Welcome everyone, you're back again.
How dare you. How dare you keep this show
going with your energy and your love and your compassion for the
Gaming Nexus podcast. How dare you after John almost
ruined all of your lives last week or last show, whatever,
right? John came in here with the
hotness and he told us he told everybody how much he loved gave
me Nexus. And if you missed it, stop this
show and go back and watch. Watch and go back and watch.
I said it again and go back and listen to that show.
You know, what's funny about that show is I was telling my
coworkers about it and I was like, have did you guys listen
to the podcast episode yet? And they were like, no, not yet.
And I was like, OK. And I started telling them all
about the podcast episode and I was like, Oh no, I'm spoilering
the spoiler episode. You spoiled the.
Spoiler episode. I'm like, literally that's what
we were talking about and I'm doing it.
That voice is the lovely voice of 1 Kelly Gray, who is with us
always and forever. She is stuck here via a pact
that we made with a cauldron and a lot of different potions.
So there's that. Thank you for being here again,
Miss Kelly Gray. Happy to be here.
We're not going to talk about what today is for Kelly Gray.
We're not going to talk about it.
We're not allowed, OK? We're just going to throw our
hands up when we get to some headline.
You can't. You can't.
You can't say you can't say that because then you'll keep them
guessing. You know what?
Maybe we should say it at the very end of the podcast so that
they have to listen to the whole thing.
Maybe you should listen to the whole thing and see what I was
talking about referring to. See.
Look at that, Kelly. This is how our brains work in
the moment. We are in the building, we are
in your ears, and we're going to get into some headlines.
We're not going to waste any more of your time.
Kelly, what are you talking about this week?
We are. I think we should start with the
Xbox game price increase, yeah. So the Xbox series went up in
price since we've been gone. The Xbox series S went up from
299 to 379 which is insane for a digital only console.
Of course, I can't say that because I paid for 49 for a
Nintendo Switch too, but it's not a it's also it plays
physical games. I don't even know why I said
that. Yeah 379 the Xbox Series S1 TB
went up to 429 from 349. The Xbox Series X digital went
up to 549. The Xbox Series X physical went
up to 599. The Xbox Series X2 TB went up to
729. Oh.
Gosh. I'd be damned.
Now listen, I know there's APC people who are out there like
this. These prices ain't nothing.
I paid 729 for a video card. I get it.
But us console gamers waiting for it.
Kelly, you've had an Xbox 360. Yeah.
How you feel about getting an Xbox Series now?
Not not promising, Joseph, Not promising for me.
You know the game prices went up too, right?
Yes, well the game prices haven't gone up yet, but they
did say that by Christmas there will be an $80.00 game.
Yeah, and from what I gather, people are kind of blaming
Nintendo. Yeah, but they can't, right?
I don't think they can. I don't.
I don't feel like that's fair. I feel like that's.
Let's hear your argument then. Like what?
Why? Why do you think it's not fair?
If I raise my ticket prices for affirmative distraction to $25
and we sell it out, are you raising your prices to your
comedy show to $25? Well, let's be honest, my comedy
show is already higher price than yours, Joseph.
Wow, wow. There it is there.
It is. There it is.
So I, I, the way that I thought about it is like gas station
pricing, right? So if the gas station down the
street raises their price, why wouldn't I raise my prices too?
If people are willing to pay it? And the, and the, it's proving,
I mean, people are pre ordering. They're like, like crazy.
And the so the fear of people spending money on consoles isn't
there. Is, and we still don't know if
this is confirmed or not, is it the tariffs?
I don't know why people are shying away from saying tariffs,
tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, tariffs, tariffs.
Tariffs, I think, I think tariffs are going to be like the
new COVID where like companies are going to use tariffs and
they're going to be like, sorry, it's the tariffs and then we're
going to be stuck with it forever.
You know, like the grocery store still pisses me off.
Had two entrances and they closed one entrance and they
were like, it's for COVID. I don't know how that was for
COVID, but sure. And now they never opened up the
second entrance. No, you were saving money, you
jerks. I I thought you were going to
say that people were going to start using tariffs for COVID,
as in they were not going to speak on tariffs like they're
not going to say tariffs. Like we don't talk about Bruno,
we don't talk about, we don't talk about COVID be like it was
because of the pandemic, right? But you never said COVID because
it was. I think for like most people
we're we're there's a lot of talk about tariffs, but like a
business isn't going to want to talk like why would you say the
scary word if you're trying to sell stuff?
Yeah, yeah. A lot of people are saying that
backlogs are now about to be complete because nobody's buying
the new system. So now all your backlogs are are
perfectly fine. So that's that's the thing.
Yeah, we're just going to have to wait and see like what the
actual response to. So there's like 2, there's two
different responses to anything in gaming.
There's what you see online that people are willing to say, and
there's what people are willing to actually spend their money
on. Right, right.
Let people spend their money. Let's let people spend their
money. We can go on Twitter all day and
read people complaining about it.
At the end of the day, people are going to buy it, so we'll
have to see. That's right, that's right.
I I agree 100% I spent my money. I have my pre-order, so I don't
know, and I have a Series X before it went up, so there's
that. Wow, what else we talking about?
Next on the agenda, Joseph, is that Nintendo released Virtual
Game Cards. OK, I agree with some of the
people who said that Nintendo explained this poorly.
Therefore, I'm going to explain this poorly.
OK, thank you because I was going to say I obviously read up
on it and I think I understand what this is about, but I need
you to explain it to me like I'm 5.
All right, so I'm going to explain it as Nintendo explains
it, and then I'm going to try to explain in my own the Virtual
Game Card feature for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch to
add some of the flexibility of physical game cards to your
digital game library. If you have two systems, you can
digitally eject and load games from one system to another, and
you can even lend games to members of your Nintendo Account
family group, which guys get you a Nintendo Account family group?
It's up to 8 people, and you can loan games between them with
this feature. Just going to say that that's
the first thing. If you have two different
systems linked to the same Nintendo account, you can choose
which system to play it on, just like with a physical game card.
So this is the digital version of me handing you a copy of the
of a physical game. If I'm going to, I'm going to be
like, do you want to, you want to borrow this?
