easy Allies doesn't get pushed aside in pursuit of that goal.

Daniel Wright
>>18852646

Sorry if that comment seems antagonistic or anything, I sometimes get too intense when I'm talking about something I love.

Hilary Dawe

Hi Jones! I just wondered how you feel the studio/office you had back in the GT days compares to the new EZA HQ? Were there any positive or negative takeaways to the GT space that influenced the list of things you were looking for in a new home for EZA? Now that you’re an independent company do you feel you have more freedom to make the space what you want it to be versus when you were part of a larger network? I’m sure the new space is a huge size/logistical improvement from the garage but since you’ve worked in an office/studio environment in the past I was just curious to hear your take. I can’t wait to see what you do with the space! I’m so excited for you guys :) Thank you for continuing to produce infinitely jolly content, you guys really do make the world a more positive place! The utmost L&R, Hilary

Andrew Chalmers

Hey Jones, In a December cuppa, a question was asked about a daily show, similar to Kinda Funny. I would just like to express that those Daily Shows at Kinda Funny drove me away from their content because of oversaturation. I loved their weekly stuff, but their youtube page was cluttered with daily content that I found it difficult to parse and it was generally overwhelming. Perhaps you could look into how well Kinda Funny's daily show is doing for them before going ahead with it (if you ever wanted to go in this direction anyway). Just my 2 cents. Cheers, Andrew Chalmers

Owen D-J

Not so much a question as a response to a previous question. Someone asked about a video showing the progression of the garage before the move to the studio. I used the podcast as a template and gave it a go... <a href="https://youtu.be/dSC_99cCZYY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/dSC_99cCZYY</a>

NotYourMom

What level are you in Red Dead Online? I personally hate Red Dead online because of the progression system. I have money, and gold, to buy new weapons. I go to the store and "Weapon unlocks at level 65" are you f'in kidding me? I'm only level 12 and other players having a competitive advantage because they played for longer is frustrating This is why i rarely play online games. Unless they are fighters or Overwatch. So, just going through story mode again.

Christopher Peterson

Have you ever been sued? Either at Game Trailers, Easy Allies or just as Brandon Jones? What was it for and how’d it get resolved?

mikkel hervel nemmøe

Hello Jones! Before the winter break, EZA put up a demo teaser on the youtube page for Hubers gameshow, and the full demo was exclusively uploaded to patreon. In the youtube comments for the demo teaser, someone commented that since the full video was meant as a way to sell the 55K goal, shouldn't it be public to everyone, so that more people could potentially watch that video and then support EZA? Ian answered that it was a good idea, but he didn't have time for it (or something) before January. Do you still plan to upload the full demo to Youtube, or did you forget, or have you just not gotten around to it yet?

FreeDoM

Hi Brandon, You mentioned a bunch of reasons why Retrospectives are hard to make and why Easy allies have not made them for a long while. As long as it is a $30,000 patreon goal you have a obligation to either make them, or get rid of that goal. L&R Jordy

Andreas Kleanthous

Hi Brandon, I just wondering if you were planning in the future sometime to get a video wall similar to Kinda Funny. Its a way to make all shows have a different feel with a change in background and a unique vibe. L&R Andreas Kleanthous

Daniel Rona

Hey Jones Is there any degree of "hair and makeup" before any shoots or do allies mostly just rock what they got going on?

James Kennedy

Jones, if I remember correctly, we share a mutual love of Cyclops (the X-Men character, not the mythological monster). However, I question if we have ever really gotten a great game that had him as the lead (your mileage may vary depending on your appreciation for the X-Men Legends games). Can you paint me a picture of your ideal Cyclops centered game? It seems likely that this will be an X-Men game, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. Follow your heart, Jones.

Noah Weinstein

Hi Brandon! Last week you answered a question about what makes EZA unique and helps you stand out from other outlets. You said that it was your reaction streams, as well as your balanced analysis of the games business. Which is fair! But I brought this up with some friends and we all agreed that the most distinct part of EZA isn't the content of your discussions, but the nature of them- i.e.: you guys being a ragtag team of eclectic personalities that mesh well together. But then again, a whole lot of people only show up for your reactions/podcasts rather than your more niche/personality-driven content. Do you think there's a dissonance between the wants/desires/outlooks of EZA's larger viewer-base versus the tighter-knit “community”? How do you reconcile this in your output? Is it something you think about? L&R!

