Editing The Pen Addict 539/transcript (section)

== Video games and major console releases ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice, nice. We do have a podcast a little bit about video games and I wanted to bring this up. I've had this in my notes for like two weeks and I was wondering if you saw the Field Notes God of War release. Did you see this drop with PlayStation? What did you think when you saw this?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yes. So I don't remember exactly what, like how this came across my path. I think just like someone sent it to me. I think me and Federico and John Voorhees, we have like a I'm a sister where we talk about video games a lot. Right. And Sony just dropped a bunch of God of War stuff at once when they announced the game like merch. And I think John noticed it and was like, man, they are going all in. Right. Like he sent this to me. It's like they really do. Like Sony have just got like a ton of stuff going on for this God of War release at the moment. Like limited editions, special editions, all that kind of stuff.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. For non-video game fans, this is probably like the biggest console release of the year.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's their biggest game of the year. Their biggest game of the year. For sure. And, you know, it is going up against Elden Ring as game of the year, I think. I think it's going to be between these two for most outlets. I don't think God of War is going to have a good showing against Elden Ring, but I'm sure it will pick it up in some places. Nevertheless, like so my initial thought when I saw what is a what nine pack? It's a nine pack. Three, three packs or you can get a nine pack. So they're doing like three. They've got and they're like focused around different parts of mythology. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if these are like light spoilers for the game, but like, you know, right? Like I haven't played God of War yet because I have not yet unpacked my PlayStation in the move. Although I do actually own the game. I have a I got given a code by PlayStation, but I have not played it. Oh, nice. Nice. But game provided by PlayStation eventually when I ever get to it. What I would say about this is like it's like a lot of stuff. I don't know how or why this happened. I think that's a very good way to put it. Right. That's my biggest takeaway from this. Like I'm not entirely sure why Sony did this. Like all of their other stuff. They're obviously working with companies to produce it, but they're not co-branded. Right. So like they have backpacks and mugs and sunglasses. Right. Like all kinds of stuff. Like the only thing that I can see on here that is co-branded is a Yeti mug. Like everything else is just like it's just God of War. It's like I'm not entirely sure why if Sony wanted to make some notebooks, they didn't just make some notebooks. You know, like why did they feel they need to go to field notes? Yeah, we see the Molsky come out. Yeah, but they don't have to do. I don't think of a brand at all. Right. Like they could just make some crappy notebooks. These are literally field notes.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' If you didn't know what this is, you would think this was like the National Parks or the Seven Wonders field notes or something just by a quick glance at the cover. Right. Obviously, if you looked at it more, you'd go, oh, this is the fantasy realm and things like that.

'''Myke Hurley:''' They got the buy correctly. God of War Ragnarok buy field notes. They did it correctly. Okay. I need to always mention this when someone does it right.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I can't. Do you know how much time I spend trying to figure out how to do that to this day? Like I just don't. It's easy. Just say it aloud. I need a I need a digital workflow. You just say it. I understand.

'''Myke Hurley:''' You say it. Here's the trick, Brad. Right. Here's the trick. Who's making it? Right. That's always lost.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. That's how I need like an XKCD or something like to pin up on my wall and like here's the order. I just explained it to you, you know? I know. Who's making it goes last?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Who's actually producing the product? Because that's it's by them, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Okay. Try. Right, right, right, right. Yes. If you say it that way. But yeah, I was shocked when I saw this in like a very positive way. It's like what is happening? And then I was thinking like you is like, what is this through line? How did we get from point A to point B here? Right? Like how did who reached out to field notes and and came up with this concept? And I imagine the working on this has been going on all year. Right. This probably like since January, I'd imagine.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, it's obviously great execution. Perfect stuff. I also wonder how much of these they would sell. Like is this the is this the market? Like would it have been better for like the singular journal where you just make your own, you know, God of War? Yeah, it's weird, right? Like singular moleskin ask journal, right? Like is their market going to go for the nine pack of field notes? I mean, well, field notes fans and video games fans or people that listen to this show would. This is probably why this is a preload of product. Hmm. I see that now. That's a good point. Right. I'm curious. So it's it's fifty dollars for a nine pack, which is fine. Like that's like, you know what they're going for these days. And they're they're really pretty. Right. They're they're obviously like everything feels field notes does. I'm a huge fan of and these look great. I just curious. I'm curious.

'''Myke Hurley:''' It's fun, right?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It is. It's very fun. I'm glad to see it. I'm very happy. Like this is big time. Like it doesn't get much bigger than this, you know, drop these in the in the Apple store. That's like the next move. Right.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah.