Retro and Nostalgia with Jed Shaffer

In this episode of the Drink O’Clock Podcast, Rob sits down with Jed Shaffer—co-host of First Gen Gamers—for a deep dive into the nerdy nostalgia of growing up gaming. From snow-shoveling woes and Galaga showdowns to arcade memories and console wars, the two unpack their love for video games across the decades. They talk early console memories, the beauty of Baldur’s Gate 3, frustrations with modern gaming trends, and the madness of collecting Pokémon cards as grown men. Jed also shares how his podcast came to life, keeping the spirit of retro gaming alive for a new generation. If you’ve ever stayed up too late grinding for loot or still remember the smell of your local arcade—this one’s for you.

You can find Jed's podcast First Gen Gamers Here.

Transcript

Intro Song

Rob Valincius: And we are live on another beautiful, beautiful day. It's Jed, the transition is there, brother. We're almost like really feeling the spring weather was like 77 today. Um, I fucking hate winter, uh, more than anything on the planet. Uh, snow for someone that's in their thirties. Well really anyone. I don't know how anyone can like snow, but snow in your thirties is just, no, it's not fun.

It fucking sucks and

Jed Shaffer: 47. Snow is my mortal fucking enemy. Like I, I'm glad I've worked from home from the past five years. So whenever I see snowfall, I have this mixed feeling of I don't have to co, I don't have to commute. You assholes have to commute. Have fun with that. And then I think about two seconds later, ah, Christ, I still gotta shovel the driveway.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, I, I'm, uh, I'm lazy as shit, and my neighbor like three doors down, just likes to shovel people's shit. So he'll text me, he's like, Hey, you want me shovel? I'm like, Absolutly. It'll be the best 20 bucks that day that I've spent. Uh, and, and look, I'll salt, I bought a fucking salt thing, you know, to make sure it doesn't get, but it doesn't, doesn't help.

It doesn't, shit doesn't work, you know. Uh, so I should probably introduce this, right? So this is the Drink O Clock podcast. I'm your host, Rob Valincius. I have the pleasure of having Jed Shaffer with me. So, Jed, you're the co-host of the podcast. First Jen Gamers,

Jed Shaffer: That is correct.

Rob Valincius: uh, you're a married guy with three kids.

Man, welcome to the

Jed Shaffer: Thank you. I'm happy to be on, I'm, uh, looking forward to what's gonna be a fun hour.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, yeah. Look, excuse me, I'm dying. Jesus Christ. Hold on.

I don't know what just happened there. Like, went down the wrong

Jed Shaffer: Ooh.

Rob Valincius: which isn't even a thing. I'm, I'm. Jesus, of course. It's as soon as I hit play is when is when I die. Um, so typically the way I like to start a little bit is to get a little background on on who you are, right? So, um, can you talk to me a little bit about growing up the, obviously, um, you're kind of in that same bracket as me, so I'm, I'll be 39, so we're like right in that same range right of, of growing up before the internet or really before the internet was really useful in any way.

Um, so talk to me a little bit about growing up and, you know, what made you the nerd you are today? Because really at the end of the day, that's what we are, right? We're, we're nerds. It's fun to talk about and, and it's cool to say you're a nerd

Jed Shaffer: Yeah.

Rob Valincius: When I was in high school, you say you're a nerd, you get your ass beat.

So, I mean,

Jed Shaffer: absolutely. When I was a kid, same thing. You nerd was the kiss of death in school and nowadays I. The more nerd Craig you have, the better. Um,

Rob Valincius: nerds rule

Jed Shaffer: yeah. Uh, I grew up in, I live in Michigan now, but I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in Oregon. Um,

Rob Valincius: Okay.

Jed Shaffer: only child, uh, just found my way into geeky things because they appealed to me, became a gamer.

Um, in the early eighties, uh, back when arcades ruled the world, um, first console was an in television that tells you how far back I go, uh, always into sci-fi and, uh, horror. I especially love horror movies. I was in, got into those, uh, probably way too young. Um, watched my first r-rated horror movie at the age of eight.

Rob Valincius: Okay.

Jed Shaffer: Yeah. Uh, and my parents were like. If you get scared you're never watching an R-rated movie again, like, that's fine. It's fine. I'll be fine. I laughed through it.

Rob Valincius: I used to watch, uh. Tales from the crypt with my dad. And, and he would, uh, he would tell me, he's like, don't tell your mom that you're watching this with me. As soon as it's over, you gotta go to bed. The, what was the show? I, I, I, I, I always forget, do you remember the show that came on after Tales from the Crypt?

It was also a spooky show, and I just remember it creeped me out. Like it had a weird intro. It was the, it was probably one of the creepiest shows that I remember as a kid, and I can't remember what the fucking name of the show was, but I'm pretty sure it came on after Tales from the Crypt,

Jed Shaffer: a vague recollection of something, but it's tales from the crypto is so big at the time, like that was the. Horror show of the time. I ju it's kind of dwarfing. All the other, the memories of any of the other shows that came around came on

Rob Valincius: monsters.

Jed Shaffer: Okay,

Rob Valincius: And it was a, it was a, it featured a family of monsters that would watch different horror stories each week. Uh,

Jed Shaffer: So kind of

Rob Valincius: so that started in 88. It only went from 88 to 91, but I specifically remember the intro to that show, like kind of fucked me up. Like it was, it was far creepier than like, tales from the Crip was always just like, funny, creepy, you know?

Um, but it was just one of those shows. Look it up, look it up and see if you remember, like, let me know.

Jed Shaffer: 'cause that, that doesn't sound familiar now that you're saying it. I'm sure that I've seen part of it, but it's not, like I said, tales from the crypto was, is such a, was such a thing back then. It just, it's dwarfing my memory at the moment. It's like eclipsing everything else.

I.

Rob Valincius: yeah. Tales from the Crip was a, a fucking classic man. Um, you know, look, gaming is. It's, it's part of who you are, I think, when you're, when you're a nerd to a certain degree. Right. Um, I, tell me, what was the first memory of a video game that you can remember? Because I can tell you mine was, um, well, I have a, I have a couple memories of when I was like, pre, I always think of everything pre my brother and then after my brother, um, you know, so, so I'm five years older.

So my brother, he was born, I was either, I was, let's see, so he's, he was in 91, I was 86, so I was like five and a couple months and before he was born and he was kind of an accent. My bio, they didn't think they were gonna be able to have another kid. And, uh, he showed up. But I always kind of look at it those two ways.

And before then, I remember I would play, uh, gallaga. A lot. I was really into Gallaga, uh, would kick my dad's friend's ass in Tech Mo Bowl. They would get drunk and they're like, my dad's like, I bet you my son can beat you. Uh, and I would, I would whoop their ass in Tech Mo Bowl on the Nintendo. Um, I, you know, those are some of the earlier memories.

My, uh, uncle Roy had this, you probably remember these. They were like mini arcade machines there, but they're

Jed Shaffer: Yeah. They're about, they're about like, uh, 12 inches tall. Had like a, had had like an LCD screen.

