Flashback
Take a walk through gaming history as we pick a random date in gaming history and bring you the news from that time as if it was now , different era every week - covering all of gaming history
Flashback
A look at gaming in May 2007
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Rewind to May 2007, when a pocket-sized PSP could serve up 70s car chases, the Xbox 360 found its swagger, and living rooms turned into quiz shows and karaoke bars. We dive into the games we were playing and the moves that reshaped the industry: Driver 76’s Starsky-and-Hutch vibes, Forza Motorsport 2’s precision and paint-shop creativity, and the late-PS2 surprise of The Red Star proving the old console still had heat left. Along the way, we trace how Halo 3, Gears, and even Viva Piñata helped define the 360 era, making online feel seamless and smooth.
We also spotlight the party machines that brought non-gamers into the fold. Buzz delivered sharp quiz design and chaotic couch rivalries, while SingStar handed the mic to anyone brave enough to try, with pitch-forgiving scoring and music videos that made every chorus feel big. Here’s the twist: those “casual” hits helped bankroll major studio tech and prestige titles—proof that Friday night singalongs quietly funded the blockbusters we celebrate.
Then we take on the risky lane change: Need for Speed ProStreet. EA steered the franchise from neon alleys to sanctioned showdowns, chasing realism just as car culture began to shift. We ask a big question: with EVs on the rise and engines growing quiet, did racing games already hit their peak in the combustion era? From ProStreet’s identity crisis to Codemasters’ GRID brilliance, we map how the genre evolved—and what still makes it sing. We close with a look at Ubisoft’s 2007 acquisition mindset and a forecast that underestimated the online market by miles, thanks to the tidal surge of DLC, subscriptions, and cosmetics.
Hit play for smart nostalgia, sharp takes, and a boot full of June 2007 picks—Dirt, Folklore, The Darkness, Tomb Raider Anniversary—and a couple of film grabs for good measure. If you enjoyed the trip, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and drop us a quick review so more retro fans can find their way back to 2007 with us.
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Cheers gamers!
Hello and welcome to Flash Play, the games you love, the stories you forgot. This is episode twelve. Twelve, can't believe it. And this week we're in May 2007. I'm RGT. You may heard me from the UCP, and I am joined today again by the Button Basher. The joystick Jedi. The Pokemon Purist. It is UCP George. How are you doing, George?
SPEAKER_01I am well. I don't think I I'm any I'm definitely not the Pokemon Prestige, or what did you anyway? I'm doing great.
SPEAKER_02Pokemon Purist. You tend to like the older Pokemon, you don't really play the new ones.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I see in that way. I am a purist, you're absolutely right. It does me good to be here, ready to slip slide down the pole into the wonderful year that you've picked out of your brain for us to inhabit for a day. Um just great to see the flashback journey continue. Good sir. Thank you to everyone that's listened and supported and all that good stuff. RGT serve them up a slice, friend.
SPEAKER_02Yes, like I say, this is May 2007. This is if this is your first flashback, basically what we do is we go through what we would have probably been playing at this time. We'll go through three news articles of the era from websites and magazines, then we finish up with what we'd be hoping to play with, and if you're UCP old school, you'll know of Stingray, who will appear showing us the games to play in his good old Ray, eh? Yeah, so it's just this uh little love letter look back to uh times of old in game, and and we've covered everything from early 90s right up to 2014, and it's just these little snapshots. So always remind me of like the timeline if you've ever played Beyond Two Souls, where they just take random picks of her life. That's what we do with video games. We just take random chunks and away we go. So let's start with okay.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say one day we hope that people can unfold from like 1983 through flashback all the way up to the start of the UCP and then uh all the way up to the modern day. We've given the the ladder now to to do that. I quite like the two souls reference, by the way. I feel one day someone's gonna rearrange this in chronological chronological order, it's gonna sound very odd.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, or they're gonna play beyond two souls, because I suspect a lot of people haven't, and then go, ah, that's what you meant. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Well, depends on what version. Anyway.
How The Show Works
SPEAKER_02Yep. Anyway, we digress as usual. But let's start with what we would have been playing. Um, here are some game releases from May and April. I should say it the other way around, really. April, end of April, May 2007. Um, quite a small board of games were being released at this time. Um I always look back when we go to these little random areas and uh times, and some of them you get and you just think, geez, we had a lot of games coming out in close succession back then.