Here you go. This is the digital version.
So is it basically like a cloud based library?
It is, it is not. These are games that are on your
system that you have bought and you want to lend to someone else
and you can lend these games to someone else, but you can do
them digitally, right? You can easily do it the so OK,
you can also lend virtual game cars to your Nintendo Account
family group members. Just connect your family group
member system via local wireless when you want to lend a game.
Both systems must also be connected to the Internet.
So there are concerns that if I lend you a game and something
happens to your Nintendo Switch, I don't get that game back
because they're not connected to the Internet.
But I feel like I thought there was something that I saw that
says you can lend your game to these people for 14 days and
they automatically come back. That is not Oh yeah, you can
lend one game per account for 14 days unless the borrower returns
it early. After the game is returned, the
borrower will still have this their save data, so they'll be
able to start where they left off if they borrow it again or
purchase the game. So the game automatically comes
back to you after 14 days is what I think is going to happen.
It does not say that right, which is where I'm confused.
I'm going to explain this poorly, but it says you can lend
one game per account for 14 days unless the borrower returns it
earlier. After the game is returned to
the borrower, they will still have to save that as they can
start off where they where they left.
They can start where they left off or if they want to borrow it
again. So that tells me that the game
automatically comes back. Am I?
I have no wrong.
I don't know. We're going to have to wait and
find out. I find this to be extremely
interesting in a world where the prices are increasing so rapidly
to for a company to start allowing for digital sharing.
Right, right, right. That is a non money hungry move.
I mean, obviously they're making money off of the sale and I'm
sure they're banking on people enjoying the game that they're
borrowing enough that they want to buy it for themselves, but it
just doesn't seem like the way companies are running lately.
You can do this already with Steam, right?
If like it's a family share game or share game feature, you can
also do it for an hour with the PlayStation five.
You cannot do it with Xbox and with the Nintendo Switch you can
share it with the Nintendo Switch 2.
You can share any game with three other people on their
Nintendo Switch one or their Nintendo Switch 2.
So if I have Mario Kart 8, I can play it with you on your
Nintendo Switch 1? So we can both be playing the
same game. We can both be playing the same
game. I we don't know what the lag is
going to be because I know on the PlayStation 5 the lag is,
you know, abysmal. But yeah, yes, so like the cozy
games, Animal Crossing. Oh, you're speaking my language?
You see what I'm saying? Like Stardew Valley multiplayer.
I can if I have Stardew Valley on Nintendo Switch 2, I can, I
can send it out to three other players and we can all play at
the same time with that fucking game chat feature that
everybody's talking about They hate, but you know you don't
because you just want something to bitch about and which is
like, how can you hate game chat?
But love this chord beyond me. But you know, I it's, it's, I
agree with you too there that where it says all these games
increasing in their pricing and these features are available.
Yeah, yeah. No, I, it's so this is
reminiscent to me of like when the iPad came out and like
people were like, what is this? This seems really dumb.
And now it's like one of the most commonly owned accessories.
Like I, I feel like this is going to be one of those things
where it's just going to become the technology moving forward.
I think so. I think Nintendo is setting.
I think Nintendo is when people are like, oh, they they didn't
catch up. I think they're finally catching
up right technology technologically wise, I think
they're finally catching up and then they're going to be like
we're we're not just going to do this half ass right.
We don't we don't care about the UI.
We don't care what the E shop looks like.
We don't care about none of that stuff.
Does the game does the does the system function?
Does it do the things it needs to do?
Does it play all the games that it that the Nintendo switch one
can play? Yes, yes, and yes, right.
I'll be surprised if this thing doesn't sell the 15,000,000 it's
forecasted in the first year, which will beat the Wii U in its
first year. It's fascinating.
I mean, all of the trends that are happening in gaming right
now are super fascinating to me and I can't wait to see what how
things kind of pan out. It's fantastic, Yeah.
What else? Grand Theft Auto.
Grand Theft Auto is now coming out May 2026.
Yeah, it's, it's, it's stolen the hype over the last, you
know, week, week and a half, I feel.
Yeah, and and not, you know, people are kind of treating it.
They're mad, but they've waited this long, right?
Grand Theft Auto 5 released for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox
360. That and it's still going,
right. Grand Theft Auto 5 released
September 17th, 2013. Oh my gosh.
That's the last time we've seen a Grand Theft Auto game.
Oh my gosh, yeah, and and why are people mad?
Oh, because they want to play the new Grand Theft Auto.
They don't want to wait. They just don't want to fucking
wait. They.
Want to OK. Now, in retrospect, Mario Kart 8
released in 2014 for the Wii U and then they when the Switch
came out, they released the deluxe version with every all
the characters and, you know, more tracks.
Yeah, but, you know, best selling game of the Switches,
you know, and best selling game of the Wii U, obviously.
So there's that. Go ahead.
I'm sorry it. Wasn't saying anything.
No, I, I think I've, I've seen a lot of, a lot of people excited
about the announcement that it's coming out.
I mean, sure, people are always going to be upset about things,
but this, a long runway is an abnormal.
It's not abnormal. No, no, because, you know, Red
Dead Redemption, they had a long way to go.
Yeah, It's they just, they just, they just want, they just want
their game. They just want their game now.
And you know it. The, the, the teasers and the,
the, the trailer, apparently, you know, everybody was like,
there's no way that's running on a PlayStation five.
It is, right. It's mixed with gameplay and
like trailer footage. So there's in game footage in
that trailer, in that second trailer that just released.
It's, it's fucking, it's fucking, it looked fucking
crazy. It might be the one that I
actually because I bought Grand Theft Auto 5 eventually for my
it's over there. Actually I have it but I I
bought it and I played like the first mission and never played
it again. So are you cuz cuz you're not
into it. I'm not, I'm not into it.
I mean, it's okay. I've never played it.
I know that you like drive around and like.
This is my knowledge of Grand Theft Auto.
I, I would tell you that you're missing out, but I can't right
now. There's a lot of people who are
going to be like, what the fuck? You're missing out.
Like like, like, no, yeah, that year.
Also The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD, which I just threw
down on the ground, The Last of Us that was released that year,
Mass Effect 3, Raymond Legends, which was fantastic, and that's
about it. So BioShock Infinite. 2013 was a
great year for gaming it. Was it was it was OK.
It was OK. You had your Maddens and your
Nbas and your whatever. But I I love this.
Oh, A Link Between Worlds released that year for the 3DS.
Woo. Hoo I want this to become a meme
where I'm like Joseph hates he hates Grand Theft Auto.
Like he hates. Don't you do that?
Don't you do that. I don't hate it.
No, I I don't hate it. I just, it's just not I, I
can't, I couldn't get into it. Yeah, but you know, you're
talking to the same person who couldn't get into Call of Duty.
So. Oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah. I have so much to learn about
you, Joseph. I mean, you might learn in this
in this next segment, but we'll get to that in a second.
Do we have any more headlines? I think those that was all I
had. Cool upcoming this week.
If you're listening this week you have Doom, The Dark Ages and
Capcom Fighting Collection 2, which contains Capcom Versus
S&K, Capcom Versus S and K2. Plasma Sword.
Capcom Fighting Jam I think is what it's called and nobody
wants to play it. Plasma Sword, Project Justice,
which is the sequel to Rival Schools, and Power Stones one
and two, which are fucking gems. They're all all that stuff is
coming out this week. But, but, but I can't tell you
that I'm a pro at any of that stuff.
No, I can't tell you is that I'm a casual.
I'm a God damn casual and I love it.
But I'm going to tell you more about that after this break.
Stay tuned right here on the Gaming Nexus show.
Please come back. The Gaming Nexus show has been
brought to you in part by Video Games Express.
Video Games Express buys, sells and trades video games, music,
movies and most things considered cool. 2358 Stringtown
Rd. in Grove City, OH Call them at 614-539-6369.
Welcome back. Thanks for coming back.
Was that a song? No.
It. Was a song you just sang, a song
you sang, you sang welcome back. I would welcome back.
Welcome. Back.
Thanks for coming back. No, you changed the notes this
time. That was that was a song.
She sang a song. Y'all sang a song.
This. Is not going in the pocket.
Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
Yeah, we're back.
We're back. Thank you for coming back as
Kelly. Just saying to you, Kelly.
Yeah, what? Are we talking about?
We're going to talk about professional gaming 1st and like
casual gaming, OK, professional gaming.
And I, I would like for you to do just like a short little
synopsis on what it means to be a professional gamer.
Fair enough, fair enough. A professional gamer is someone
who literally all they're all they are to do is make money
playing video games. And this is a, when I say
playing video games, there may be, there may be some parts
enjoying it and some parts actually having to do it for
your job, right? You, there are people, and I'm
not talking about professional game developers.
I'm not talking about professional game creators and
ideas and script writers. And no, no, no, no, no, there
are people who actually get large sums of money for playing
a game to the best of their ability.
And when I say the best of their ability that this is a loose
translate, this is a loose definition to the best to where
they literally are not doing anything person probably not
doing anything else, but you know, on the grind, playing a
video game, perfecting a video game, finding all the all the
ways to play the video game to the best of the ability.
And, and I mean money. Money.
Like more money than you and I combined.
Well, it's a type of influencership, right?
Some of it is yes, there, there, there are parts where you can
and yes, right you, you become an and I think some people have
become influencers after being pro gamers.
OK, right, Yeah, but where's the money coming from?
Is it like streaming? They're they're making the money
off of streaming or is it like I?
Don't even want they're making the money off of streaming
endorsements and entering tournaments.
OK, Yeah. So people are nationwide a pro
gamer salary according to Zip Recruiter $123,000.
Wow, I just need to interject really fast and say that Zip
Recruiter is not a sponsor of this podcast, but they can be.
So, you know, look for my e-mail.
Go on. A zip recruiter sponsor.
US sponsor. US 123,000 is.
That what you 123? As of May 5th, 2025, the the
average annual pay for a pro gamer in the United States is
$123,000. I'm going to that is. 5940 an
hour. I'm going to make a hot take.
I'm going to say a hot take. Yeah.
I don't feel like that would be enough money for me to do it.
I listen, Go, let's go, let's go, let's go.
Do it. OK, I'm, I know I'm a casual
gamer, but it's got you had said at the beginning about like they
love to do it. Well, I guess maybe they kind of
love to do it, but I feel like it would be one of those things
where if I was a professional gamer, my hobby, my like
self-interest in the gaming would become work and I would
lose my love of it. Exactly.
So I really would love to know more for like from a pro gamer.
Yeah, we, because we're not sponsored by Zip recruiter, we
could not get a pro gamer on the on the show today.
So, you know, we're just stuck with two of the filthy casuals
as as you people would call them, people who are out here
who play the game for fun. There are people who are maybe
on this podcast who play Overwatch without chat on,
right? Because no, right, Because no, I
don't want to hear any of you say anything ever, right?
I just want to enjoy the game. And the way I enjoy the game is
by staying in silver or gold status and not listening to a
motherfucking thing you have to say ever, right?
But I feel like you're onto something.
I feel like it it may not be worth it to us because we see
what can happen from the outside in.
We see things that may not bother professional gamers
first, first of all, the comments section.
There's also toxic lobbies. There's the travel, right,
because you have to go and enter these tournaments and do these
appearances or whatever. And these people are always on
the road, right? They're always on the road.
They're always and and you know, you enter these tournaments and
you may you may get bested right, you may get beat and even
if you play second or third, you take home a good chunk of
change. But but still like it's is it
just, it just seems like from the outside looking in, it's
more trouble than what it's worth.
So I'm with you on that definitely.
Yeah, what it what? What games are the most popular
for professional gamers? Well, that is a very good
question. Thank you.
I'm sorry I didn't let you prep it.
No. No, no, no, no.
It's fine. The top what?
No way. Is it Stardew Valley?
It is, it is not. It is it is not.
Do you want to go by viewership or money?
Let's hear about Let's start with viewership.
All right, I got viewership. The number one game, and we're
not going to know any of this is Mobile Legends Bang Bang.
I don't know what that is, but the peak viewers are at 2.7
million. OK, a game we would know League
of Legends 1.9 million. Valorant is at 1.3, Counter
Strike 1.2 and for those of you who don't know, these are all
like League of Legends is a MOBA multiplayer multiplayer online
battle arena. Yes, I read that because I
didn't know what a MOBA was. So League of Legends is a MOBA.
Valorant Counter strike is are the you know, FPS or third
person shooter games like Fortnite or whatever.
And then there's Pub G which still sits at 697,000, Fortnite
which is at 642, Apex Legends, Battlegrounds, Mobile India and
Dota 2 is still going, which is crazy at 418.
Street Fighter is at 364,000, Rocket League is at 290,000,
Call of Duty is at 223. And that's ongoing.
Yeah, it's it's insane. Do you follow any pro gamers?
No. No.
Oh, that's that's a lie. No, actually that's the truth.
No, I don't follow or subscribe to any pro gamers.
I, I and I watch like a Justin Wong video Street Fighter
fighting games. I am subscribed to a casual, a
casual pro pro streamer, which is which is very weird.
His name is Maximilian Dude and he will cover fighting games and
he will play fighting games and he's really, really good.
But I think he has all these sponsorships, which means he
can't enter the tournaments and he can't be in them.
He can host them and he can appear, make appearances and
stuff like that. And he's he's in California.
So like, of course, there's a lot of things that come out of
California and he's there, right?
He's there. He's the he's in the forefront.
But that man also gets up at like 7:00 AM to watch a virtual
fighter direct that gives him nothing.
And you can see the disappointment leave his face.
This man is also into Final Fantasy, Dark Souls and all that
stuff so shout out the Maximilian dude.
That's the if there's a person to follow on the Internet who is
a casual like us but just makes a ton more fucking money doing
what he does, it's him. OK, this this brings up a
question for me and it's where, where's the threshold of like
what stops him from being considered a professional gamer
if he has the viewership and he had he's making good money off
of it? Like where is that threshold for
you or? I would think that it's the, I
would think that's the embargoes and the with the sponsorships,
right? Like so if Capcom sends him a
game two weeks earlier, he hasn't then anybody else is
going to get it. He has an advantage, right?
So it's the same with just the wall.
You know, I'm sitting at home in Ohio and I get these games early
and I can't even enter, I can't even enter local tournaments
because of the the fine print and the they say, you know, if
you accept this game to review, you can keep it.
You can't make any money off of it, right.
If I bought the game and didn't review it, then I can enter any
tournament I want. But there are tournaments right
up the street from me that I can't enter because if they
found out they find my name or they find something or whatever,
I could be, you know, banned. I can get in trouble for gaming
Nexus. I can do it.
You know, whatever, because gaming Nexus can't accept gifts,
right. We can't accept we can't accept
gifts and then review the the the the gift that we receive
right. So if like, for instance, NVIDIA
sent us like a card and it was like, this is yours, thank you
for supporting NVIDIA. You know, don't you know, you
can say something about it, you know, whatever.
And we went and was like, this sucks or this is the greatest
thing ever, we'd be in trouble. So I think that's the threshold.
I think that's the the idea. But that's just me.
That's just me. I haven't seen Max enter a
tournament. I've seen him throw mad
tournaments, I've seen him host tournaments, but I have not seen
him enter, and I haven't seen just a Wong enter a tournament
in a while either, though I have seen him casually play pros, you
know, from other countries and things like that.
And all that stuff is always entertaining because it's either
him tearing people up or him getting tore up.
And, you know, I don't know why it's fun to see people like, you
know, those guys compete, but then like people, you know, beat
Justin Wong is one of the greatest of all time.
If not, what if not the greatest of all time?
And you know, to watch him get beat is just crazy.
Do you have to qualify to enter a tournament or is it just like
open registration? Some of them are open
registration, some of them are qualified.
It all depends on what the tournament is.
And some of those, some of those qualifiers are different
tournaments. So you actually have to enter a
tournament to be in the tournament.
Like you have to place in a, you know, maybe top 25 or 24 or
whatever. So you have to play somewhere in
that tournament to be in that next tournament.
So what I'm hearing? Like a program?
Is when Hello Kitty Adventure Island tournament comes up.
I can just, I can just go and try my best.
Did you buy? Did you buy it?
Yeah. And you didn't review it?
No. Yeah, absolutely.
I'm in all right. Hello Kitty tournament here I
come When? When that, when that happens,
it's not, it's not a thing. When that happens, you know
we'll be we'll be front and center, cheering you on.
Listen, Maximilian can have a Hello Kitty tournament.
He can host it. So here's the thing, right?
What stops us from being the an influencer like Maximilian,
right? And I I'll tell you what stops
me. Time.
Yeah. I, I just don't have the, I just
don't have the time. And I'm not saying that Max, you
know, I'm not saying that Max doesn't like, he devotes a lot
of his time. And there are, you know, it's a
full time job. It's a full time job.
There are 6 to 8 hour live streams where he takes breaks
and he, you know, he takes care of the, the family and all that
stuff. But there are like, it's
literally him saying I got to go to work and then he just, you
know, goes up to this room. Yeah.
And I think something to consider too.
And you're an, you are a strong extrovert and I'm like on the
line of introvert extrovert. But that is like 6 to 8 hours of
being on like you are. And I don't think a lot of
people realize that because you go in, you see it, you see him
talking, you see him engaging, and you're like, oh, OK, yeah.
But that goes on and on and on for a very long time.
Yeah, and, and and he's and when you say he's on like that is not
a joke. That is not like he is on that
man. I've I've seen that man like
fighting sickness and still just being in a chair going yeah,
Chad, this is going on and you're just like, dude, take a
break. Like and he'll like apologize
for like taking it. He's like, sorry, we didn't
stream yesterday. And I'm like, I could never.
I know. I have AI have meeting a block
of meetings for three hours and I need to go home and take a
nap. I can never apologize to any of
y'all for not. I haven't streamed since last
Tuesday. I don't owe y'all shit, right?
Well, and I'd like to talk about something that you addressed
earlier on in this segment about I feel like when they get to a
certain point, it's easier to drown out the trolls.
But you. Have to get to the point where
you're where they're being drowned out, and that's a long
time to hear all of the feedback from the people who have
opinions on the Internet. Right.
Yeah, that's, I mean I, I have 0 interest in being an influencer
or any of that because we know I don't like people talking about
who I am. It's but right.
So like I do think that's part of the grind, right?
And there are, I mean, stacks and stacks of things that these
people have go again, you know, we talked about the travel, we
talked about grinding on the video game.
We, we, you know, we talked about, we haven't talked about
offline, right? You're not doing this online all
the time. You are offline practicing this
stuff. You are, you are in the lab, if
you will, grinding on this stuff.
My cousin shout out to Joshua Zimmerman who can beat everyone
I could put up against him but won't enter a tournament to save
his life. And I like why?
And you know what he says I'm not good enough and I'm like,
but I feel like you don't. You won't know if you're good
enough until you enter this A tournament, any tournament.
My boy Darrell Stewart is the same thing.
Same analogy with golf. And I go, why do you keep
practicing golf and not playing it?
And now he's entering tournaments and he's he's doing
OK. I think he entered 1 today
actually so. Well, I feel like that's part of
growing your craft too. Like that's a different way you
can play, you know, at home against the Internet or you can
play on your own. But when you're in that
different stadium of like a tournament, if that's you're
like, that is a different type of muscle usage, right?
It's crazy. It's it's in muscles, right,
because you have to tune out that crowd.
You have to be ready for your opponent, which you may or may
not know who it's going to be, right.
It's just a different vibe for, you know, Street Fighter
tournaments are the wildest thing I've ever watched, right?
They just did Evo Japan. Those tournaments are absolutely
goaded. They are amazing to sit there
and watch and I can watch those tournaments and going why didn't
he do that? But then go back and play and
go, I can't do that. You know what I mean?
Like. I couldn't.
I couldn't react as even close to how some of these guys, you
know, Punk is a champion. A shout out to shout out to
Punk. Amazing, amazing.
But it's just it's just crazy to watch these guys.
Like what do you do outside of this?
Yeah, I always have to remind myself when I watch stuff like
that, that I am just an armchair expert, you know, because, yeah,
it's like, oh, I would have done that.
Yeah. No, you, you don't.
You can't even get into the tournament, Kelly.
Right. Also see football, basketball,
baseball, soccer. Like you watch these things and
you go, why did you do the ball? Yeah.
Because you're not the quarterback, that's why.
Motherfucker, shut up, sit down and eat your goddamn wings.
Yeah. That's why I this is totally off
subject, but I always love it when people say we won the Super
Bowl. You didn't do Jack shit.
You didn't do anything like you cheered from your living room.
You. Didn't do a goddamn thing.
Your fandom did not do anything for their, you know, whatever.
You bought a ticket to a game in Cincinnati.
Stop it. Like, yeah, calm down.
Calm down, you know so. Yeah, and, and the marketing
alone too, like that outside of the gaming, you still have to
market yourself. You still have to go to events,
you still got to get out there. Like what kind of tenacity does
somebody have to have? That's so much hustle that
somebody has to have to get themselves front and center
enough to even start to become a professional gamer.
And you know, the mistake I made, I thought that these
people were like social constructs to themselves, right?
I used to think I'd be like, there's no way the any of these
people have any social skills there on the Internet the entire
time. And then they go to these
tournaments and they don't even speak, you know, whatever,
whatever that is a bullshit ass lie.
They have to have some sort of like, it's like you said, extra.
They have to be some sort of extrovert to be out there in
these tournaments, traveling on these planes, going to these
places, being in these hotels. They have to do something.
And I know it's tiresome. God damn it.
It's, it's just crazy to even imagine, which is why I am stuck
proudly as a fucking casual. There will never be a time they
they I flew out to that NBA 2K thing and it was surreal to see
a room full of people who play NBA2K like like it's their job
and they were invited to this thing because they played that
game like it was their job and all of them were talking shit to
each other and laughing. There was a full fucking there
was a basketball there. The basketball game broke out
like a five O 5 actually broke out at the basketball Hall of
Fame the the A Smith center. So like they, they have the
social skills they have, they have.
To they have to. They have to.
Yeah, well, because you have to be likable too.
If you want a following, you have to be likable.
So I think you wouldn't get to a good standing if you weren't
likable and and good on camera and good in interviews and good,
you know, face to face. We talked about there's a
there's a there's a fortnight player.
Everybody knows who Ninja is. Tyler Ninja Blevins $50 million
this man is worth from playing Fortnite.
Wow 24,000,000 subscribers 2.5 billion views 18.5 million
followers on Twitch, which he quit at one point.
At $5 a month per per subscription, he regularly earns
between 500,000 and 1,000,000 per month playing video games.
How often does he? How often is he on like?
I'm sure I haven't seen a Ninja stream in years.
OK actually I take that back. I've never seen a ninja stream
like in and it's full like you see clips, right?
I've never sat and watched ninja like stream for hours.
I I just can't, I can't do it. I I need to be doing something.
It's just, you know, whatever. So there's no way.
But there are people who will watch, watch this man do stuff.
And you know, from Detroit, MI, Born in 1991.
Ninja was born four years before
I even got out of fucking high school.
I knew you were going to say how old you were.
Yeah, Ninja, it's just. These whippersnappers and
they're. God damn kids.
Professional gaming. In 2018, eighteen that were Red
Bull E Sports and held the Red Bull Rise Till Dawn fortnight
event in Chicago. By Ninja's estimate, he made
nearly $10 million. And in 2020, Epic Games honored
his role in Fortnite success by adding a Ninja cosmetic skin to
the game. So he's in the game.
Like there are other people who have been in the game since this
all this whole thing started. You know, you know, Snoop Dogg's
in the game, Sabrina Carpenter's in the game, like, you know,
whatever. But like influencers in games.
Crazy. In 2015 he was on Family Feud.
In 2019 he was in the NF LS Top 100, the 100 year game ad.
Oh, so he was in the ad for the Super Bowl?
He was in an ad for Super Bowl. He released the book Get Good.
My ultimate guy to gaming. In 2019, he took part in Fox's
The Masked Singer, performing Old Town Rd.
Like, you know what I mean? So I think it starts at gaming,
right? Yeah, I think it starts at
gaming. But then you become this entity.
You become this, this. You have to do all this other.
You have to do all this other stuff you have to make an
appearance in. You have to make a business in
these movies that are about video games.
You have to get these sponsorships.
And I think that's what all but God, I just can't even fathom
the amount of things you have to pay attention to.
Well, and you hear kids always saying like, oh, when I grow up,
I want to be a professional gamer.
Like, I hear it all the time. And it's like that part of the
reality is so lacking for so many kids because they're not.
They're thinking, oh, I just play games online.
I love playing games. And it's like there's so much
more to it. I, I, I think that comes with
any like Walk of Fame, right? Like, you want to be an actor,
be like, Oh, yeah, it looks easy on camera, but you don't know
that you have to make appearances and go to the Met
Gala and you know, all this you, you, you have to do all these
things and. Joseph, you have to work out.
You have to go to the gym. You have to go to the gym bro.
You have to go to gym bro. I could never.
Ever, ever can't do it. I just think it's it's it's
fascinating to see it done, but it it definitely tells me that
I, I will. I'll never do.
I'll never. This is as professional as it's
going to get, right? Gaming Nexus is as professional
as it's going to get. Please keep flying me to your
things. Please keep bringing me to your
press conferences. Please keep inviting me to these
these wonderful reveals. You know what?
And throw and please. Yeah, and throw me on there too.
Why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let me sign up and be pressed at these conventions and yes,
absolutely. But professional gamer, that
ain't me. Filthy casual is the, is the is
the the word of the and people you know, that just comes from
people being mad at casual gamers who don't do all the
things that need to be done to win a game.
Right. They're competitive.
When you say people get mad, what do you mean?
This is like you're again, This is why you don't listen to the
chats, right? Your, your Reddits, your Twitter
is your threads, right? People are like, Oh my God, I
can't believe the person didn't do this move in this game, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah. What were you trying to win?
Like, you know, competitive games, like if it's four on
four, like playing Fortnite with my friends is stressful because
one or two of them may be really trying to win the game.
And I'm like, to what end? We're not winning anything.
We're not winning any money. We're not moving up any
leaderboards. We're not, you know what I mean?
Nothing's going to happen if we lose.
So there was a, there was a time where I was just like, I'm never
playing this game because people, they're too serious.
But when people started taking it more casually, I was like, Oh
yeah, I'm in. Right.
And when you could be Sabrina Carpenter.
When you could be Sabrina Carpenter.
Like who could say no? I could, I, I definitely did for
the longest time, but then, you know, Fortnite was like, here's
Sabrina Carpenter and I was like, shit.
So now I have Sabrina Carpenter. I have Sabrina Carpenter.
I, I don't know, I, I just feel like I don't think casuals are
getting a bad Rep anymore. I just kind of wanted to, you
know, say that there are more of us out here then there are
profession like professional gamers and you know,
professional gamers get a bad rap because, you know, you may
think that all they do is play video games.
They do a lot more than you would ever believe.
And I feel like they deserve respect too.
I feel like I feel like these on both sides of the coin.
I think everybody feels to be respected.
I do agree with the anger against try hards, which are the
people who are not professional, but they're good enough to yell
at casuals. Like why didn't you do the
thing? Because because why don't you
know, go out and touch grass and all that stuff.
You know the people with you know the 500 followers, but they
play Overwatch professionally and you're like, but do you?
What tournaments have you entered?
What you know, whatever. And then you go back and forth
and back and forth and I don't know if those try hards neither
come to Jesus or I don't know, maybe stop being Dicks online.
It could never be me. It could never be you because
what's the most competitive game you've played?
We know the answer, folks. We just wanted to say it.
We Halo. Go on.
Halo. The game is Sonic too.
We can link the stream if you guys want to see Kelly get
decimated. I feel like decimated is a
strong word, Joseph, and we are, we are way, way behind on a
rematch. Like we haven't, we haven't done
the the Sonic in a long time. And I I'm a professional Sonic.
Player so I don't play with casual.
So, but I want to, I want to be Sonic, because in the special
stage, Sonic starts in the front, and with Joseph Moore,
it's hard to get in front of Sonic.
It's hard to get in front of Joseph Moore.
Sonic. Joseph Moore.
You know. Let's you know what?
Let's see how you know what I'm going to do.
You know I'm going to do you a solid.
I, I would like to we, we, we, we talk about how maybe you're
not the expert at Sonic because I am, but you are an expert at
something dozens of Dragons. Yeah, well, I wouldn't even call
myself an expert. You know, I've played for eight
years. I didn't.
I tell you this, I play, I've played for like 8 years now and
I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing.
Great, I'm going to give you a softball quiz and see how great.
You will do OK. It's going to happen, but not
right now, after this break from.
Zip recruiter could be a zip recruiter.
This break could be this commercial could be used at
recruiter. But you chose poorly, right?
You chose poorly. Go ahead and sponsor your other
gamers. Go ahead and sponsor those
professionals. Those filthy casuals right here
will be sponsored by anything else.
Yeah, meanwhile I'm DM ING LinkedIn.
So, zip recruiter, we'll be right back, but without you,
right here on the Gaming Nexus podcast.
That's called a call back, Joe. Call back, bitches, call back.
Are you enjoying the show? Well, good.
Go to gamingnexus.com for all your gaming news.
You can see John talk about video cards with Jason talk
about the finals, Kelly talk about fozy games or air talk
about pinball VR. It's all there gaming nexus.com.
Welcome back to the Gaming Nexus podcast.
I want to apologize to Zip Recruiter for Kelly's blatant
use of LinkedIn and the subsidiaries they're in.
Did I use that word right? Of course I did.
I'm smart, and you know how smart I am, Kelly.
How smart are you, Joseph? I'm so smart about video games.
I said. I wasn't a professional gamer.
I'm lying, right? I'm a professional gamer.
You know why? Because I know everything there
is to know about video games. Everything, everything we will
see about that. Oh yeah, why so?