Rob Valincius: yeah, yeah. And those were way ahead of their time. I mean, we're, we're talking this was like early nineties, you know, maybe. Yeah. It was like, I had to be like 1990 and, uh, he had one of those and I would play, uh, I think he had Gallica there.

I loved Gallica. It's my, all one of my all time favorite like Nintendo, we, uh, games. But tell me a little bit about your early gaming memories.

Jed Shaffer: Uh, so this isn't one of my earliest ones, but I do have to piggyback off the Gallaga and the Tiny Arcade one. 'cause I had that tiny Galaga arcade and my, this was, I was like eight or nine. My dad had a work partner. His name was Mike. He's passed on since. Love, love Uncle Mike. Um, yep. He was, he was a Galaga fan and anytime him and him and his wife would come over, I would make sure to break out the little Galaga arcade and we would sit there and play together and try to beat each other's high score.

Uh, just,

Rob Valincius: There's something innocent about that game, man. And just like, like it was just score based, that's all. Like it was all competition at the end of the day. And Gallica got pretty fucking hard as you moved on. Like it was not an easy

Jed Shaffer: No, it, once you got past the third level, fourth level, at most it started getting brutally difficult. Way more difficult than my, like, 8-year-old brain could handle.

Rob Valincius: Oh yeah. You gotta have some pretty good reflexes.

Jed Shaffer: But, uh, my earliest memories are arcade, really. Um, it, Stu Gaming for me started off in the arcade. I remember being, um, the game, you know, I remember Joust and Moon Patrol.

Those were probably my first two games that I remember playing in the arcade, uh, Tapper, or it became Root Beer Tapper later, after a bunch of angry moms got their panties in a twist about it being about your being a bartender. So then you, you had to like sling root beer down the bar.

Rob Valincius: The original Karen's. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta love it.

Jed Shaffer: Video games are gonna corrupt.

They're gonna make me make my kid drink. It's like, it's a game about serving beer in a bar, and most of the time it's in a fucking bar like. I didn't look at the video game and go, now I want a Budweiser. That's,

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Well, it's the same thing with, well, they, I mean, that's how they got rid of, uh, Joey, the Camel man. You know? I mean, it's, it's all the same thing. It's like, oh, that camel's smoking a cigarette. I think I'm gonna go have one. No, that's not how it works. It's really not how it

Jed Shaffer: not even close. Uh, but games like that, I remember playing in the arcade. Um, I remember going to the, an arcade in Portland called Malibu Grand Prix. Uh, just so many times making my parents take me there, playing every arcade in the place that I could. Uh, my first console, like I said, was the, in television.

I remember my parents got that because they thought, well, if he likes it so much in the arcade, maybe we could save a little money. Stop giving them quarters. We can buy him a console. He'll be satisfied at home. It's like, yeah, but I can't take the in television with me to the laundromat or to the grocery store.

I still wanna play Ms. Pacman when we're at the grocery store. 'cause that's there. I'm not at home. So, um, I remember having the, in television and comparing, you know, getting the game that was in the arcade, getting the home version and going, yeah, this doesn't quite look the same. This doesn't look as good, but it's, but I'm still playing it at home, so it's good enough make, making that bargain with myself of, at least, I'm still playing a version of joust.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. I mean, home console gaming was always, it was, it was cool when, when things first hit, you know? I mean, you had, I don't remember as much Nintendo 'cause like my dad I think Got it. My dad was always kind of into gaming and stuff. Uh, when we were younger. Um, so he had that. But, uh, I, I really remember, uh, growing up through the PS one and N 64 is really where a lot of the initial stuff for me as a gamer, like starts, like I remember some of that's the Nintendo stuff, but the, the PS one and N 64 is really, like, I remember getting the N 64, like having it in my hands, like riding in the back of the car, like freaking out type shit.

You know, it was a bribe. My parents got divorced and my stepdad bought it for us. So it was like, or my, my mom bought it for us, whatever, to, you know, I guess softened us up a little bit or whatever. It was a bribe at the end of the day.

Jed Shaffer: your family's broken up. Here's a video game console.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Yeah. And you're a kid. You're like, you're like, oh, okay, this is cool.

And then after a while you're like, oh, I fucking hate that guy. But, you know, it's, it's, it, it, it's a, a soft open. I was fine with it because it was, you know, I'm, I'll take a bribe here and there. Um, but those are like, where I really remember that, that, that love of gaming, you know, that trying to beat Super Mario 64, which was hard as shit for a Super Mario game.

Um, you know, to Tony Hawk and Tein and just all those really cla like, I'm missing that stuff now, dude. There's just,

Jed Shaffer: that era of gaming for me is tied to my teenage years. And so it was me and my boys hanging out playing games together. Uh, I remember one game we played a lot of was NBA Live 97 on the Sega Saturn.

Rob Valincius: okay.

Jed Shaffer: although we had the, we ended up, two of us ended up getting the PlayStation because the Saturn was just a failure.

Um. But I remember we would play NBA Live 97 and we would create our own characters. We'd make 'em after ourselves, but we'd make all the stats 99, and then we'd pick the worst team and we'd turn off all fouls and all and out of bounds so we could run anywhere we wanted. We could goal tend and we could beat the living shit out of the opponents.

And our goal was to try to, one, run up the score and two, keep them from ever scoring, which we never did, but the score always ended up being like 600 to 12.

Rob Valincius: dude. The live series, the original NBA live series was just, it was so

Jed Shaffer: Oh yeah. Absolute. Absolutely. Awesome.

Rob Valincius: Same thing with Madden. I mean, you know, when, when you're talking like growing up, you know, obviously now the dominant NBA game is 2K, which 2K is shit now two, comparatively speaking with it's tough. You have these big, these big game companies, you know, ea um, is the one that always comes to mind because I know they're a company.

I know they need to make money and they always need to make more money than they did last year. That's how corporate companies work, right? It's always 20% more every year. You gotta deliver to the shareholders. But there's a lost art now because they don't give a shit about if the game is good. Um, and you know, what comes to mind for me is, is like the new Dragon Age.

Okay? I'm a big RPG guy. The new Dragon age was the biggest waste of $70 that I have ever spent. And I didn't wanna do it, but I have a guy at work that games and when we get talking, you know, he always is like, you should do it. I'm gonna do it. So we both got it. And after the first, like, and I, I, I've got it digitally, which meant I couldn't return it 'cause I pre-ordered it, uh, from Best Buy.

And the reviews were, were coming out and they're like, this might be one of the worst games ever. And I, I played it for like two hours, dude. And I tried and I played it again, and I, it just, it, the story was awful. They throw a lot of like. You know, I, I don't, I, I never get political or I try not to get political, but you know, when it comes to like, art and, and gaming and stuff, they try to throw all this stuff.

It's like, you know, there was, there's a, a trans character and with a trans character, if you say one thing, then, then they, like, you, you get like this, this whole cut scene of them, you know, kind of belittling, belittling you about, you know, the trans community and shit like that. Like, I just wanna play a game, dude.

