Good morning, Alarmo.
What a delightful way to wake up.
Whoa, an Alarmo!
I wish I got to wake up with a Nintendo alarm clock that played the Legend of Zelda sounds.
Yeah, it's pretty sweet.
Wait, Everett, why are you here when I'm waking up?
What are you doing in my bedroom?
I'm not in your bedroom.
We're at the 10 News office.
Why are you sleeping here?
I've been waiting for my secret friend, Holiday Gift, to arrive.
Ooh, who'd you get?
I can't tell you, bro.
That's why it's a secret friend, Holiday Gift Exchange.
It's Pam again, isn't it?
No, it's not Pam.
I had her last year.
Hey, hey!
Stop trying to get it out of me!
It's a secret.
Go charge the controllers.
We have work to do.
I love when we do video game updates.
Hi, Pam!
Hi, Everett.
Bye, Pam!
Bye, Everett.
Hey, Rye, I need your help.
I got Owen for the Secret Friend Holiday Gift Exchange and I was wondering if you had any gift ideas for him.
I definitely, most definitely do.
Who did you get for the Secret Friend Holiday Gift Exchange?
And did you remember to... I got Everett.
And yes, I remembered to get him a gift, but it hasn't come yet, so I gotta stall.
And yes, we gotta start the show.
Well, I'm Pamela Kirkland, and I'm in the holiday spirit of giving.
It's Friday, December 13th.
And I'm Ryan Willard, and I'm in the holiday spirit of gaming, but also giving.
This is a 10 News Holiday Deep Dive.
Ten.
Nine.
Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous you have Owen and not me.
You give the best secret friend holiday gift exchange gifts, Pam.
Thanks, Rye.
I try.
His trivia has been awesome this season, so I want to get him something that he'll love.
Do you have any video game suggestions?
Of course we do!
Oh boy.
Step into the game room, Pamela.
You just happened to ask that question on our favorite day.
VIDEO GAME TESTING DAY!
Alright, I literally just finished Mario and Luigi Brothership for the Switch.
You follow Mario and Luigi as they try to help the people of Concordia fight off a dark force called Glone.
It's an RPG that feels like a comedic anime, with a great story and a turn-based battle system.
That's really fun.
I just finished LEGO Horizon Adventures, which is based on the hit PlayStation series Horizon Zero Dawn.
Ooh, Horizon Zero Dawn is so good.
I've played that.
Aloy is so cool.
LEGO Horizon Adventures reimagines and simplifies the story and makes it hilarious in that signature LEGO way, while maintaining that awesome action of the original.
It's really cool to fight the animalistic machines in that world, faithfully recreated with LEGO bricks.
Horizon Adventures is on Switch, PlayStation, and PC.
Sonic Shadow Generations is actually two games in one.
It's a great remake of Sonic Generations, which in itself is a tribute to the history of Sonic himself.
But the other half of the game follows Shadow the Hedgehog in creative reimaginings of the stages of his previous appearances in the Sonic games.
I gotta say, Shadow is one of my favorite characters in the Sonic universe.
I can't wait for the third Sonic movie.
Keanu Reeves is voicing Shadow.
I'm really hyped for that, too.
Sonic Shadow Generations is on Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
Oh, Pam, you could also get on my favorite PlayStation game of the year, Astro Bot.
It's a 3D platformer based on a free game that comes with a PS5, Astro's Playroom.
Astro Bot takes it to a whole other level and really utilizes the DualSense controllers, making the game come alive in like this whole different way.
It's an incredibly joyful game that celebrates the PlayStation universe, and you just got to experience it to understand it.
Astro Bot is only available on PlayStation 5.
Hold up.
Wait a minute.
Is that... Are those what I think those are?
Yep.
We just got some tenor recommendations.
A tenor named Duh!
Minecraft said.
Some of my favorite games on the Nintendo Switch are Pinkman 4, Super Mario, Odyssey and finally, The Legend of Zelda.
Tears of the Kingdom.
Thank you and love your podcast.
Great calls, duh, Minecrafter.
A tenor named Olivia also said, ha ha ha, you should play Tears of the Kingdom.
It's the best.
Also got an email from another Olivia, who said I also wanted to tell you my absolute favorite game for the Nintendo Switch.
My fave game is The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
It's an awesome game.
I also like Super Smash Bros.
Ultimate.
I mean, I do too.
Wait, is this the same Olivia?
Or are there multiple Olivias who all love Tears of the Kingdom?
Agamer1578 said, For video game suggestions, I will suggest LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga.
I'm with you, Agamer.