Parasitepaladin

Hello Jones! Hope to see some new merch soon. Though that would probably stretch you guys even thinner. I was trying to think of a shirt that isn't some one time phrase said in a single video that would require a quick upload to cash in on the zeitgeist, and I found one! Kind of. My suggestion is to make some sort of research break related shirt. You guys have kept with that and I doubt it will ever go away. Keep up the great work!

Alexander Zyryanov

Hello Brandon. Last week many people complained about process of voting for GotY on Patreon and strongly suggesting you to use external resource next year. I want to give an opposite opinion to balance thing out. Firstly, clicking on “Load more comments” is certainly not convenient, but it’s not the end of the world. I’ve timed it and it took me 59 seconds to load all 400 comments on my 2011 PC. Maybe it’ll sound harsh, but I think that if you not willing to spend one extra minute once a year, then voting for GotY isn’t that important for you. Also people complained about having to look through a massive list of games that has a lot of duplicates. This is not a Patreon problem; it’s a natural issue with allowing anyone to submit their games. And since it’s unhealthy for Kyle to allow everyone to just post their nominees and then manually count thousands of votes, there is no solution to this problem. Finally, if you move voting away from the Patreon next year there will be no guarantee that only Patrons will vote and that everyone will vote only once, which will make the results less trustworthy. In summary, I suggest you to keep voting for GotY as it is, since doing otherwise will not solve all issues and will create other ones. The only change you probably should do is to remind everyone in post’s text that browsers have built-in search function which you can use by pressing Ctrl+F. P.S. Sorry for the long post.

Will Schmuck

Hi Jones! I just wanted to offer some additional feedback on the question that got asked about the streaming layout and whether it is better to have the game full screen with the camera on top vs having a border around the gameplay and camera not obstructing it. I have a very first-world-problem reason for preferring the full screen game layout, and that is because your boarders cause noticeable image retention on my OLED TV. Static images on OLED TVs will cause those images to persist on the screen, and if left there long enough can potentially burn in permanently. This means that my favorite way to watch EZA streams has to have breaks after about an hour or so to prevent this from happening. I first noticed this during the Easy Livin stream where the Hoeg Law logo stayed on screen for a concerning amount of time. It also is especially bad when you consider that bright colors such as red do this more often, meaning the Easy Allies logo is prone to do this as well. As a potential solution, if you still prefer the border layout for group streams especially, would it be possible to create a few layouts that simply move where the border/text appears? For example, having one layout where the text is at the top then another where it is at the bottom? I know this may not make much sense to do for a single game, but maybe for longer streams where multiple games are played would offer a clean opportunity to switch between them. I know my use case is pretty particular and I'm sure the vast majority of allies don't have this problem. I just wanted to add my particular feedback to the conversation just as something to consider, especially for longer streams that yall do. Thanks! L&R, Will Schmuck

aug.mental

Run time is 02:22:22. Just thought it was neat.

Matt Bollenbach

Ahoy Mr. Jones, <b>Am I a bad patron?</b> Hear me out. I have heard you and other allies mention how critical comments are generally your favorites for the growth opportunities they provide. I consider myself a loyal follower of Easy Allies; I consume much of the content you produce & engage with this excellent community when possible. I have seen fellow Patrons extensively discuss how they feel something said on a stream was meant or said, folks on Reddit & ResetEra delve into the minutiae of any given show, firey arguments in YouTube comments sections & heard a multitude of comments, suggestions, corrections & criticisms right here on Cup of Jones. I have never once felt compelled to post such a comment. Take Magnificent Monsters for example; I thoroughly enjoyed the demo. I also felt zero compulsion to comment about anything. I didn't want to post an "atta boy" as those aren't super helpful, nor did I want to offer suggestions or criticisms as a) it was made very clear beforehand that it was a tech demo, b) there were multiple changes made to the show before the video was posted [as evidenced by the text overlays] and c) I trust You [the royal you as it were] are much harsher on yourselves than I would be. Please understand, I'm not implying criticism is bad or unhealthy; quite the opposite rather. I appreciate the feedback offered by others on my own works and have heard some great suggestions offered to you on this very show previously. If I don't enjoy something I simply don't watch or listen to it and move on. <b>Is that fine?</b> I think it's fine but people aren't here to listen to what I think; my name's not in the title! Thanks for reading, Matt B PS: Patreon ate this comment last week and has thus far eaten it once already this week. Here's hoping it doesn't get eaten again.

Owen

No question from me this week Jones, just wanted to let you know I'm so happy for you and the Allies to take the next step with the upcoming studio. I appreciate your candidness each and every week with your patrons. Cup of Jones wasn't why I became a patron, but I love that it's one of the perks, and I look forward to it every week now.

