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The AggroCast crew is joined by Mr. Hartgrave in the latest episode of the podcast. They have put Mr. Hartgrave through the wringer with a few reviews so far, with more to come, and it is time to hear the feelings about all of that. Listen in as they all talk about the process, titles, and what is coming down the line for these special reviews being done out there.

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Raymond Bruels: Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. And today we also have special guest the Mr. Hartgrave. He has returned despite all of the abuse that we have leveled upon him over the last few months. Today's topic is the reviews that we've had Frank do and discussing some of the games that he's covered for us and his thoughts on those games and what it's been like working with Aggrogamer.

Frank Hartgrave: Yeah, kind of a little behind the scenes here. That's pretty cool. Yeah, I know that the people that have watched the Aggrogamer reviews really like them. And I'm trying to convince more people to watch those reviews. And that's why we're airing this on my YouTube channel as well to try to get that traffic over there. These Marvel Strike Force nerds are so goddamn resistant to entertainment. It's ridiculous. It's like they're addicted to a predatory mobile game and can't see the fucking forest for the trees.

David Hades Becker: It's almost like we did a podcast about this before, didn't we?

RB: We did cover this topic, yeah.

FH: I'm trying to drag them over to... Like, I can be so much more entertaining and valuable as a video personality YouTuber. I don't know what the fuck you want to call me, but this Marvel Strike Force thing is really tip of the iceberg. I can talk about that shit because it's what I've been doing for five years, But I think we've been making some really quality stuff. And yeah, thanks for having me on to talk about it.

RB: It has definitely been a learning experience for me because when we did the first one, I had no idea how to edit video. But I said, OK, I'll learn how to do it. And I downloaded DaVinci Resolve. And you made it entertaining for me as I was trying to bash my head against the screen because you were just funny. Your quips and your one-liners and you know looking at the screen and trying and and kind of talking to breaking that fourth wall and talking to the watcher is really entertaining and and that has only progressed as we've been doing it because as I've been editing there are times that I feel like I'm having conversations with you. You're like hey Ray do do editor things and that's When I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to do something or I'm trying to get just the right cut I know that you're there at least in spirit to to either tell me to go fuck myself and keep me enthused or or to rally my spirits and you know, I know that you're in my corner.

DHB: We're just to judge you from the future.

FH: Well, it's interesting because yeah we don't we don't work in an office together and we don't really have like long calls about how we want the review to go. So when I'm just shooting the review, I'll just kind of have that one sided meeting where I kind of tell you what the plan is, at least in my mind. And I'm always open to whatever you want to do. I don't give a shit. I shoot this stuff. And then what I want to, I've worked with a couple of editors before and my instruction is just whatever's funny. You can do whatever the f**k you want with what I give you. As long as it's funny, then put it in. I don't have any ego or whatever. And I don't like to stifle people's creativity either if you have like a really good idea like today you threw something at me And I was like, yeah, great. That sounds wonderful. I don't you know, once it once it kind of like I did my part like here it is. I there's my part. I captured the game footage. I did my little review, I have to give up control at that point and I'm just happy to see what happens.

RB: Yeah, I've bee

The AggroCast crew is back and ready to talk about the recent Summer Game Fest. Many of you have most likely watched it out there, but here we go with a deeper dive into what it is and what was shown off. Also, David has even more words to have about Summer Game Fest and the various other streams that took place around it. Get ready to hear more ranting on why this is a terrible thing for the industry and gaming consumers in general.

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Raymond Bruels: Welcome to the Aggrocast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. Today we are talking about Summer Game Fest. So David, what the hell is this thing?

David Hades Becker: Uh, Summer Game Fest. It is a project Geoff Keighley has done in the past. And it was usually one of those little hype up teasers when we were coming up to like E3. It was carryover from The Game Awards he would do. Whereas he would get a couple exclusive things here. But it was more or less a hype machine to go, here's why you need to go to E3 or you need to go to this, this huge gaming event that one of the other publishers or developers are doing. And that's what it started out to be. Now for this year, it has been literally day one of not E3 become uh, like, I think they showed 40 plus games during this live stream they did for about two and a half hours that they streamed on Twitch, YouTube, everything else. And it was to show off some world premieres and show off some stuff. But on top of that, it was also to get you hyped for all of the other gaming streams that every other developer and publisher was also going to do since there was no in-person E3 this year.

RB: So it sounds like there was a ton of content.