SPEAKER_01A myriad of formats as well, RGT, which is the light we don't really see now, but uh very interesting.
SPEAKER_02I mean, even from mobile games right through to the crossovers between PS2, PS3, 360, there were so many games coming out.
SPEAKER_01When when what my handsome colleague talks of mobile games, we don't we we aren't referring to the ones you get on iOS or Android stores. No, no, no, no. We're talking to the ones that you used to pay like£4.50 in four.
SPEAKER_02Full JavaScript, baby.
SPEAKER_01Type down a code on the back of a magazine to like an 0800 number. I don't even know where these games came from or how you got them. Um but they were dirty, they're horrible.
SPEAKER_02One thread per second side scroller.
SPEAKER_01They were not worth your they were not worth your time, and I'll tell you one thing, they weren't worth your money. Right. What's what to pull a real game out for me, RGT? Wet my whistle with 2007's finest.
Releases And Formats Of The Era
SPEAKER_02Um well on May the 8th, 2007, is uh one of my hidden gems from over on the uh Unoff Controller podcast, and that is Driver 76 for the PlayStation Portable. Um I recommended this game a couple of years ago over on there. Um this is a great little game, and you don't really, even when I see uh driving game, like top 10 driving games for the PSP, rarely does this seem to come up, and I find it quite strange. But if you think of like if you if you've got a PSP um and you you more than likely would have played Vice City Stories, Liberty City Stories, if you think of them sort of aesthetics, um that's what driver 76 is obviously set in the 70s, but it's pretty much mostly just drive and based rather than out on the you can get out of the car though, can you? You can, I believe. I mean it's a long time.
SPEAKER_01But not any time, but just mission specific.
SPEAKER_02Time-based escort emissions, you know, ramming a car to stop them, all them classic driver stuff. But it plays very well on a PSP. Um, it's got that very cool, sort of almost Starsky and Hutch feel to it with the sound and everything. It's a great little game. Um, we were sort of looking off air at it. I think you could pick it up now for about£8, I think, something like that. Whereas you on when I done the hidden gem, that was sort of£2.50,£3.50. So that is these games are starting to get recognised a bit now. So if you're gonna buy it, I'll start picking it up before they get a bit expensive. But you haven't played it, have you, George? Not driver 76 at the time.
SPEAKER_01No, I was talking to you. It's in the script twice, which made me think it'd have two versions, but you've confirmed it was only ever on PSP. So yeah, I've not played this. I like the idea of it. I do remember you bringing it in as a hidden gem from memory. I got a bit confused with another driver game, but no, this I've not played this, but it does appeal to me.
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, I'm surprised they didn't port this to like a maybe because that was that era where that was you know, PS3 was coming out. This was more PS2 aesthetics, it probably would have looked better on a PS2, but it was a bit late to port it to that. And also the game length is quite short, so it'd have been quite a short game for a home console, but it's it's it's a very good game. I think they were just in that crossover period where it just wasn't worth putting on a PS2, but it's probably not good enough to put on a PS3. So um, but yeah, re definitely recommend that. Um, anything for you on there, George?
Driver 76 On PSP
SPEAKER_01Um, the one I probably spent the most time on, uh, and the one it's the I'm emotionally charged to the most, is Forza 2 Motorsport or Forza Motorsport 2. Um, I had a great time playing this back in the day. The customization of the cars, the circuits, everything felt good. It you know, over on the Xbox Wagon, you didn't often have that many good stories. Um, the first Forza was okay, but this one hit and it just gripped everybody on the Xbox ecosystem. This game was I want to say shoulder to shoulder, but at least give you Gran Turismo parity. But then the level of customization you could do with the graphics and decal sets on the car. Like I remember I had an NSX and I put the classic Marlborough red McLaren colours on it, and then found a copy of it and sent a signature online and managed to use different bits of shapes, actually, have it so he had signed the roof. Mate, I was really proud of that. Um, Finchie was around playing Forza 2 when I had that car. Um, I had a few others, I think I had a Nigel Mansell Renault of some kind, but it wasn't anything close to the NSX, it just looks so fresh. Um, had some really good times, single player and multiplayer on there. Obviously, if you were to pick it up now, you'd only be really looking at the single player component, but there's enough to do. Oh, there is plenty to do.