M

Yo Jones, what do you think is the best premise to a fictional story? For me it’s, “High-schooler finds a notebook. If he writes a person’s name in it, they die.” aka Death Note. Simple and immediately compelling. There’s more to Death Note than that but just hearing that little bit got me in. (Though the premise I actually find coolest is “Guy finds out he’s the son of Satan, becomes an exorcist in order to find and kill Satan. Also, he fights with blue flames and a katana” which is exactly how my friend introduced the manga Blue Exorcist to me)

Rammer

Hi Brandon – Happy 40th! You have done so many great things with your life and are ready to do so much more! One simple question that may or may not take a while for you to answer: How do you see yourself in the next 10 years? (Could be anything ranging from your business with Easy Allies & personal growth) L&R - Christian

Cameron

Hello Brandon! First time commenter, long time Patron (day one). I have loved you guys since the GT times. No real question, but wanted to wish you a early happy birthday! I am glad to share a birthday with one of the best in the biz. Thank you and all the allies for what you do. Makes the long work days easier! Looking forward to the new studio and many years and fun to come. L&R Cameron

Evan Charles Teague

Just curious if Don uses the VO booth or if he records from home when he records the audio for Busted Trifecta? PS: Glad you enjoyed my "happy" little mistake last week.

Anthony Scibelli

Hi Brandon! I was wondering if you could comment on the Youtube ad revenue during the holidays. While watching another youtube channel I heard him mention that he was saving a couple high profile videos (car reviews of exotic cars) to be released during the weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas. The reason was because the ad revenue during this time can be significantly higher. I am not sure if this additional revenue was due to more ads (quantity) or that they pay more per ad (quality). And looking around Youtube it seems like other channels release videos that appear like they were given extra time, money or personnel to make an exceptional video for the holiday season. Do you or Bloodworth notice a change in ad revenue during the holidays? I know that Easy Allies has been posting videos consistently leading up to the holidays in addition to the time and effort involved in the studio search. Do you think there is more Easy Allies could be doing to capitalize on this additional ad revenue or is the money from ads so comparatively low to other incomes or so unpredictable it is not worth it pursuing? Thank you and all the Allies for everything and I am really excited for your new office! Keep up the excellent work! Anthony

Kian Jahromi

Hey Brandon, long time no talk to! Seen any good shows lately?

Morgan Mohalla

Mr. Jones, If you have time I wanted to talk about future prospects for a healthy community. As EZA grows, I worry that the politeness of the community will wane into what standard internet culture seems to be (that is inflammatory and provocative comments, slurs, demoralizing members and trolling). Some of this has already come up in the past with your C.L.S. appearance. I was genuinely surprised at how the community seemed to venomously attack one another over strongly held matters of opinion rather than trying to reach one another with civil discourse. (If this is too many questions feel free to just pick one or skip all together) How would you want the EZA community to respond to extreme opinions? Do you foresee future issues with a toxic community? Where do you draw the line with offensive community behaviour? Would you ever institute a standard for community behaviour? What are your views on censorship vs. moderating the EZA community. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla

ZF

Hi Jones, quick complaint here. As a UCLA grad, it pains me that you are having your anniversary concert yet again at USC. Any thoughts about doing it around Westwood or literally anywhere else next year? Love and respect, and thanks for humoring me.

Lee

Hey Jones, sorry if this is a repeat question but with the launch of the studio are you guys thinking of giving your channel a fresh lick of paint? eg new thumbnails or using the classy E3 EZA graphics/color scheme?

Jeremy Ferris

Hey Jones, I wanted to ask if you remember what the most contentious goty deliberation was, or if you dont have one in particular what were some bad ones? Thanks!

Zachary Jennings

So I assigned point values to all your individual GOTY lists, excluding Don because of how out of order they were. I gave 10 points for someone's top game and 1 for their 10th-best game, and totaled them all. Here is the official-as-I-can-make-it EASY ALLIES Top-20 Games of 2018. God of War, Monster Hunter World, Spider-Man, Dragon Quest XI, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Red Dead Redemption II, Astro Bot Rescue Mission, Fortnite, Shadow of the Colossus, Celeste, Bloodstained, Hollow Knight (Switch), Yakuza Kiwami 2, The Missing, Hitman 2, Forza Horizon 4, Warhammer Vermintide, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Onrush, and Banner Saga 3. Thanks for the awesome deliberation stream and for a highly-entertaining 2018!

Kirbu

I think the pre-recorded deliberations were great, and can only get better once you're better equipped in your new studio. It was only hard to keep up with the change in category for me sometimes without any real transitions or visual aids. The only other major critique I have is that the basic genre awards are getting continually strained on their definition and the group's enthusiasm. More fun or specific awards like "best moment or sequence" seem like they'd be better fits than the shrugs and unsure glances Best Strategy Game elicited. Still, overall a huge improvement over last year's deliberations. Not being live seemed to help erase some of that awkward time pressure from the group while discussing earlier categories from last year. P.S. Feels like you, Ian and Kyle were armed for a Red Dead discussion that never actually took place. All the more reason to get that debate show!

Sergey P.

Hello Brandon, I have a feeling that Huber's RE2 stream is being rushed. I feel like people need more time to complete the game before the stream happens. Normally I wouldn't say anything, because I'll probably be watching VOD anyway, but since the studio is so close, perhaps it would benefit everyone to postpone the stream a bit?

Mark Chaivasin

Should EZA make an award category called "Game I regrets not playing in 20XX?" This might help with calling out great games the Allies might have missed.

Father Bill Sniff My Fumes Babe

Howdy Jones ! First time commenter here at Cup of Jones and only second to my comment in the RDR2 spoiler mode QA portion (in the overall EZA extended universe), I wanna start of by saying that you all are my favorite people to watch on youtube and I’m a big fan of Mr. Jones especially (thats you Brandon)! That being said, I was disappointed (heart broken really) watching the goty deliberations stream and seeing that there was barely any fight for RDR2 as game of the year from your end. I get that it was possibly a losing fight but it was still a fight worth having, i had high expectations that you would deliver an all inspiring tear jerker of a speech about the best game of the 2018 (in my opinion). I understand and could clearly tell that by the end of that 7 hours stream you all were exhausted but that would been a great opportunity to turn votes and possibly do the impossible. I do have a lot of love for God of War but it already gotten too much love and I would liked to see you give a strong and sound case that I know you have for why RDR2 is in fact the best game of the year. Also, even though I like these 2 people a lot, I could NOT stand the snarkiness of Inn and Kyle toward RDR2 the whole stream and would have loved to see them sweat as votes were tallying up for RDR2. You guys are still the best and I hope you have the best time in your new studio, Congrats !

jif52

Hi Jones! What are your thoughts about Schreier's new article figuring out what the heck EA is doing with Star Wars? <a href="https://kotaku.com/ea-s-troubled-decade-of-star-wars-games-1831807493" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://kotaku.com/ea-s-troubled-decade-of-star-wars-games-1831807493</a> Apparently, some current higher-ups at EA did not like the 10-year exclusivity deal that was completed under old leadership (Gibeau and Riccitello), which may explain this. Also, you should know that there is a new Star Wars film trilogy (non-episodic) and a film series from the Game of Thrones creators that's coming in the 2020s. There's not much info about them, but it is officially confirmed by the creators of those properties, by Lucasfilm, and is from Disney shareholders' meetings. <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Untitled_Star_Wars_trilogy" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Untitled_Star_Wars_trilogy</a> <a href="http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Untitled_Star_Wars_film_series" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Untitled_Star_Wars_film_series</a>

Sekiro505

Personal question: what's a free day like for you?

BeatenDownBrian

(This sentence is just to avoid being deleted by Patreon’s spam filter) Sorry for the second comment. It’s just some feedback on the GOTYs and doesn’t need to be addressed. Firstly, I think this year was a big step up from last years, and I feel the having them be a pre-recorded video was a much better format. One small issue I had was with some of the categories themselves, or rather the debates over whether something fitted into a certain category or not. That was something I feel you guys should’ve had locked down before recording. I realise that certain games are becoming harder and harder to define by genre, but if you’ve already decided beforehand that a game was going to be in the best RPG category, then I kinda don’t want to hear arguments of “well, is this actually an rpg?” after the fact. My other main gripe was with the talk for GOTY itself. My issue was not with the lack of contention, but more so that I feel there was barely any talk about why your winner was what it was. I don’t think anyone even touched on the games combat, or level design for example. We had more conversation about the game in best narrative than we did during the GOTY talk. Outside of MHW, I think that was true of nearly all of the games in the top 5, where I just wished there had been a little more discussion about why those were the top 5 games, rather than just jumping straight to a vote. I realise you guys were 6 hours in that point, but it felt very rushed during that final section. Just want to end this by saying that despite my criticism, I really enjoyed the show, and I eat this type of content up. There was some great conversations throughout, and the more jokey categories were a nice breather between some of the more contentious ones. Congrats, and thanks for a great show.