Like, I want an engrossing story. I don't need that political like that. The reason I play games is to escape all that shit, you know what I mean? Like, don't throw it into the games. I mean, yeah, you can have ideology and stuff in there if that plays to the game. The original Dragon Age one was a masterpiece.

Uh, are you an RPG guy at all?

Jed Shaffer: Uh, not as much as I used to be, but back in the day, years ago, before kids, before job and everything, I wasn't, um. I play a couple here and there I am playing Balder's Gate right now. I just got it a couple months ago. And Jesus Christ, the depth of that game is unreal. That that game is unfucking real with how di, with how deep it is.

Rob Valincius: I can't talk about Boulder's Gate enough. Dude, Boulder's Gate three. Uh, I've been looking for a role playing game like that for years. I mean, since, you know, like mass effect one or Fallout three or Fallout four, I mean, just something with just a engrossing story. And I need the ability to make decisions.

I need to be. And the cool thing about Boulder Gate, and I'm sure you could attest, attest to this, is like you never know where the conversation's gonna go, and you don't know what's gonna happen after you have that

Jed Shaffer: Mm-hmm.

Rob Valincius: You know? And if you get a roll and you get a shitty roll. You might be fighting a whole fucking castle of people, you know?

Uh, I, I don't play the rules where, you know, I, I, I'll say before stuff and load if, if I fuck up. 'cause I, I'm not trying to, to do certain things,

Jed Shaffer: Oh, I've done that. So I've done that so many times with this game. Like I have saved scum so much because, and, and you to the people who do look down on, uh, people like us who save scum. I don't care. My job, I've entertainment isn't entertainment. If I'm suffering

Rob Valincius: Yeah.

Jed Shaffer: and I at this, you know, if I was 20 years younger, 25 years younger, I would happily take the consequences and try and get good and buck up and, and all that shit.

But I'm, I'm damn near 50. I got shit to do. I got a lawn the mow. I just wanna have some fun and if I got a save scrum to do it and reload because I got some shitty rolls, that's fine. I got no problem.

Rob Valincius: I'll tell you what I did. So there's a website that does, uh, act checklists. So what I did was, is I'll play up to the point where it's like, are you sure you wanna do this? You can't go back. And then I'll look at a checklist and be like, all right, did I hit these key points? 'cause I don't, I don't wanna miss any I companions or any like, major plot lines, because once you go in, there's no going back.

So, uh, with Act one I did pretty well. I only, I missed, I, if I didn't use the checklist, I would've missed out on, um, is it Carla, the, uh, devil

Jed Shaffer: Oh yeah. Um, I think it's Karlak. Yeah.

Rob Valincius: I would've missed out on Carla, which would've fucking pissed me off. 'cause she's a great melee character, right? Barbarian. And so then act two, it was really bad.

I, I did my own thing. I went through, um, I got to, how far did you beat it

Jed Shaffer: I'm still in Act one.

Rob Valincius: You're still in Act one. Okay? So I'm not gonna try to spoil anything for you. Then. Um, I got to a certain point in Act two, which was basically the end. Uh, I did a fight that took me basically to, it's the fight before the final boss fight in Act two.

And I'm like, all right, lemme look at the checklist. Come to find out I missed three different areas that I had no idea. I missed an entire Quest section. Uh, and I was like, fuck. All right. So I had to load back before that fight, do all of that shit. Um, and I, I'm a saver, dude. I probably have 70 saves. I'll save.

And then if there's a certain point where I'm like, all right, I should probably save here in case I super fuck up, you know, and I'll, I'll just kind of do that. Um. I would definitely recommend if you're going through, uh, especially like if you're playing, like I, I only play on the weekends and I play, I'll play in the morning from like seven 30 to 11.

That, that's my gaming time is on the weekends unless we're doing something. And, uh, if I, if I, it gives you, uh, an ability to, once you get to a certain point, you're like, all right, let me make sure I didn't miss anything. I would definitely check out the checklists because you can miss so much without even realizing

Jed Shaffer: I'm gonna have to look that up. Yeah. 'cause I, I have been really taking my time trying to explore as much of the map as possible, find as many things I've, I know I've got several Quest lines, like I know they're not main Quest lines, but I know I've still got several of them open and I don't wanna leave them undone, but I'm sure that I've missed even more that I have no idea about.

Rob Valincius: I will tell you this, and it was the one thing in the checklist that fucked me up because it, it literally helps you drastically. Okay. There's a. Point in Act one where you're, um, finding the, the Gith Yankee like search party or whatever. Right now you're gonna come up to these guys and before the cut scene, so before you get onto the beach where they are, you'll, you'll see them If you go above, there's a bridge.

All right? Now this is gonna start a, a battle, all right? And I'm not giving any storylines away, but when you get up there, you can actually pickpocket the main guy and you don't fight him in act one, I think you, you end up going, uh, like seeing him again in Act three, uh, which I, I haven't even got there yet, but you can actually pick pop, you can, uh, cast a, i, I think it's a spell, um, where, uh, it disarms him and he drops his Gith Yankee sword, which is a legendary sword.

It's one of, it's the best sword in the game, especially if you use LaSelle. Okay? This sword makes LaSelle. Unstoppable and, and like the sword is fucking ridiculous. When you get to that point, you should 100. It, it's got a, uh, I feel like it's got a, a nine or 10% chance for you to, to do it. So you're gonna have to save, try it, save, try it.

You'll have to fight the party, which they're a little hard, but that sword is ridiculous. It, I'm so happy that I did that because it just, it doesn't make the game easier, but it makes LaSelle like your, your tank. Like she's in my part. Like she's never not in my

Jed Shaffer: Right. All right. I will, I'm gonna have to

Rob Valincius: that's my tip for

Jed Shaffer: I'm gonna have to keep that in mind 'cause, uh, whew. I, it, it, there's been some tough moments, uh, lately. Like, um, right now I, I just rescued Husson and we're fighting our way out of the goblin camp, so it's just like, fight short rest, fight, short rest, fight, long rest, fight.

Like it's, it's just. Endless fighting at the moment to get back to, um, that encampment and talk to him in advance. Whatever part of that storyline is.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, that's another one. Um, that's probably one of the toughest fights, honestly, in all of Act one

Jed Shaffer: Yeah, that I,

Rob Valincius: fighting your way outta there. It's, it's, it's very difficult. In fact, I, I, I've read the checklist and I wish I would've read it beforehand, but, you know, hey, look, you experienced the game, the, the, you know, the way you need to, but you can, um, you could have poisoned a bunch of the dudes outside.

Um, it would've killed like, you know, 10 or 12 of them if you would've poisoned their like cauldron. And I didn't know that either. Uh, and it would've made the fighting so much easier. 'cause once you get outside, dude, it is. It's not fun. It's, it's not fun at all. Uh, especially 'cause I'm a clothy. I play at Warlock, so

Jed Shaffer: The, the challenge,

Rob Valincius: your ass

Jed Shaffer: the challenge I'm finding with the game is that it requires a lot of lateral thinking and, uh, outside the box thinking, puzzle solving, you know, there's a million different ways to do it, and I'm just, I'm not used to that in a role playing game like this, the phrase role playing game, this really is a role playing game.