SPEAKER_02We recently played over on our Gen 7 playthrough on Money Controller Podcast Discord, um, and I've played I've played Forzed Motorsport 2 two or three times, um, and even our most recent play playthrough of it, um it still looks fantastic for this age, it's the cars still handle really well, and and that's that attention to detail like Grand Trismo does. That when you do an upgrade, you can feel it or you can hear it if you put a turbo in. Not only do you get that you know, that lag and then power, and you get the noise of the turbo waste gate and all that, all the little bits all add up so you can really transform a car. Very well done, and you always feel a good sense of progression when you're playing it as well. Totally, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Great game ticked, it fitted the ecosystem of the Xbox at the time, it felt fresh like everything the 360 was bringing, it felt like a different take, um, which is something I really enjoyed during the 360 era versus PS2 versus PS3. The 360 was trying to innovate, you know. Look at some of the games that came out there, some of the exclusives that they brought out. You know, we've got Gears of War, we've got the Forza series, or they doubled down on that. It was Viva Pinata, if you want me to go even more left field as an example of them trying something outside of the box to try and get something to work, you know. And I admire Microsoft in this era. I mean, more often than not, Fable 2 right up until the dawning of the Kinect, really, they were untouchable.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, they were they were smashing it. I mean, Forza as well, that was like what has PlayStation got that we need? They got Grand Turismo, let's make one. They didn't just clone one, they made a very close version of it. Which so you know, you you don't want to have a game that's not as good, and then you you all your all your players and gamers go, oh yeah, I know, but it ain't Grand Turismo. No, most of them thought, no, this is Forza. This is Forza, you know, and that was a rival and they done really well, and like you say, and more more left field stuff, they were really pulling exclusives out from everywhere, and yeah, absolutely different time very well.
SPEAKER_01It was in this era that they landed what I would call like the mother load for them, which was Halo 3. Not only did that product arrive really well, it was presented well, it was advertised well, it reviewed well, every single facet of it from the story to the multiplayer played well, the menu systems, the way it was laid out was innovative and fresh. It feels it felt very much like the marathon kind of styling that we're seeing now was kind of how this was kind of presented to us. And I'll be honest with you, there was nothing like it, and the online sort of the seamless functionality of the online compared to anything that was going on on the opposite side of the fence on PlayStation, which admittedly was free, was light years ahead.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, yeah. And also, you've got to remember 360 had that that year boost, that year start. It did, you know, so bile of time 2007 to around. Well, that was where two years into the ecosystem, whereas PlayStation 3 was still relatively early going through, you know, getting trying to get some games onto the system.
SPEAKER_01Well, this is that moment where they picked all the transient PS2 players up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Forza Motorsport 2’s Impact
SPEAKER_01But I think they still fight those studios are ultimately those um console manufacturers, really, are still fighting over the subset of the gamers that came out in the 90s. They literally are those transient players that came off of PS2 because it was a hype wagon, PS360 came out, was all new singing, all do and dancing. They migrated over, but not all of them migrated back to PS3 when it launched or got through its you know launch phase. Some of them stayed there and then went into Xbox One as a as a result. So I think there's a lot still to play out from this era, even in the day that we find ourselves in today, which is February 2026. So it's it's real interesting stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was very interesting times, and um yeah, they they owned that generation for a long while then.
SPEAKER_01Um they they decided everything that went on in it.
SPEAKER_02Another game um it actually was another hidden gem um that I picked out, um, and this is April the 6th, 2007, but this was on the PS2, so a very late release. Um, the Red Star. Um if you've never played the Red Star or heard of it, it's like a side scrolling sort of 2.5D shooter come beat 'em up.
SPEAKER_01Um right, you're a bloke here. Huh? You're a person in it. I thought you'd be in a plane or something.
SPEAKER_02No, no, no, no, no. It's on foot. Um you can sort of change between um a girl and a and a sort of a big big guy who's sort of more slower, sort of tactical, you know, strength. Um it's tough, but it is there's something about that game where you just thought this is quite unique. You know what I mean? They're on to something here, it plays well, it graphically looks stunning. You can tell that's an end of a PS2 generation game, but I think because of when it came out, um a lot of people missed it. That's why now a lot of people I'm now looking up now. I mean, if you get a chance about well six pound, you pick it up for six pound on on the CX in the UK. So you're probably looking less than ten bucks in the States. Um and it's a brilliant little game. Um it it was which which is odd because I think when I done a hidden gem, it was more than that. I think that's sort of the the price has come down a bit on it. But yeah, definitely recommend a Red Star. That's that sort of um what would you put it like parallel sort of universe against Russia and the you know the rules and everything had changed and you know the wars had gone a different way, and you're sort of fighting your way through to try and take out the main guy who's been you know running the world, and really good, great little game. Definitely recommend it for a PS2 collection. Um, what's up next for you then, George?