Because I have prepared questions to see if I can stump
you on video games. How dare you.
This wasn't preemptive. No, we didn't.
This is thrown at me randomly. How?
Why? This is a good television.
Well, Kelly, if you have a quiz for me, then I have a quiz for
you too. Oh yeah.
Yeah, because you claim to be a professional at Dozens of
Dragons. You tell me every day I'm a
professional at Dunzons and Dragons and I go, are you every
day? I get a text every morning at
10:47 and it says I'm a professional at Dozens of
Dragons and I'm sick of hearing about it.
So now I went to beano.com and found a quiz on Dozens of
Dragons. Ultimate Dungeons and Dragons
Quiz Shout out the beano.com. You know what though, I I wrote
my own questions. Oh well.
So. That's because your prep is
different than mine. I would love to see what
questions you would write for DNT.
Do you walk into a forest at any point in the game?
Yes or no and show your work on the answer.
All right, do you want it? Yes.
What's your first question? I'm ready.
What classic video game was slated for Michael Jackson to do
all of the music? Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
Yep. Is that right?
Yeah, God damn it. Yeah, in fact, the music is
heavily influenced by Michael Jackson, and you can hear when
you're listening for it. You're like, Oh yeah, I can hear
why they created this for him. Do you want to hear another fun
fact? Yeah.
They did the re release for Sonic 3 for like modern systems
and they took some of that music out.
So if you have an original Sonic 3 cart, it may be worth more
because the Michael Jackson music is still in there.
That's. Fun.
Yeah, Yeah. All right.
My first question is a softball question.
Which of these is not a class? And dunzons and Dragons?
OK Druid Rapscallion. Barbarian or rogue Rapscallion.
Rapscallion. I've literally played all of the
others. It doesn't tell me if this is
the right yet. Well, no, no, OK.
Somebody call Randy. It doesn't tell me if they're
right yet. All right, I'll throw another
one at you. OK.
Which nickname? Oh, I can't show you that.
I'll skip it. I'll skip it.
Which year was the game first introduced, 196919781989 or
1999? What was the 1st 169?
Yes. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it had to
offend that. You're going with 69?
Yeah. Nice.
All right, your turn. OK, When was the first Call of
Duty game released? What year?
Call of Duty was first released 2009.
No, you're not even close. I was going to give you 2 years
either way. Thirteen, 2003.
OK, I, so I, I tried to do that with the whole Grand Theft Auto
thing and I was like, well, it was released before Grand Theft
Auto. And then I tried to realize how
it like Call of Duty was like, it's OK back then today, but you
know, whatever. All right, so it was 2003.
Yeah, I had to double check myself, but yeah.
I'm one for one. I'm one for one.
That was that was a tough one. I know it wasn't very fair
because you're doing multiple choice and I didn't give you a
multiple choice. I have a tough one for you.
Yeah, let's hear it. What does DM stand for?
Dark magician Dragon magic? Oh no, delightful mum or dungeon
master. This is way too difficult.
I know. I'm going to have to go with
Dungeon Master. You're dumb.
I can't believe you picked that one.
That was stupid. I can't wait to see the the
answers based on that one. What is the name of the film
starring Tom Hanks that was based on Dungeons and Dragons?
Was it mazes and monsters, Wizards and warlocks, mages and
magic, or demons and swords? Oh I have no idea.
I'm going to say mages and magic, but I'm not sure.
I'm going to choose mages and magic.
All right, cool. OK, And my next question is, and
then you can go for one. OK, sure.
I have one. Another one.
What is the maximum numbers of sides a die can have?
6/12/17 or 20. OK false there are 100 sided
die. Oh, but most typically in
gameplay, 20 sided is the highest in the set.
There you go. All right, I chose 20.
Your turn. I chose.
Properly, what two games led to the creation of the current
video game rating system? Mortal Kombat.
Night Trap. Yes, that's that's a good one.
Let's. Fucking go right.
Is that right? Yeah, can I ask you Night Trap?
This one is too easy though. Night Trap was re released when
Night Trap came out. The president of Nintendo at the
time and said that they will never be a Night Trap game on
Nintendo systems at all ever. And they released Mortal Kombat
1. Instead of blood they had sweat
and they changed all the fatalities right when they they
then eventually released Mortal Kombat 2 with all the blood and
all the fatalities intact. And this two years ago, I
believe Night Trap came out for the Nintendo Switch Remastered.
You know what? When Mortal Kombat first came
out, my mom was aghast at how gory, how gory it was.
Isn't that funny to think about now?
You should show her the things now.
Oh it's nuts Barb. The fatalities in the new one in
11 and the new one are insane. I know.
I don't understand how they come up with this shit.
Barb would be horrified. Barb, go watch some fatality
videos. I'm going to ask you one more,
and this is a really softball question.
I know you're going to know this.
Which video game did Mario originate in?
Donkey Kong. Yeah.
As Jump Man, Jump Man and Mr. Video.
So Mr. Video was his first name. Then they called him Jump Man
because, you know, he did the jump stuff, right?
And then they named him after a landlord that Nintendo had and
he had, they had a good relationship with, and they
named him after that landlord. So Mario was named after that
landlord. Crazy.
Yeah. I'm a nerd and pretty proud of
it. If people are listening to this,
they're they're nerds too. We're all in our community.
It's not a bad thing anymore. Some of them don't know it's
common. Which of these is not a race in
Dungeons and Dragons? OK, not a race.
Yeah. Human, elf, fawn, half orc.
A fawn? OK, you would think it was
human, wouldn't you? I would think it was.
I would think it was 1/2 orc. I don't know what a half orc is.
Yeah, humans are the lowest. Like when people say they're
playing a human, I'm always shocked because you're just
like, you can never have a good ability.
Like you're just the weakest of all of them.
And I'm like, OK, solid choice, Human barbarian, OK.
Joseph used logic. It didn't work it.
Didn't. What shape is the board?
Square, circular, triangular or there is no board?
OK, the viewers cannot or the listeners cannot see the my
face. Would you ask that question?
Because I was like, what do you mean?