You really have to kind of get into it and commit to a character and think what you could do in there. It's not just you have the option to attack or flee. There is, well, I could shoot that wooden bracket that's holding the brasier over and knock the flame down into them, or I could poison the cauldron.

Or like, there's so many different ways around problems or through them or, or I, I'm having to retrain my brain. To play the game, which is fun. It's just, it's, it's so much different than the final fantasies and fantasy stars and dragon warriors of, you know, of the eighties and nineties. It, where it's just a lot of battles.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. And, and the cool thing too is like, there's a lot of callbacks from characters. So like, people you save, you know, um, you never know when you're gonna run back into 'em. And they, they could be a merchant and they could have sweet gear at some point. Um, they could be, uh, was that in the Golin cave? Have you killed all the bosses yet in the goblin

Jed Shaffer: Yes. I, I have killed all three bosses. I just haven't gotten outside yet.

Rob Valincius: Did you do a save before you did any of those?

Jed Shaffer: Um, there might be some auto saves, but my actual main game, main game file, no. It's like, I'm, I'm past it now.

Rob Valincius: You, you should look, because one of those bosses is a future character that can be a companion,

Jed Shaffer: Hmm.

Rob Valincius: and if you knock her out instead of killing her, um, in act two, you run across her and you can recruit her. It's, uh, Minha was her name. She's

Jed Shaffer: Yes. The, uh, the drow elf.

Rob Valincius: She's one of the best companions in the game. So I, I didn't know that either and had to go back.

So if I were you, I'd take a look and see if you can, if not, I mean, she's just not a companion. It is what it is. Uh, but she's, she's a pretty good, uh, she's a Paladin character that you can recruit, um, in act two. And, but you can't kill her. You have to get to a certain point and, and you can actually transition your attacks.

I'm sure my listeners are gonna love this, but, uh, there's you, uh, you can actually turn your attacks to non-lethal. Um, so you, if you turn it non-lethal, you can just hit her and knock her out. She's a little difficult, but if you can do that, um, you can, uh, take all her shit like you killed her. She doesn't get up or anything, and then you, you do get back to her.

But I, I would take a look 'cause she's pretty good as a pal.

Jed Shaffer: I'll have to keep that in mind. And if I, if I don't have the ability to get back that far again, then I'll save it for the next play through. 'cause this is definitely something where I'm gonna play through again with a completely different character, build different morality, uh, you know, make different choices.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. And, and the, the thing I think I liked the most about this game, and for, for everyone listening, um, if you're looking for a good role playing game, and this goes back to us when we were younger, right? Before everything was monetized, you bought a game, you got the whole game, you played the game, you beat the game, the game was done.

Um, and then, you know, you had microtransactions. So then they started to take the full game and you only got 75% of it, and 25% of it was DLC, right? And then you got 50% of the game and 50% was DLC. And then there was a season pass. And then, you know, like, all this stuff grow. And before you know it. You're paying 60 bucks, but you're only getting 25% of the game and then you have to pay for the rest.

Right? Um, the, the thing I love the most about this and, and their developers have come out and said it, is that they didn't want to do that. They wanted people to play the game in full the way it was meant to be with no micro transactions and the get made a billion dollars, like it just shows. And they're not AAA Studio Larry in studios.

You know, they're, they're not like, they're not an EA or whatever. Um, so it's not like their budget was a billion dollars. So I look at it this way, if they can do it, everyone else can. And it shows if you make a good game, a good fool game, people will fucking buy it and it'll get tons. It got so many fucking awards.

See, I avoided it 'cause I don't like term base combat. Um, but you just get used to it.

Jed Shaffer: I avoided.

Rob Valincius: is so good, you look past

Jed Shaffer: I avoided it for a while as well, mainly because the hype was so off the charts for it, and I just, when the hype gets to that level where you go on gaming, social media, you go on forums, you discord, whatever, and everyone just won't shut the fuck up about it. My alarm bell start going off of the, it can't be this good.

It is never going to live up to the hype and. Finally, I had people that I know and trust whose opinions I, you know, who will I value saying, no, dude. Seriously, really, seriously try it. It, it's better than you think it will be. Give it a shot. And it came up on sale on PSN. I'm like, all right, fine. I will do it.

I'll pull the trigger and we'll give it a go. And I'm, I'm happy to eat Crow on this one. I'm happy that it is everything that everyone said it was going to be. And like you said, it's a complete game. I don't have to worry about mission packs and, uh, stat boosts and cosmetics to buy. Here's the game, the end, and not just that we're gonna support it afterwards, there's still one more patch that they're gonna be putting out where they're gonna be adding even more subclasses.

Awesome.

Rob Valincius: I, I, I just, I hope that other studios take a page from their book. Um, one, I hope they come out with a Boulder skate for faster now, because it, it was fun. Um, but the storyline's good. It's just, it's just, I love this branching fucking, I love to be able to just play how I wanna play and not be forced. And that was the issue with Dragon Age.

There was no play how you wanna play. It was like the three, they gave you three options for everything, and none of them felt right for me to say. I'm like, okay, I guess I'll say this, but that's not in my head what I would say to that. But in, in Boulder's gate, you have like sometimes seven things that you can say, you know, and sometimes it could just be like, attack, and you're like, all right, fuck it, I'm attacking, I fuck that guy.

You know? And, and that's what a role playing game is supposed to be. Um, talk, talk to me about what was your, what's your all time? Well, hold on. I, I always like to ask this to, to gamers because I have since moved into a separate category. So I'm gonna see, I think I know where you're at based on what you were telling me, but PC verse console, where do you stand on that war?

Jed Shaffer: Okay. I am pretty much a dedicated console gamer. Um, I do have games on the PC that we're currently recording this on, but I, per, I grew up a console gamer. I much prefer playing on console. Uh, for me it's about the ease of use and the ease of setup, never having to worry about. Are my drivers updated? Do I have the graphics card that will run this properly?

Uh, all of the hardware issues that go along with PC gaming, uh, I find to be an annoyance, whereas I know that every game that I buy for my PlayStation five or for my Nintendo Switch will work on them 100% of the time. I don't have to worry about setting things up. They just work. Console gaming also has console and PC gaming have two different markets.

They appeal to the, the games that are on them appeal to different audiences, and this is no slight to, to the other side to PC gaming. I hate the tribalism of this one is better than the other, unquote, they are both equal and valid, and there is good to be found in both of them, but. I like platformers. I like the action.

The third person action adventure genre. Um, schmucks. The, the games that are on consoles that consoles are known for are the games that speak to me. The games that are on pc, that PC gamers love so much, don't do a lot for me. So does that mean there are none? No. Like I said, I've probably got 12 games here on this, on my laptop, but I'm always gonna gravitate towards console.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, look, I was, I was a console guy for many, many years and, uh, I think it was, uh, I. 2000, when was it? I think it was like 2016, 2017. I made the, I decided to make the full on switch to pc. Or actually, it might have been, it might have been 20 19, 20 20. I'm trying to think. I don't, I don't remember. But I've always had, like, I'm an, I'm, you know, I, my degree's in it, I don't, not that I do anything with it, but I've always built my computers.