SPEAKER_01Um I think the next one out of my part of things I would like to talk about, but only very lightly because I haven't played it for a long time. Innocent Life of Futuristic Harvest Moon. Oh, I wanted to talk to you about this because in the title, mate, it's basically Harvest Moon with some gadgets thrown on top of it, but really those gadgets are not much different to the usual materials and thick tools that you would use within Harvest Moon.
SPEAKER_02Um, I suppose you'd have like a uh a crop sprayer, but it'll be one that hovers and not a drone and walking up.
SPEAKER_01I think it was something like that. It was them trying to do a little bit something different. I think Harvest Moon had probably got a little bit sort of typecast, it was only for a certain style of player, whereas this kind of reminded people that hey, do you know what? This this we do a futuristic Harvest Moon as well. It is more of the same if you like Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley. Um, as I always say, you know, the game that everyone raves about, Stardew Valley, the PS1 version of Harvest Moon was doing all of that back in the day. So there's a lot here. Innocent Life did have some of that um relationship RPG element to it as well. Um obviously it was an evolution of the PS1 version, which I always found quite cute. This is more of the same. I implore everyone to pick it. I don't know how much this is though, because you see it quite often. I wouldn't say it's if this was more than Driver 76, I'd be shocked.
SPEAKER_02Um I think I picked up a few years ago and I think it was pretty cheap. Yes,£12.
SPEAKER_01I think I'm surprised at that.
SPEAKER_02I didn't realise it would have I think it's gone up because of all this sudden you know, thing back for Harvest Moons and the story of seasons and Stardew. They've come into this new cozy game sort of genre, and they're gonna be a good one.
SPEAKER_01I think yeah, I think people have woken up and realised that Harvest Moon was doing things they didn't realise it was doing because obviously they played some earlier farming sims and thought, oh that's it, thank god for Stardew, but then probably went back and played the ones they missed and went, Oh you know, Friends of Mineral Town. Is that the PS1 version? I think it is, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02I think so, yeah. So good.
SPEAKER_01So I had a load of grown men round me. I was playing this while I was away back in the day, and every night there would be a gaggle of grown men gathered round as we built my farm.
unknownBrilliant.
Xbox 360’s Momentum And Halo 3
SPEAKER_01Are you doing your game tonight, mate? Yeah, yeah, yeah, hell yeah. Oh yeah, looking forward to that, yeah. Right. So I'd sit down around this tiny little PS1 screen and they'd be gathered round me like a cast of characters as we all kind of via I don't know, the medium of votes and groupthink, we we we did this farm. But you know, some of them were so into it, didn't play games, but we're again we're in an era where we didn't have a telly and other bits and bobs, so you know you did find weird ways to entertain yourself. But yeah, there was a small window of time where some grown-ass men gathered round uh and played Harvest Moon together. So there you go. It's that it's that good, and I think it was doing things even back then. I know Stardew is like the pinnacle of them all, but it was doing things back then that kind of blew their minds. What you can I think in that one we were caught in a woman with the with the idea of making her my wife. Um but the idea you could do that in this farming game like blew their mind. It was it was really next level stuff. So an innocent life continues that got a lot to say about it.
SPEAKER_02And Eric Broner, where he said he made Stardew because he loves Harvest Moon, he just wanted to make his own Harvest Moon, that's what it was, you know. Yeah, well, it's it's his his his love letter to the same most.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, as I've said to you many times, he he nailed that. If that was his if that was his idea going out, he's covered off and every subsystem that I've ever seen in Harvest Moon, he's included the mining, the minerals, the relationships.
SPEAKER_02Um the 10 years of free updates completely changed the game from what it started to where it is now. Really good, yeah, brilliant, brilliant. Um, but yeah, that's really tempted me to to start playing that.