What shape is the board? My face was like contorted to an
anger like I was like. If I'm actually was a face,
Kelly just made it actually. Because there is no board.
Yeah, there. You go.
All right, all right. Your turn.
The the word Tetris is a combination of the Greek word
Tetra and what 6 letter word and a a favorite of the game
creator. The word Tetris is the
combination of a word. Tetra.
And a. 6 letter word word.
That the creator was a fan of. I just reviewed Tetras Forever.
So you should know this. Why don't obviously?
It's the name of a game that he used to play.
He used to play with like little.
They weren't tetraminos. That's what they're called.
The pieces are called now. Tetra.
I don't know. I don't know.
I'm going to be pissed. Tell me.
It's it's surprising because it's tennis, so tet Tetra it's
not. It's not a game that God damn it
it, that's exactly it. It's the first thing they say in
the interview, in the interview with Tetris Forever.
It's the first thing that comes out of his mouth.
He's like, I was a fan of, you know, Tetris and tennis, Tennis.
I hate myself. I'm no longer a nerd.
Please kick me out of your community.
All right, which TV show currently features Dungeons and
Dragons? Stranger Things.
OK, didn't even let me finish the question.
All right, cool. Cool.
And what is the name of the guy who created Dungeons and
Dragons? Oh gosh.
Oh, this is this is terrible too.
Is it Gary Guy Jacks, Gary Jennings, Gary Grunch or Gary
Barlow? His name is Gary.
Yes, and he plays tennis. Can you read them to me one more
time? Gary Guy, Gygax, Gygax, Gygax,
Gary Jennings, Gary Grunch, or Gary Barlow.
And I apologize if I'm botching that first name.
Well, I think it's the. I think it's the first name.
Great, you think it's the first name.
Is that your final answer? You don't lock it in.
Yeah. You wanna phone a friend?
Fun fact, there is a Comic Con or a like convention out in
Wisconsin where he's from Wisconsin, I think it's
Wisconsin, called Gary Con. Gary Con.
Yeah, Gary Con. Oh OK I skipped one.
What nickname is the game known by the dragon game?
Double DRPG D&D. D&D.
Like why would they do that? I even I knew that one.
Yeah, I mean, you knew DM too, right?
Yeah. Oh yeah.
DM is an easy one. Did you know that in other
tabletop games it's AGM? So you have to remember when
you're playing a different tabletop game that isn't
Dungeons and Dragons to not call your leader Adm.
Is it defensive? Like, do people get beat up
like? Yeah, we're really, we are a
very violent community. That's what I like to hear.
I mean, like, like, I want people, like I want people to
start like this weird thing to where you'd be like this
motherfucker came into my house to play Katan.
No, it's not. That's not it.
One of the like Like Vampire the Masquerade.
And he called me. Yeah.
No Adm and I and I won't have it.
I don't have it. There is no DM in Catan.
Like, not only did I botch the the pronunciation of Catan, but
I botched. Yeah, see, Look, I know
everything about the Never mind. I think.
I think settlers of Catan can go either way.
I've heard it. I've heard it both ways.
Fair enough. All right, I can't wait to hear
my score. Oh, is that all your questions?
I can ask more if you want I. If you you have one more, I can
tell you your score and then we'll we'll get out of here.
All right, I'm going to ask this one.
Go for it. Which PlayStation platformer
released in 1996 has you play as the marsupial prone to mayhem
who was captured and mutated by Doctor Neocortex?
Crash Bandicoot. Yeah, you.
Didn't even have to finish it. Well, I did though and I
appreciate you allowing me to, unlike when I yelled stranger
things. Stranger Things DMS Katan, Chris
Katan. DMSGMS.
DMCMS Kelly, Your Quiz You scored a nine out of 10.
OK, which one did the? Only thing you got wrong was the
Tom Hanks one. Oh yeah, OK, I'm proud.
Which was mages and Matt. I'm sorry, it was mazes and
monsters. OK, I've never It must have.
It must have not been a great film.
It looks like it's from the 80s. I mean, I I like Tom Hanks.
I mean, we all like Tom Hanks, but not I mean we like Tom Hanks
in Bachelor Party and Big, but we also like Tom Hanks in like
sketches. As in, like we like, we love Tom
Hanks. When Tom Hanks is Mr. what's the
name? Is this?
Any questions? Oh, oh God.
David S Pumpkins. David S Pumpkins.
That's one of my favorite skits ever.
Like, don't you? You have to.
And you have to let yourself go. You have to let yourself go.
You have to let be like, I'm Tom Hanks, I'm one of the most
famous actors ever, but I'm going to get on SNL and do the
absolute dumbest fucking thing I've ever done, and it's going
to be great. Yeah.
And it was great. It was it was amazing.
So Tom Hanks, if you want to sponsor our podcast, DMS are
open. We have an opening now, Zip
recruiter left. They no longer want to sponsor
us. So therefore, Tom Hanks, if you
are available and you want us to watch your movie Of Mice and
Magic or something, you know, let us know.
Yeah, we'll come out. We'll we'll be your DMS and GMs.
Yeah, I, I make a good Margarita.
That's my that, that's my argument, for us to come out and
enjoy a nice film with you, Mr. Hanks.
I play a horrible game of Dota 2, so Tom Hanks, get at us.
Yeah, this, this episode sponsored by Tom Hanks.
Period. Nothing.
He's not selling anything. He's not.
There's really no reason for him to sponsor except he just likes
us. Any questions?
What is that being said? This episode is going off the
rails real fast. It's gone.
We will be back next week. We don't know what we're going
to talk about yet. We may have a special guest.
We don't know. We don't know.
It's going strong. We love what we do and we
appreciate you guys listening. So yeah, there's that for Kelly
Gray. I am Joseph Moore, always and
forever. And thank you for listening to
yet another episode of the Gaming Nexus podcast.
We will see you in two weeks. Y'all be safe.
Y'all stay blessed and zip recruiter, you're still in my
heart. And if you're if you're Tom
Hanks's lawyer, please don't contact us.
Yeah, don't. Yeah.
We were talking about Thomas Hanks lives lives in
Saskatchewan. Yeah, Little League baseball
coach. OK, bye.