Like I've always like, liked playing World of Warcraft. I mean, I was playing World of Warcraft on like a home IBM piece of shit, you know, tower that could barely run it. Um, so I've, there's, I've always gravitated towards some of that stuff, but I, I grew up a console guy. Like, that's, that's what I played. I mean, I still have, uh, I have an Xbox One, the, was it the Scorpio edition?

Um, I have the switch. I did get a steam deck. I've talked about that many times on my podcast, which is. You'd probably love it, um, you know, since you're a console guy, but you can take your steam games wherever the fuck you want. So if you wanna play Balder's Gate at, on your PC and then take it with you to, to go take a shit it, you can do that, which is, which is pretty freaking cool.

Um, but I made that full on switch because there is some games, like, like Valant, I was, I'm big into Valant. Um, and it, it's just plays better. Ballers Gate plays way better on PC than it does on console, just because you just have so many more buttons and the movement is just different. Um, point and click with the mouse.

Um, and I, 'cause I, you know, if I try to play it on the steam deck, it just doesn't, it doesn't play as good. Um, but I still, I have a controller, like I have, I have a PS five, one of the fucking $150 controllers. Um. I'll use that for, you know, games that I feel like you need a controller for, like Call of Duty if I ever play that again.

It's, it's the same shit, you know, but, um, like I'll play Madden sometimes, like you get Madden after the Super Bowl for free with, uh, PC Game Pass. Um, so there's certain games I'll, I'll play a controller with, but um, I do agree with you. I think the ease of use is so much better with console. It is a pain in the dick sometimes to figure out why your game keeps crashing.

Um, but I, I, I love the Power man. I mean, my computer's a little outdated with the graphics card 'cause I have a 30, 80 and Nvidia. Uh, but it's still a fucking monster, powerhouse card. You know, it's a $700 card six, six years ago. Um, and it's lasted all this time and it's still very relevant still. So it's like, it's almost like a console, you know, you're gonna basically spend that on a console, but you do get a lot less of the worry.

Um, I don't know man. I just, I don't know if I could go back. I probably could to a certain degree. Um, especially, I'm gonna be a little pissed off 'cause I know grant theft thought oh six is not launching on PC for start. It's gonna come out like sometime in 2026 in the beginning, first quarter or something.

They never released that game on PC when it comes out. And that's the one thing that bothers me. There's certain studios that do that. It's like PC is like neglected to a certain degree and they're gonna make a ton of money off console shit, you

Jed Shaffer: Which is for games especially like that, like GTA, that is so surprising. I don't understand why they would, why rockstar would treat the PC as an afterthought. a huge market, and I'm not a GTA guy. I haven't enjoyed a g I've honestly, I haven't enjoyed A GTA since San Andreas. Um, but that

Rob Valincius: City guy.

Jed Shaffer: but that being said, it is probably the most Fran, uh, lucrative franchise in gaming.

Flat out. They drop it when they drop GTA six. I expect that to be on the top 10 bestselling games of all time list inside two, three months. Like that, that shit is gonna blow up. And not putting it on PC right away is leaving. It's not just leaving money on the table, it's leaving the whole federal fucking reserve on the table.

It is just, there's so much money to be made off that.

Rob Valincius: A ridiculous amount. Uh, something else I wanted to talk about, um, you know, before we get a little bit into your podcast, um, switch two was announced officially. Right. Um, what's your thoughts on that? Man, I, I, I gotta tell you, um, the, the, the price for games is ridiculous and I, I hate that they're doing it because it's gonna set a precedent for everybody else to make their games a hundred dollars.

You know, they're like, oh, the switch too is 90, 110, you know? Uh, what's your thoughts on some of the, the launch stuff?

Jed Shaffer: God, I, I'm annoyed. I'm honestly really annoyed. I sat there watching that direct going, where's the bombshell? Where, where's, where's the hook? And I'm in, and I've got a switch. I love the switch. I think it's, I mean, it's not,

Rob Valincius: a switch as

Jed Shaffer: it's not a powerhouse console, but there it was never attempting to be the powerhouse console.

Nintendo makes Nintendo products for the Nintendo experience, and I like that. I appreciate that. I don't buy a Nten, a Nintendo to play Call of Duty. I buy to play Mario and to play Metro, so that's. I'm good with that. But the, the teaser reveal in January, the narrative has been just, they had to, they had to do that to get ahead of the leaks.

Just wait until, until April and they will justify it. They will blow the doors off things. They will absolutely amaze you. And what I saw in that trailer convinced me that not only am I not gonna get it at launch, I don't know if I'm gonna get it at all. Um, 500.

Rob Valincius: that's coming. That's, that's that, that's coming. That's pretty big coming from someone that's a Nintendo fan.

Jed Shaffer: $500 for that console. Fuck you for a, for a switch with a slightly bigger screen.

Uh, yes. Okay. It's 10 80 p Well, I've already got 10 80 p on other things. You being a that being on 10 80 p does not magically make my life better. Um. The first party titles are n Mario Kart and the demo game that you gotta pay for really, uh, the $80 price point on games. Uh, and they've announced that not only is it gonna be Mario Kart, the two Zelda, uh, Rema and the Kirby, and the the last Kirby Game, Kirby and the Lost World, Kirby, and the whatever it was,

Rob Valincius: Yeah.

Jed Shaffer: are gonna be 80 bucks too for fucking Rema. I all that waiting for, you know, what it feels like. Do you remember the E three where Sony showed off the PlayStation three?

Rob Valincius: I, I do actually, I was working for GameStop at that time, so yes, I do.

Jed Shaffer: that's what this feels like all over again. Sony came out of the, was coming into the PlayStation three, having had the bestselling console of all time, and they came into that E three with the big swing in Dick going, you'll buy it at whatever price. We say, because we're Sony. Because we're PlayStation and we are kings.

And everyone went, ha, no, no. We'll buy the Xbox. We'll buy that. That toy, that Nintendo's selling, that you wave your arms around, we won't buy you. And it took them a while to learn that you don't treat the customer like that. Nintendo's doing that now. They're coming in with the switch too. Like, yeah, we got one of the best selling consoles of all time.

We could charge whatever we want. We don't have to put out great games at the start. You'll come running because it's Nintendo. No, I won't. I'm not coming running. I'm not coming walking. I'm not even sure I'm coming ever. Sorry.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. And, and, and, and on top of it, dude, it's like, uh, getting anything anymore, you know, to, to fight through the scalpers is just a battle as it is.

Jed Shaffer: and,

Rob Valincius: Um,

Jed Shaffer: and speaking of the money part too, not to bring politics into this, but you kind of have to, the financial news yesterday that dropped, at least at the time of that, we're recording this, of the many, many tariffs that are going to be put into place. The switch to is being assembled in China, Taiwan, and Vietnam, I think.

And all of those have new tariffs that'll be ranging anywhere from 20 to 50%. So is that 449 for the base unit? Really gonna stay? 4 49.