SPEAKER_01If you've got it, yeah, it's one of those games I would say if you got your PSP charged up, and I still need to send you your Yeah, now it's flat, I ain't got no way to charge it. That's awkward. Um get your PSP charged up, and this is how I played it. I lobbed it in, had it on the bedside. Some nights you pick it up, some nights you don't, but you can always make a little bit of progress, and even an aged PSP will still go into that suspend mode and be okay for 24 hours. Yeah, um, so yeah, you're all good. You're all good. Authority, get get that in your system.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm gonna have to give it a go this way, go.
SPEAKER_01I've always bounced off these farming games, really. But I know that you love them. So play one that you've never played before with those sci-fi as I say, don't get too carried away with it, but with that added different interaction level, yeah, which ultimately underneath it all real boils down to be the same. Yeah. But it's a little bit of something different for you for a while that I think you'd really enjoy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, I'm looking forward to giving that a go, I think. Um, next up, I'm gonna go with um Buzz, the Mega Quiz.
SPEAKER_01Because Yeah, we both said we were gonna bring these down, didn't we?
SPEAKER_02I have had hours and hours and hours of fun on Buzz with from having the PS2 ones wired to having the wireless PS3 ones wide. Which PS3 one does not?
SPEAKER_01Have you got the blue presentation box for Buzz? I don't know, eighteen inch by eighteen inch square almost blue velvet lined interior that you put the they were the wireless ones actually, so maybe that's the reason. But I don't know.
SPEAKER_02No, mine mine are wireless, but in the red bag, and I've got unboxed wired ones.
SPEAKER_01Um how many different versions of Buzz have you got?
SPEAKER_02Of the games they released, I've got them all.
SPEAKER_01Have you? What even junior pop stars?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Damn you. Oh no, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What an absolute rogue!
SPEAKER_02Well, we played it so much, I thought, well, let's get all the different ones, the 80s and uh, you know, the big quiz like this one or mega quiz and all the different ones, Hollywood and you know, they were s we had so many we used to take it on holiday with us.
SPEAKER_01I've even got it on PSP.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we used to take it on holiday with us because that's just brilliant, because we used to always go as a couple of families go together in the evenings, kids go to bed, buzz out, few glass of wine, keep it clean, son, keep it clean. Um yeah, so it's just great, absolutely brilliant. Great way to uh to have fun, and even now it still plays really well, you know, with that end thing, uh you know, where you could knock each other's um stage down to see who can be the eight and eight winner. It's great fun, you know, and also you've got you know the added thing of Jason Donovan voicing it. Um great game. Absolutely can't recommend enough. I don't know. It is nowadays, is it very expensive?
SPEAKER_01Don't look at me, don't talk to me if I can't pick if this is flashback and I can't say anything about it. Get yourself to the unofficial controller podcast where in at least one week's time I need to strip him down. I also still need to, at your request, investigate on the more adult show or the more open conversation show about his trip to IBF. Timothy and Timothy and Kevin go large.
SPEAKER_02That in that in uh for this show.
SPEAKER_01Um, I know, I know. I've got this list of things I want to talk to you about that I keep forgetting to talk to you about that you need talking to.
SPEAKER_02Um Buzz is still dirt cheap.
Hidden Gem: The Red Star On PS2
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like book 50, two book fifty, depending on the version. If you want to get the controllers, you're gonna be north of like 20, 30 quid though, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02No, you can get four buzz controllers in CEX um for PS2 for eight quid.
SPEAKER_01Um they work on P. I'd recommend if you were to get this so today in 2026 that you get you go for the PS3 version.
SPEAKER_02You can get the the Buzz Big Quiz that um That's what I've got in it with four buzzers for the PS2 still sealed in a blister pack for twelve quid.
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a clear plastic seal.
SPEAKER_02That's a good deal. Yeah, and then you got like quiz world is six quid, uh pop quiz eight quid, Hollywood quiz four quid. So yeah, I mean sports quiz two quid, you know, they're not these were banging when I had my backwards compatible PS2.
SPEAKER_01Now I don't, it's a bit more of a hang on a minute, hang on a minute, hang on a minute, let me uh uh uh let me change. But no, that's that's more of a modern technological issue rather than it is anything to buzz at the time.