I have it, I finished it, and I loved it.
A tenor named Ridge said my favorite games on the Switch have to be LEGO Jurassic Park and LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2.
Gosh, our tenors really have great taste.
Last one.
A tenor named Silas said, My favorite games are Lego Star Wars and Mario Kart 8.
This summer, I played Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order with my dad every Sunday during nap time.
It is cool.
You fight monsters and stormtroopers in it.
And Silas' brother Ben said, We built a chicken walker to save R2-D2.
Okay, I need to game more with the tenors.
Y'all know how to play, and I'm here for it.
Last but definitely not least, a tenor named Everett said My game at the moment is Mario Party Jamboree.
I played it at my friend's house, and I really want to play it again.
Will somebody please play it with me?
Um, Everett?
Are you talking about yourself?
Yes.
Yes, I was.
I'm glad you caught my not-so-subtle hint.
Okay, these are all...
Awesome suggestions.
I think I have enough inspiration.
I'm going to run out and see what I can get Owen.
So should we test more games?
Obviously.
Hey Tenors, do you want to hear Ryan and Everett's bonus top 10 list of their favorite games on each system?
If so, leave us a comment on Spotify or a review on Apple and tell us you want to hear 10 games you need to know, and we might put out a bonus with it.
Okay, back to the show.
So, are you going to tell me who you got now?
Nope.
Did you get Cap for the Secret Friend Holiday Gift Exchange?
No, I didn't get capped.
Hey, stop trying to get it out of me.
I will reveal it at the perfect time.
Okay, okay.
Dude, I can't believe that Sony PlayStation just celebrated their 30th anniversary.
Did you know?
The original PlayStation debuted in North America in 1995 and sold 102 million units worldwide.
And I had one.
I didn't know that.
I can't believe you had a gaming console from last century.
When's the PS6 coming out?
Not for a while.
What about the successor to the Nintendo Switch?
According to Nintendo, they will announce when it's coming out sometime before March 31st, 2025.
The Switch was the first gaming console I ever owned, and I still can't stop playing it.
Well, I mean, the Nintendo Switch is the good note at this point.
The GOAT?
As in better than PS5 and Xbox?
Well, I actually said the GNOTE, and that's a tricky question because Nintendo can't really be compared to PlayStation or Xbox.
What do you mean?
You know what?
Let's just break it down.
Here are five reasons why the Switch is the GNOTE, aka the greatest Nintendo of all time.
Number one, Nintendo doesn't compete in the console wars.
The Nintendo GameCube system of 2001 was the last time Nintendo competed with Sony and Microsoft in their race to have the most powerful hardware and graphics.
In 2006, they came out with the Nintendo Wii, which was less powerful than the PlayStation and Xbox, but introduced motion controls and Wiimotes, which are Wii controllers.
The Wii would go on to sell 101.6 million units, outselling the competition.
In 2017, when the Switch debuted.
It arrived after the PS4 and Xbox and was again less powerful hardware.
But the innovations the Switch brought once again put it in a category of its own.
Cool!
Number 2.
The Switch comes with a pair of Joy-Cons which can be attached to the Switch or detached and used as one single controller or split into two independent controllers.
The Joy-Cons also have motion controls which can be used in all sorts of ways, depending on the game.
With so many different functions and ways to use them, the Joy-Cons are still some of the most innovative controllers we've ever seen.
Number three.
The biggest innovation was that the Nintendo Switch was portable and dockable.
You can play on the go and on the couch.
Whoa.
Before the Switch, Nintendo always had two systems. a home console, and a handheld system.
There was the NES and the Game Boy, the Wii and the DS, the Wii U and the 3DS.
The Switch combined the handheld and home system and made them work seamlessly.
By doing so, it allowed their software development teams to focus on one single system.
The Switch combined the handheld and home system and made them work seamlessly.
By doing so, it allowed their software development teams to focus on one single system.
Number four, aka the games.
By focusing on one system, the Switch has a continuous stream of games coming out.
For example, in November, we got Mario and Luigi Brothership.
In October, Mario Party Jamboree, which is my current favorite game at the moment.
And in September, it was The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom.
This year alone, Nintendo has released a new game almost every single month.
In total, with indie games and cross console titles.
The Switch currently has over 4200 games on it.
Number 5.
The Nintendo Switch debuted in 2017 and we know that Nintendo will announce its successor before the end of March 2025, which makes the Switch Nintendo's longest running system.
And the numbers don't lie.
Nintendo has sold over 146 million Switches and over 1.3 billion games for it.