Rob Valincius: Probably not.

Jed Shaffer: Yeah. We all of a sudden could have, could just see that thing turn into 600 or 700. I, I'm sorry, I'm not dropping a mortgage payment for a console. I'm just not.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. I mean it's, it's, it's not good. And I mean, even I was laughing so hard, dude, when they showed the camera that you can buy, I'm like, that is such a cash grab. That is like the most, that literally looks like something I would buy in 2000. You know what I mean? It's like not even like a good looking camera that's like high def with it.

Just, it looks ridiculous.

Jed Shaffer: It's, it's like a little, it's like a little knob on a stick and it just looks so chintzy. I did see that there is a licensed company, I saw this on Blue Sky today that is going to make their own version of it that is shaped like a piranha plant from Mario. And so the cam, so the camera's coming out of the Piana plant's mouth.

That's cute, but still it

Rob Valincius: 50 bucks.

Jed Shaffer: yeah.

Rob Valincius: I mean, you could get a, for 70 bucks, like a Logitech like nine 70. That's like a, a really good webcam that people use for everything. You know what I mean? I, I just, I don't know. I agree with you. I think it's a cash grab. Um, I think they're, they might learn a hard lesson here. Um, especially not really updating it that much.

It's like, you know, at least when you went from the WE to the Weu, it had that tablet concept, you know, so it still used the motion, but it was like a whole new thing. Um, the Weu didn't do that great. Um, but it, I, it set them up for the switch. Um, so, so I don't know what their game plan is here. I think that they should have tried a little bit of a different concept, kind of like they did with the ou.

To set themselves up for what comes after this. But you, you're doing the same concept, the same joy cons. I mean, yet magnets cool. Um, you're, you're not really doing anything, I don't wanna say revolutionary, but the, we was revolutionary, man. It got, you know, grandmoms and moms and dads to play video games again.

Um, or people that have never played video games that got them into it, you know, because you had things like, uh, you know, we, we fit and we bowling and, um, there was a lot of revolutionary things that they did. So, I, I mean, I wasn't shocked in any way. I'm sure there's a lot of people listening to this that are gonna go, yeah, I'm, I mean, I'm not gonna buy it or I'll wait, you know?

Um, but it sucks because like, like, you know, look, I'm, I'm a nerd. I decided, uh, I wanted to get back into collecting Pokemon cards and create my own little trading card. Store, right. Getting Pokemon cards is, it's easier for me to, I don't, I, I don't, I don't know, like take a trip to Japan and buy them there and come back than it is physically getting them here.

It is ridiculous trying to get Pokemon cards and I'm doing it because I think I love gambling and that's basically what it is. Uh, you know, open up and hoping you get a good card and it gets the wifey involved. We open packs together. It's, it's cool, but it is not like it was when we were kids, dude.

Jed Shaffer: No, no. It's become, it's become a market. It's, it's so much more, unless you're eight and you're buying a pack at Target, um, you know, if you're a collector, if you're approaching it with a, a more mature mind Yeah. It, it is so monetized now. It is so brutal. I, I commend you for trying to get into that man.

'cause I. Whew, that would be a hell of a deep end of the pool to jump into.

Rob Valincius: It, it's been a, it's been fun, like when you get them, like we got, um, a bunch of the new set journey together. I managed to get some pre-orders and, you know, a couple places had them, you know, at launch, a target broke street date, which is always fun. Um, so I did manage to get a decent amount of the new set.

Um, but it's like, it's, it's getting the packs, organizing everything, seeing what you get. It's, it's just, I, that feeling is, is fun. I remember that when I was a kid, but I also am thinking about it now and I'm like, those bastards got me gambling at a very early age. I remember fucking shoveling, snow mowing lawns, just so I could get 10 bucks to go buy two packs.

You know what I mean? Like, and you think about it from a, an adult perspective, you're like, fuck man, they were getting me hooked as a kid. I was fucking eight. You know?

Jed Shaffer: the original loot boxes. I mean, if you think about it, they're the original loot boxes because you could drop your five bucks, your eight bucks, whatever the price of a pack was. You had no idea if you were going to get, uh, a card that you wanted, a card that was worth something, or if you were just gonna get five basic starter cards.

It, it was like you said, a gamble. And they've been doing that for decades.

Rob Valincius: Which by the way, had, had we known now what we, what we know then, or we know then what we know now. Uh. Those cards would all be worth ridiculous amounts of like the cards I used to say, this is a piece of shit. And like, throw away those cards are worth thousands of dollars now, you know, uh, I don't know if I ever managed to get a good Charizard when I was a kid, but I had, um, we used to, my mom, God, I love her to death.

She would take us to Toys R Us on Saturday mornings and they would have, they were ha they would have a, a poor Toys R Us employee was a gym leader and you, you could get your book stamped and they had promo cards and we would get a, there was a promo Gar Gido card that I, I got and I had a bunch of them.

Those cards today would probably be worth a ridiculous amount. And, and we had gym badges that they gave us and some really cool shit. No fucking idea where any of that stuff is. I'm so mad at myself, dude. I'm so

Jed Shaffer: Dude, so my I, aside from getting rid of all the old video games that I had, which I know that I had a whole bunch of games that would be worth money. Now, the collectible thing that I had as a kid that I regret getting rid of, I had Gen one Transformers, the original metal transformers. I had Megatron before. The legislation passed that you had to make guns, not toy, guns not look like real guns. Back when Megatrons original form looked like a silver Beretta, like original run Gen one, all of it. Optimus Prime, Megatron Star, scream Wheel Jack, the Dyna Botts, all of them.

Rob Valincius: Wow.

Jed Shaffer: gone. They're all, they're all dead in landfills, probably.

I don't know. Or, or they got sold in yard sales. I don't know where they are, and I just, I have no idea what they would be worth now, but I know they would be worth a fair bit and it, it

Rob Valincius: If I could time travel. If I could time travel, I would definitely go back and be like, listen you little fucker, okay, here's what I need you to do. Take better care of those fucking cards. You're gonna bring those with you everywhere. As you move, you know where those cards are. You're gonna bring them with you.

And, uh, I feel like. I feel like my Pokemon cards were, I think my stepdad, when my mom, uh, divorced, the first stepdad, uh, I feel like, I feel like he took those and gave them to his kids. My cards, he, he took a, a couple of things that I had some, some pretty good comics, collector's, comics. I had this one comic dude.

I was, uh, really happy with it. It was a collector's item. It was when, um, I, I love the, the symbis. So like Carnage is one of my favorites 'cause he is a fucking psycho. Um, and I had this one, uh, one shot scenario where Carnage, uh, morphed onto Silver Surfer.

Jed Shaffer: Interesting.

Rob Valincius: it was such a good comic, but it was a collector's item and I had it in plastic with the, you know, the white backing and everything.

And I remember, uh, he, him giving that to his kids. My step. Brother or sister and God only knows what the fuck they did with 'em. But yeah. Yeah. There's, there's certain shit, you know, at this point, you, you're, you just, you try not to think about it 'cause you're like, oh man, uh, that would be worth so much now.