DHB: Yes, there was and like so the whole thing started off with something that I know a lot of people didn't realize didn't realize but didn't expect because almost a couple of days before we heard there was a cancel or not a cancellation but a postponement of a new Prince of Persia game because they were doing a remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the whole show started off with Prince of Persia: Lost Crown, which is a whole new entry into the franchise, and it's taking a whole bunch of elements from all sorts of other games. So it's interesting that they started with that, even though the other one was kind of put on a permanent hiatus. And then they moved into like Mortal Kombat 1, Dead by Daylight showed up, Nicolas Cage is going to be in there, and they actually had Nicolas Cage on stage to talk about it. They hyped up Witcher Season 3, even though I could of swore Henry Cavill wasn't done with it all, but they featured him front and center, so maybe that's their sending for the for him as the character.

RB: My understanding was this was going to be the last season for him and then it was switching over to uh Liam Hemsworth.

DHB: Gotcha okay which is probably why they featured him so heavily in the trailer because after that it was it was interesting they went from witch uh Witcher to Witchfire which is an interesting medieval magic shooter which I've been excited for and I've been covering it quite a bit on the site itself It feels like BioShock, if it was set during a medieval witch period, it's cool. Then there's Sonic Superstars, which is more or less a full remake or remaster of the original games in a 3D space, so even though it's a 2D side-scroller for a Sonic game, it was a full 3D perception on all the characters. They showed off more of Lies of P, which is the new, unfortunately, Death Souls-like video game. Set like in a cool steampunk Victorian age. It looks so cool.

RB: Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome.

DHB: But unfortunately it's going to be like Bloodborne where it sounds awesome, visuals are awesome, I've played the demo, it's a Souls-like through and through and oh I hate that fucking game game mechanic.

RB: Yeah I love everything about Bloodborne other than playing it.

DHB: Yeah exactly everything even like in the comics every

The AggroCast crew is gearing up for the full release of Diablo IV. Hades had a chance to experience the Closed Beta and Server Slam and Raymond has a long history with the title. Listen in as they talk about their hopes, dreams, fears, and theories on what could be coming in the final version of Diablo IV.

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Raymond Bruels: Hi! Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. Today we are talking about Diablo IV. So David, I know you got to play some of the beta for Diablo IV.

David Hades Becker: Yes, I got it. I got into the beta back when I think it was around St. Patrick's Day. They opened up a few like they opened up a few channels where people could play three of the classes and then, like, the next weekend, you're able to play all five of the classes. And then there was the server slam that they did, which was like a server stress test to make sure that when the game actually launches in June, it just doesn't crash as every other Blizzard game generally does on launch day. But yeah, that was, I got to experience many different levels of Diablo IV.

RB: I haven't really looked at any of the Diablo IV. I played one, two, and three, played the shit out of three. And then for a brief moment, I downloaded Diablo Immortal and then quickly deleted that off my phone just because I was like, no, I don't need microtransactions. And as much as I love the franchise and the IP, I just cannot bring myself to do it. What classes are you getting to play in Diablo for?

DHB: Well, I mean, as of right now, I think the five core classes, they have the Rogue, Sorcerer, Barbarian, Necromancer, and Druid. I think those are the only ones they've announced so far.

RB: So kind of a smattering of classes from the other games in the franchise.

DHB: Yeah. Somewhat. Like I think a couple of them haven't shown up in other games and then some of them like not brand new, but like they're being more focused on instead of being like a DLC or something like that. It's interesting that they chose these five.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: I have a feeling there's going to be more that come down the line given that it's Blizzard and how they normally do like microtransactions or not even microtransactions like DLC or like, oh, yeah, spend another $10 here. Get the season pass and you can get this next character. It's like randomly the fighter or, you know, bring the wizard back.

RB: Yeah, kind of like what they did in three with the crusader and the necromancer.

DHB: I think it was the demon hunter.

RB: Demon hunter. OK. Yeah. And we haven't seen the rogue class since Diablo one.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So that's interesting that they brought them back.

DHB: And I haven't had a chance to play or play the Rogue, even though Rogue is my general go to when I play like these kind of games, like in D and D or anything like that. I'm like, I'm going to play the Rogue. But of course, necromancer, they brought necromancer and I'm a necromancer through and through.

RB: I love the necromancer. Necromancer and barbarian used to be my two, mostly because I loved squishing the corpses and getting potions as the barbarian or leaping across the map to attack things. But necromancer, I always loved. And of course the aesthetic for necromancer was always cool. Cause you had the bone armor and the bone shards and you do the different summons.

DHB: You know and I know that's all back at least in the beta I played for Diablo IV is they have the necromancer and that was the one that I mained for the entire time he was you know like I said necromancer and he has has all the fun stuff I think at one point I equipped the scythe to him just because I was like I gotta have a necromancer with a scythe. And then there was all the extra summons even though at the early levels it was just mainly skeletons and zombies I can raise, but I didn't see a need to raise a

The AggroCast crew is joined by Mr. Hartgrave in the latest episode of the podcast. You've seen and heard him in some of the gaming reviews we have had here recently, and now we get to know him a little better in the latest podcast. Have a listen to them all complain more about Marvel Strick Force and various other elements of the industry that are good and bad for us all.

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Raymond Bruels: Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. Today we are going to be introducing the talent behind some of our game reviews and a well-known content streamer, Frank Hartgrave. Hello, Frank.

Frank Hartgrave: Hey, how's it going? I hate that intro. Hey, how's it going? That really bugs me whenever people say that, like, I don't know. I’m here. leave me alone.

David Hades Becker: That's where you gotta throw out something horrible when you when somebody does that just to throw them off… off base…

FH: Yeah.

RB: Yeah, I always think about the tick so how's it going.

DHB: Expecting to recite back like Spoon or Not In The Face or…

RB: Not the Earth. that's where I keep my stuff.

FH: It's just so pedestrian and as you might be able to tell by the by the background that I rock I’m not pedestrian. And it's just, how's it going? I’m like, I’m on the AggroGamer podcast. I’m talking to you.

RB: That's true.

FH: I’m very aggro. I think this is apopro.

RB: Well, and I love the fact that you always find some way to kind of wrap that in to whatever review we're doing. And it's generally, it's like, I put the Gamer in Aggro or the Aggro in Gamer. I don't f*****g know. I’m Frank Hartgrave. It's It's always like you're confused while you're there. It's great.

FH: I am actually genuinely confused about all of this. Life imitates art.

DHB: That's all part of the fun.

FH: There you go.

RB: So to give our listeners some background, I had initially started trying to write a article about Marvel Strike Force. the sunk cost fallacy mobile game. And then I started watching a ton of YouTube content came across this guy by the name of Mr. Hartgrave. Who seemed really cool, super on top of shit, and was far smarter than me about playing the game despite the fact that he tends to be self-deprecating. And I was like alright I want to talk to this guy. I want to see what he's about maybe try to work him into an article, especially given the fact that he was the only person I found talking about negativity of mobile games and how they try to just suck the life and money out of people and nobody else was really addressing that. So, I reached out he was willing to talk to me. Juliet says I stalked him.

DHB: You stalked him. You definitely stalked him.

RB: All right look. I I just wanted to know and so we had a conversation and then the article didn't go anywhere because every goddamn week. There's something going on with Marvel Strike Force. Sometimes it's every fucking day. And then we got caught up in going to shows. But I tried to keep that avenue of communication open with Frank, and here we are.

DHB: Get back on your thing. Like the other podcast we did specifically about Marvel Strike Force, by the time we finished recording that podcast, the entire ecosystem of the game changed. In like the 20 minutes like when we hit end recording.

RB: Did you hear at the end of that episode, I added an addendum?

DHB: I did, yes.

FH: That's just a change. That's the inside joke.

RB: Yeah.

FH: I’m glad it's not just me. When you started talking about Marvel Strike Force, the cursing intensified. Which is just what happens. People are like, you curse so much. And I’m like, I’m just talking about Marvel Strike Force.

RB: The game gives people Tourette's. It's natural. Yeah, it's natural. It's just what happens. Though I think I do it all the time, but it's more so, it's uncontrollable with Marvel Stri

The AggroCast crew has some words to say about the cancelation of E3 in 2023 in the latest episode of the podcast. Okay, it is more David has a lot of words to say about the E3 cancelation. Partially as the long-term journalist going to the convention for over a decade. Partially since Ray was a bit under the weather during the recording but was still a superstar to press on through.

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Raymond Bruels: Hi! Welcome to the AggroCast. This is Ray Bruels with David Hades Becker. Today we're going to talk about E3. Or, more importantly, the cancellation of E3 in 2023. So, David, what the hell happened?

David Hades Becker: There's a lot that's happened, and there's a lot that still hasn't come about because they put out the official statement canceling it. There's rumors going about. If you read some of the signs that are out there, you can kind of piece things together. but what it feels like is there was so much backlash for E3 for the longest time mixed in with the pandemic that other organizations and all that stuff kind of feel like they're moving in to do their own thing and... Here I am I'm rambling there it feels like there's a progression that most people didn't see or saw coming and now some of those companies are finally taking advantage of it to do their own thing and by that I mean we have to go back a few years with some of the drama that's happened with E3 in the past... because when I started going E3, every publisher, developer, hardware and creator would show up and they would have a place on the floor or they'd have a meeting room for everybody to get together and actually talk about games, look at games, play the games, all that kind of thing. And then slowly over time, because of the internet and technology, it became easier for them to stream stuff. So like EA, EA was one of them, Ubisoft did the same thing where they would host their own streams, but they would still be on the show floor until it was cheaper to just do the stream and not have these big booth spaces. And that's kind of where it all started. Even though you still have like, you had Sony showing up, Nintendo showing up, Microsoft showing up, and they would do these huge booths, as well as these massive showcases, so that people see the games and everybody that wasn't actually able to on the show floor could see the games. But if you're on the show floor, you can actually play some of them. And it just feels like the shift right now is it's just deeper into stream stuff, as well as allows them to dictate their narrative that want to sell it at all. I think that's the bigger one I kind of want to dive in on.