Ehie Yovach

Jones when I said Star Wars was dying earlier this year I didn't want it to be true :( On a positive note however I tried Battlefront 2017 again and it's actually in a good spot (no this is not an EA mind trick). After being disappointed with Battlefield 5 I reinstalled Battlefront and I have to say they really turned it around. Next month they are adding the traditional Conquest and Capital Ship Takedown modes so I'd say DICE has somehow managed to salvage this dumpster fire. Despite fixing BF2017 I still hope EA loses the Star Wars license after Fallen Order, I can't think of a developer that could screw up Star Wars as royally as EA.

PKFC

With Cup of Jones moved to Saturday this week, that means I didn't miss my chance to post my follow up question: Re: My comment last week about wanting to see the game list for Fancy Fifteen: The video blur covers some of the games and a couple I straight up can't recognize. .hack parts 1-4 should have been kept by someone and not given away. They should be in a loving home. (Maybe Indiana Jones "They belong in a museum.") Maybe Ben can tuck them in at night and read them a bedtime story. :P .hack (and RPGs in general) wouldn't make a good fancy fifteen game so I didn't mind them not being picked although Koudelka kind of falls into that category, but it was good to give Huber a taste of what that game is. Kind of wondering if rating the first fifteen minutes or hour of a game would help me prioritize my backlog :P

Jesse Nye

Are there any spoiler modes planned for this month? I know Damiani has expressed interest in doing one for the new Dragon Ball movie and of course RE2 and KH3 are just weeks away

traenkeopa

I was binging old Cup of Jones episodes I missed over my new years vacation and I heard one question a couple of times: "Can you do something to spam less e-mails via Patreon?". Since becoming a Patron of Kinda Funny for their January fundraiser I think I found the answer you couldn't think of. You said there is no way on Patreon to add the audio version of a podcast to an existing Patreon post, but the video version is essentially just an embedded YouTube video. So why not do it the other way around? Upload the audio version to Patreon and add the private YouTube link in the description. Kinda Funny does it this way and I think this is the easiest way to cut the amount of e-mails for all shows with both audio and video versions in half.

Steve S

Who's the biggest Star Wars fan in the group: You, Brad, or someone else? Which Star Wars movie is your favorite?

FatherCashew
>>18793544

Don't worry about responding to this particular comment, but I just wanted to reply to acknowledge that I agree with your assessment that one of EZA’s core strengths is your business analyses of various happenings within the industry. I like how your group evaluates marketing efforts and projects outcomes based on patterns and industry insight. I also think the genuine friendship that is conveyed by your group is the lasting component; the thing that sticks with the viewer after the video/podcast/stream. Come for the business, stay for the feels. EZA has a unique way of showcasing hard-working adults who haven’t forgotten the joy of being with friends and playing games together. That form of escapism speaks to a lot of your audience, who—I would venture to guess—are also working adults that grew up playing games with friends from school. I don’t know if that makes sense, but I just think that’s something really rare, especially when compared to other outlets. It’s a tough thing to put your finger on, but the vibes of EZA are quite captivating.

Anonymous

Good morning and Happy early Birthday Jones! I can’t wait to tune in on Twitch for the new studio reveal on the January 29th group stream. Question! Are you or the other Allies concerned about Patrons and/or the main channel YouTube subscribers, who don't tune into Twitch for this moment, potentially feeling left out or slighted?

Rhys Simons

Are the Allies going to be have required hours to be at the studio like a 9-5? One of the biggest advantages of the studio that I’ve heard you mention most often is being able to do more impromptu stuff, more skits, more multi person streams etc. As the reason you were able to do this stuff back at GT was because you were always in the same place. I’ve not heard hours mentioned with the studio yet so I was just wondering how all these great studio bonuses will come to fruition if the Allies are just dropping by ad hoc or still having to schedule times to be around together.

discardedDigit

I have a suggestion regarding the Hall of Greats. Can you change the cadence of the event going forward to occur in the cycle of January, April, July, and October rather than the current cycle (March, June, September, December)? This is the best time to make the change since you're already behind a month. December is obviously a bad month to slot in a stream that requires full attendance because of the holiday vacation, but June has E3. I recall that the June group stream schedule in 2018 was E3, then the following Tuesday was E3 Awards, then the next week was the Hall of Greats. That was a long time to go without an actual game being played on the group stream. Also, good luck adjusting to the daily commute again.