But, um, I, I always ask this of people who are coming onto the show and are gamers, what are your top three games of all times, sir?

Jed Shaffer: Number one is res, uh, it's, it's a rail shooter. Uh, it originally was on PlayStation two. They did a remaster of it called Res Infinite. Uh, it's available on PlayStation four, maybe the Xbox One. Uh, and it's also available on Steam. Uh, it's a unique. Games kinda like hacking or it's the, the format is hacking.

But, um, 'cause you're, it's like in the future you're hacking this supercomputer that controls the world, but it's really a shooter, so that's how you're hacking, quote unquote. Uh, but it ties in like your actions create visual impact on the world, which creates notes in the background music, which creates force feedback into the controller.

So it's like this loop of sight, sound and feel that all feed into each other over and over again. Um,

Rob Valincius: That's cool. Yeah, I feel like I remember seeing that. I don't know if I ever played

Jed Shaffer: it's highly worth it. I would, I would, if you like shooters, not call of duty shooters, but more like schmucks. Uh, it is a beautiful game. It has a amazing soundtrack, very unique. And if you've got a VR helmet like an Oculus.

It's got VR mode. I have not tried it, but I heard that it's just a fucking trip. Um,

Rob Valincius: I do have Oculus twos this. I bought a set of those for me and the wife who we, uh, will play. Um, I. and, uh, you can play, um, cornhole, which is, which actually pretty

Jed Shaffer: cool. But yeah, I, I would recommend I'd check it out. Maybe Steam's got a demo. Highly recommend it. Uh, second favorite game, Sylvania Symphony of the Night. The perfect Castlevania game, the refinement of the Metro Vania genre Amazing soundtrack that you could, it's good enough to put on while you're in the car.

And just the mechanics of it, the what? The different builds that you can make for your character are just, there's limitless options. It's breathtaking. And third favorite would be Diablo three. For a lot of the same reasons as Cave, where there's just so many different options. Like I've got character builds for all seven different character classes.

Uh, just endless fun that you can have with the adventure mode and collecting bounties. Uh, it's, it's my comfort game. It is the, I don't know what I want to play or I've got 15 minutes and I've, you know, but I, and I can kill with that. With a video game. What do I do? Diablo three?

Rob Valincius: Yeah. You know, I've never, I've never played any of the Diablo games. I know that that's like, coming from someone that's like into RPG style games. Um, the, the wifey, she was into Diablo too. That's like one of her favorite, one of her favorite games. 'cause she would just, she, you know, she said she would just run around killing stuff and, and, and getting loot.

I'm like, yeah, that's, that's basically the game. You know, kill shit, get loot, you know, move on. Um, I, you know, for me, I don't, I don't know what my top three are, but I gotta tell you, I think my all time favorite game, and I've talked about this before the podcast, but Star Wars Night's, the Old Republic, the original is.

My all time, all time, all time favorite game. And I wish they would do like a remaster. Um, I feel like they might have some PC mods, but uh, there is talk, I think of them redoing it and it's been put off a couple times. Um, but that is by far my all time favorite game ever. Just,

Jed Shaffer: I, I never got a chance to play it.

Rob Valincius: dude, hear me out.

Jed Shaffer: I not, not because of bias or anything. I've heard great things about it and it looks great. It was on the Xbox, so I, it never came to PS two. It never came to anywhere else, and I don't know that it's been ported since. I've never really looked into it, but I probably should.

Rob Valincius: I don't think it's a, you could get it, you could probably play it on your pc. No problem. It's, it's a very, uh, I know that the, and it's even mobiley, like if you have a tablet, um, they have it available I think on the play store, um, for cheap. Is, it's got one of the craziest twists in the middle of the game that, um, and I'm sure you've, you've felt this playing games throughout your life, right?

That you'll just never forget. Like, it, it, it fucked me up so bad. I'm like, what? What? I'm like looking around and, you know, I'm, I'm a 18, 19-year-old kid playing this, and I'm like, what the fuck just happened? How, how? And I'm like trying to go back through the story and be like, well, where would, where would I have figured that out?

You know? Um, and for me it was one of the craziest video game twists, really story twists, I think, um, for me that I'll never forget. And I wish I could get that feeling back. That's what I'm chasing. I've been chasing that feeling for, you know, 25 fucking years. You know?

Jed Shaffer: Metal gear. Solid two. That was for Crazy twist. That was mine was metal gear. Solid two was pretty much once shit starts to go haywire in like the final hour and the simulation starts breaking down and like, I, I just remember playing that going, I, I don't understand any of this, but it's amazing.

Rob Valincius: What, what was, which one was

Jed Shaffer: That was Sons of Liberty. That was the one where you only play a snake for like the first hour of the game and then you play his riding and it's on that oil Derricks,

Rob Valincius: That's the only metal gear solid that I, that I played and beat. And it was, I know exactly what you're talking about. And it's, it's definitely, it was an awesome fucking game. I tried to play snake eater. Was that, was that

Jed Shaffer: yes.

Rob Valincius: I don't know that, that, that game's a little weird. I could never get into some of that sneakier around style games, but I, I remember playing that and that was like around the same time where you had games like, um, max Payne. Max Payne was so good.

Jed Shaffer: Yeah, you gotta have patience. You gotta have patience to play middle gear. It is a, like, it, it discourages violence, you know, it discourages shooting your way out of the problem. So it is definitely a game of slowness and patience. And if you don't wanna play that style, it, it's not a rewarding game at all.

So it's, yeah, it's, it's

Rob Valincius: I agree. Um, your podcast, man, talk, talk a little bit about the podcast. How did it come to be and, and, um, how's it been for you? I don't, I, uh, how long have, have you guys been working on that?

Jed Shaffer: Uh, we've been, Ashley and I have been doing the podcast together for about two years now. I think. Um, I. I've lost track of time, to be honest. Uh, it came about, I've had a couple of podcasts prior to, to first gen gamers. I had a wrestling podcast. I had a music podcast, and I had another video game podcast, um, which was a solo effort, and I dis the,

Rob Valincius: Solo's, tough

Jed Shaffer: So solo's really tough. I, I didn't enjoy it. It just didn't, it never came together the way I wanted it to. And I still wanted to do podcasting, but I wanted to co-host and I wanted to still talk about video games. And I had been watching, you know, I consume a, I'm sure you do too as well. You consume a lot of video game news.

You know, you read, you know, IGN and Polygon and Game Informer and watching Video Game U, you know? Yeah. Video Game YouTubers, rabid, Luigi Scott Theis, people like that. Uh. I read a lot of that. I watch a lot of that, and I noticed that a lot of, when they would do list-based articles, there was a, a recency bias to 'em.

You, you know, you, if it was top 10 RPGs, every RPG would be from the past 10 years. And that started to irritate me because that ignores it's, it's not that, you know, it's not that RPG, I mean, RPGs do have a lot more depth now than they ever could have in the Nintendo and the Genesis and the PlayStation days.

But that doesn't mean that those games are bad. And if we focus on the, now, we're losing the history. And the kids that are coming up now won't know that history. They won't know that there is this. Generation that there is this, that there's 50 years now of video game history that can be explored and enjoyed.

And that got me thinking of how could I celebrate that? And that's where first Gen gamers started was that rather than doing a list and going, what are your top 10 platformers, the cons, the original conceit of it was, okay, let's do the best platformers. But you pick one game or one example for whatever that topic is from each console generation.

So what is your best platformer from the second generation of consoles, the Atari and the in television and the ColecoVision? And then move on to the third, the Nintendo and the Sega Master system, and then the fourth generation and so on. So it really encompasses the entirety of video game history.

Without bias towards any generation. It, it appreciates everything. And so that's where it really started. And then, uh, we've now evolved to have that. And then, uh, a round table episode also, we do one of each per month, uh, the round or the open discussion episode, I should say, which is, that's Ashley's baby.

So she drives that more. They're a little more quirky topics. There are things where you could talk about a history, but going generation by generation might not, it might choke the conversation doubt, like, uh, talking about simulation games for instance. That was a recent episode. Uh, that doesn't work so well in a generation by generation list, but you can talk about it as an overall topic going.

They started with Sim City and they've grown to power wash simulator. So whether it's the list based or whether it's the open discussion, the whole idea is looking at video game history holistically start to finish and saying it's weird, it's wild. It could be frustrating, it could be beautiful. It let's celebrate all of it.

Rob Valincius: I love that dude. Um, you know, I think, um, you know, you'll have people that appreciate that, whether it's, you know, old heads like us and or you know, young kids that are just finding their way. 'cause I think video games is an art. I. It's, it's very similar to everything you

Jed Shaffer: Mm-hmm.

Rob Valincius: You know? Um, everyone's different.

Everyone has their own tastes. Um, you know what, what's a good RPG for me, for, for me might be a shitty one for you, which I don't, you said you like platformers. I almost never play platformers. That's not my thing. So like, I just feel like, um, video games allow you to express yourself, um, in various outlets, you know?

Um, if I'm, if I wake up on a Saturday morning and I want, and I feel competitive and I gotta get that juice out, um, because I'm too fat to go play basketball anymore, um, I'll go play Valant and, you know, I'll have a, an 8-year-old kid shit on me and call me a slur. Um, you know, but that's, that's the world we live in, online gaming.

It's, it's the wild, wild west, but it gets, it lets me express my competitiveness if I just wanna. Sit back, take my mic and move it over there so I'm not yelling at an 8-year-old kid and sit down and just chill and, um, immerse myself. I'll play some boulder skate, you know? And, um, I, I don't, I think I'm gonna be 80 and still try to be playing some type of game because I do think it is good for, for the mind too.

It allows you to keep it moving, you know? Um, I play a lot of Hearthstone on my phone, you know, and, and that's almost like a, you know, world of Warcraft meets chess, you know? Um, and it allows you to just kind of get lost and, but also stay sharp, you know, you gotta, as we age, we gotta, we gotta stay focused, man.

You don't wanna be just staring at fucking TikTok and getting lost in crazy videos that your algorithm's thrown up because your friends are degenerates like mine. Um.

Jed Shaffer: allowed me to, like, I remember when my parents got the, my first video game consoles. One of the things, one of the ways they justified it to themselves was, well, maybe it will help with his hand eye coordination, and that can serve him later in life. Like, yeah, beating Frogger isn't gonna turn me into an eye surgeon.

But what it did do was it allowed me to problem solve and attack puzzles and figure out timing and learn. Learn rhythms, you know, and how I could apply that in real life. I work in healthcare technology, so a lot of that is program, not, not programming at a, at a code level, but programming at the, in the front end and trying to figure out, okay, why did this that we put in there?

Why is this not working? Well, I now treat that almost like a game. It's now a puzzle that I've gotta solve. So being able to beat Super Mario Brothers or Legend of Zelda turned me into a prob a digital problem solver. And that's what I do for a living. I'm a digital problem solver. So, like you said, it keeps that, it keeps the mind fresh, it keeps that, that cutting edge, sharp in the brain.

And it's just, it's fun and, and it can, and yeah, and it could be fun whether it's. Balder's gate, or whether it's 10 yard fight on the NES. Okay, maybe not 10 yard fight. That game sucks. But you know, dude, I've got an analog pocket that's right behind my computer right now that's full of old Nintendo and Genesis and Turbo Graphics games.

And when I'm not playing Boulder's Gate lately, I've been on that playing legend, held the link to the past. I've beaten that. I've beaten that game probably a dozen times and I'm trying to beat it again because the classics hold, the classics hold up. They just hold, it's like a classic film or a classic album.

Rob Valincius: Classic

Jed Shaffer: Classic, yeah. that's that was good will remain good. And that, and to tie it back to the podcast, that's what CLA First Gen Gamers is about, is going look at, look at history. This good stuff is still good. Just because it isn't photorealistic doesn't mean you, you can't get. Some fun out of it.

Rob Valincius: Look man, I appreciate what you're doing with the podcast, uh, because that's, you're keeping, you're keeping some of those old guys alive, you know? And I think that they, they do deserve that attention. Especially, I mean, just the game, uh, linked to the past. I mean, there's, there's so many of those that, that deserve that attention that I think younger kids might not, might not even know exist.

So, um, do me a favor, plug your podcast and anything else you got going on before we get outta here

Jed Shaffer: sure. Uh, so you can find First Gen Gamers on all of the major podcasting platforms, Spotify, apple Podcasts, YouTube. Uh, we have a Blue Sky account, that's First Gen Gamers Pod, uh, first Gen Gamers pod@gmail.com for people who want to email. I am, oh, uh, first Gen Gamers Pod on Instagram. Uh, if you wanna follow me, I'm also on Blue Sky.

That's the only social media I've got. Uh, streets a Jed, uh, and I'm also on letterbox at the same name. Oh, and my co-host, I would be remiss if I didn't give her a little shine. Uh, she has a podcast called Fuck That. It is a True Crime podcast. She's also on Instagram and Blue Sky at f that pod. Uh, if you wanna follow her as well,

Rob Valincius: Yeah, I'll have to check that out. I'd love to love me a little true crime. Um, my, my podcast obviously is drink o clock pot on all socials. Uh, I think I'm on everything. Uh, ask me if I've posted a TikTok video in the past six months. Probably not. Uh, but I do, I do always post on YouTube, so, um, yeah, I gotta get better with the socials, man.

It's just when you're, when you're a one man team, uh, sometimes it's a little rough. Um, and, uh, this podcast is a avail available anywhere you listen to podcasts. Um, it is, it is everywhere, which is a beautiful thing. So, um, I know you're a busy guy, man. Thanks for taking the time out to hang out. And let's do this again soon.

If you want, if you need a, a special guest, you let me know. I'd be happy to talk. Uh, nerdy

Jed Shaffer: we'll book it, guaranteed. We will book it.

Rob Valincius: Awesome, man. Well, look, you have a great night. Thanks for, thanks for coming

Jed Shaffer: Thanks, you too. 

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