RB: Yeah, I wondered with some of the changes, especially after COVID and the lockdowns and how everything was kind of put on hiatus, if some of this was because of that and companies recognizing that they didn't need conventions to get their message out, to get their advertising out and so they've shifted to a more online platform.

DHB: Well in some instances it makes sense for it because I remember the last in-person E3 I went to they were still showing off Psychonauts 2 and I remember having a special press access and all they did was they took me into a special room that was done up in a theme, they gave me a little press swag bag and all they did was show me video that they could have just uploaded to YouTube so I could have watched. The only difference was I was in this room that they kind of built an experience around. I was still just watching gameplay that ended up getting uploaded to YouTube a day or two later. So I mean, I get like for companies like that. I mean, at the time, I can't remember the name of the studio, Double Fine. They were a smaller studio, they hadn't been bought by Microsoft yet. So it made it would have made sense for them to save their money and do that. Whereas like, there was one year I

The AggroCast crew has some words to say about the mobile game Marvel Strike Force in the latest episode of the podcast. Ray and David dig into what the game is, how hard it can be for new players to get into the mix of it all, if Marvel fans should pay attention, as well as the predatory aspects that the app has built in to abuse those with gambling/gaming addiction.

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Raymond Bruels: Hi, this is the AggroCast Resurrected with Ray Bruels and David Hades Becker, and we are talking about today the mobile game Marvel Strike Force. Yeah, I know, it's one of those that we've been wanting to talk about for a while, and especially me. I started writing an article about four months ago, and I just could not finish it because every week it's something new with this game.

David Hades Becker: Right, it's like, yeah, not even every week, it's almost every other day.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Something changes, or they make some tweak or whatever, or they screw up on their own and completely screw over the fan base.

RB: And there are so many YouTube content creators like Frank Hartgrave and BoilOn and ValleyFly and MobileGamer are constantly talking about these screw ups, and it's got to be just a media rich environment for them because they can just keep going back to all of these mistakes, content galore. But you and I have both been playing it pretty close to inception, if not…

DB: Pretty much, yeah, almost like at least four or five years or so.

RB: Yeah, since it started, and I used to love this game. I agree with so many people talking about how you're addicted to this game. And yet I think now I cannot break the habit because I'm too invested.

DHB: Well, too invested financially or just in general?

RB: In general. I try not to spend any money on mobile games. I know I have spent some money because there have been a couple of opportunities where they have screwed up and they have put out offers that were just too good to be true. And I had to jump on them. But what started off for me was simply a game of collecting has now became this strategized…

DHB: Game of hoarding.

RB: Yeah, it's hoarding. Oh yeah, HordeForce.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Every week you're having to sit on resources waiting for somebody to tell you when you can spend them because I don't have the time to read the blog. I don't know if you read the blog.

DHB: I think I've read them maybe two or three times. That's about it.

RB: And even those are so convoluted that it's difficult to understand just what the hell they're doing. All right. And to roll it back, for those who may not know what Marvel Strike Force is, it's a game that originally was put out by Fox Next. And then it was bought by Scopely, put under the Boundless umbrella. And in 20, was it 2020? They said that they had made $300 million off this game.

DHB: Yeah, I think it was about that.

RB: But they have not posted any financial figures since then that I could find. And all of the envoys, all of these content creators on YouTube and Reddit, part of an envoys system that they get to talk to the developers that are under NDA. They get to see stuff as it's pre-released. There's a couple like Tana that actually do deep dives and can read the backend coding. So they kind of see what's going on…

DHB: Get a better feel on like those random drops or yeah.

RB: Well, and what characters may potentially be next. But we just came through a massive push that they were doing for Apocalypse. Oh my gosh, Apocalypse, Apocalypse, Apocalypse. And this is something else I've learned is that they have different categories for people that spend. You've got your Whales and your Krakens and your Dolphins and all of the sea life whatsoever has some title. I am nowhere near any of that. I'm kind of a casual player for the most part.

DHB: Well, I am allergic to fish, so I'm not even in the swimmin