More games have been played on the Switch than any other Nintendo console.
So just because a new Nintendo Switch console will be announced next year, the Switch isn't going away anytime soon.
Exactly.
And that's why the Switch is the good note.
Hold on one sec.
Hi, this is Ryan.
Oh, you're ready?
Alright, bet.
Who's ready for what?
All right, Everett, I gotta confess.
I have you for the secret friend holiday gift exchange.
Really?
What'd you get me?
Instead of getting you a game, I wanted to get you an experience.
And I know Mario Party Jamboree is your favorite game of the moment, so I thought we should play with some people from Nintendo.
No way!
That's one of my dreams always wanted to play nintendo with people who work at nintendo.
I am so down and you can bring a friend.
Owen, get over here.
It's game time, baby.
What's happening?
What are we playing?
You'll see all right boys step into this green pipe and warp there.
Whoa cool Wait, we just Let's go.
All right, Tenors.
We're going to go play Mario Party Jamboree with two people who actually work for Nintendo.
We're going to make this a standalone side quest episode which you can download and listen to on Tuesday.
Owen.
Owen.
That was awesome.
Awesome!
Nothing like a good game break in the middle of... Hello, Trivia Master Owen.
Did you just warp here?
Yes, I did.
Would you like some hot chocolate?
Yes, I would.
Thank you.
So, I wanted to stop by to give you your secret friend holiday gift exchange gift.
You had me?
No way!
What is it?
No way.
It's the Lego Bowser set.
Yeah, I know you love video games and Lego bricks, so I thought this was the best of both worlds.
Pam, this is tremendous.
Thank you so much.
I don't know if you noticed, but I made a new trivia throne out of Lego bricks.
Wow, that is wildly impressive.
Want to hop up and do some trivia?
Obviously.
The Lego Group was founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christensen.
The word Lego is an abbreviation of two Danish words, leg and gold, which means to play well.
The Lego minifigures, aka the little Lego characters we all know are some of the most recognizable toys on the planet, because there's so many of them.
How many Lego minifigures are on planet Earth?
Is it A, 2 billion, B, 4 billion, or C, 12 billion?
Ooh, that's a tough one.
I'm going to guess A, because 2 billion is a ridiculous amount of anything.
The answer is B.
Since 1978, more than 4 billion LEGO minifigures were produced, which means if they were people, they would be the largest population.
There are more LEGO minifigures than people in India and China combined.
Wow.
I have heard that LEGO produces up to 340 million minifigures a year.
And if you put them next to each other in a line, it would stretch 7,900 kilometers.
That's almost the distance from London, England to Beijing, China.
This is the best secret friend holiday gift ever.
Thank you so much, Pam.
You are most welcome, my friend.
Okay, Pam, I think we are officially awesome secret friends.
We absolutely are.
Are you all gamed out now?
I will never be gamed out, but I am ready for a break.
Want to go ice skating?
Uh, yes, please.
Pam, you are my favorite not-so-secret friend.
And you are mine.
Let's hit the rink.
But first, we gotta give 10 new snaps to some of our listeners.
And before that, here's a quick note for the grown-ups.
Steve Kubine and Nan McNamara's podcast from beneath the Hollywood sign.
Ape pulls out a box and gives McAllister a ring saying, here's something to remember me by.
Daryl Zanuck hit the roof.
Mary Astor has been keeping a diary.
This torrid affair with George S. Kaufman is chronicled on a daily basis.
Talking about the actors and actresses who won an Oscar on their very first films.
Get your fix of old Hollywood on the podcast from beneath the Hollywood sign.
It's time for 10 News Snaps.
A tenor named Froggy said, so good.
OMG, I love this podcast.
You should definitely listen to it.
Thank you for the kind words, Froggy.
And thank you for recommending our show to others.
And if you want some bonus content, you can join the Tenors Club on our website.
And to our grownups.
If you want to help support the 10 News, you can make a tax-deductible donation at the link in our show notes.
The whole team thanks you for your support.
The 10 News is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcast and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.
The 10 News creative team is getting into the holiday spirit and includes Tracy, Netta Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino, Bernard Brian not Ryan.
Douglas, Heba the Big Cheese, Gouda Tia Tia, Bobilla Johnson and Carson Pitter, Patter Potter.
Big thanks to our trivia master, Owen, not slowing down for anybody.
Our production director is Jeremiah Tittle and our executive producers are Donald Albright and show creator Tracy Leeds Kaplan.
I'm Pamela Kirkland.
And I'm Ryan Willard.
Thanks for listening to the 10 News.