SPEAKER_02You know, and people sort of just think of them as a bit of shovelware, but really they're a bit more in-depth than that, and they were really good quiz, they would they were laid out as a really good quiz game, good questions, great bit of fun, bit of variety in the rounds, yeah. Really good. Yeah, really, really good.
SPEAKER_01The interactivity with your family members or guests that you have round playing it with as well, like you could as you said at the opening bit there, you take there's a section where you take points off them. Yeah, he's constantly going through and giving you your scores as well, so you know where you sit with your family members, so there's always Jocelyn in the room. If you've got if you've got the PS3 version, this is why I say all this is probably the version to get. PS3 probably does the same, but the PS3 does it slick. If you've got the eye toy camera or the PS3 eye hooked up, um it will take pictures of you during the round and after as well, which just adds another sheen to it as well, it just makes it more fun. Um, yeah, I think I mean it was only last year, it was probably the first year in a long time where Buzz didn't come out for new year, so yeah. Nice bit of kit to have on the back burn of that. Real nice.
SPEAKER_02I think the the wireless controllers are getting a bit pricey. I think four of them with a dongle is a sort of 28 quid, and that's because anything that had these dongles, people always lost a dongle, so uh so I was thinking it was up that up that far, so it's yeah, what million miles away.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02If you have gone, just remember take your batteries out.
SPEAKER_01Yes, because that nearly it didn't the previous owner of the set that I had had nearly like one of the wireless controllers is a is very dicky. As a result of some seepage.
SPEAKER_02Well, I I think I bought mine new in a bargain bin in in game, I think. It might have been game or it might have been GameStation, that might have been then, but yeah. So I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01One thing I want to touch on is PlayStation had Buzz, but the 360 also had its own quiz controller, if you remember that.
SPEAKER_02I don't think I do. What was that?
SPEAKER_01I thought it looked like Buzz, it was similar in its look, but obviously it was white. Uh they had a few quiz games. They had that one, most notably, I think it was what, 500 to 1 that was a big hit on Xbox Live for a while. And they had some other quiz games. It was a brand that was associated to them, but I can't remember the name of it. But these these in controllers were used in other things too. Um message in, not that I really care about a dead 360 accessory, but uh maybe I maybe I do so please message in and give me the lowdown on those, and unless my mind's just playing tricks on me. But seem to remember that it was more rounded than the buzz, and then it came up into a big circle at the top. Similar idea with the buttons down the front, and then this bigger thing on the top that you could nail, um, or press very quickly anyway. Um, the other game I wanted to talk to you about, RGT, and it's all down the accessories route, but I feel that I mean a good friend of the show um and colleague Mike Rouse had his hand in the development of this. It's SingStar.
SPEAKER_02Yes, he did, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Now, I think you know if you listen to the main show that my singing ability is minimal to none. Um, I don't think I've trotted it out on Flashy B yet. Maybe I have. I'm in that much of a fever dream these days, I don't know. Um, but SingStar and the PlayStation 2 always made me feel like a real hero. Um, the way it rated your score, the way it played the music video in the background. You know, you you didn't have to be the perfect singer as long as you kind of half got the pitch right. SingStar was very reasonably forgiving in terms of chasing the high score. He didn't say, Oh, you're an amazing singer, he never said that, but it certainly said, Oh, you've scored well. Now that could depend on uh uh uh uh uh uh trying to find the right pitch as you sang it through. Um but once you nailed it, it was quite easy to gamify, but then throw that in with a load of friends, forget the score chasing, and you've got your perfect karaoke machine. Now, there's many karaoke machines that you can get for parties and families and different bits and bobs, but more often than not, they're absolutely garbage. What the PS2 did was bring Japanese quality karaoke really to the heart of your of your lounge. Yeah, that might be a little bit egregious, but the TV interaction, the bouncing ball on the words, the music video in the background, the curation and selection of the songs. There was always something on these. Now there's a lot of sing stars because it went into PS3, there were like artist-specific ones.
SPEAKER_02But that's a good thing, because they backed it so well. So you had like sing star 90s, pop hits, pop world, rocks, party, rock ballads, RB. There's so many of them that you could literally go and go out. I mean, even now, I mean they're one pound, two pound now, but you could pick them up at the time, even cheap, and I um sing along to, you know.
Cozy Futures: Innocent Life On PSP
SPEAKER_01In an unofficial controller podcast exclusive in our interview of Mike Rouse, it was outed that we would God of War 3 wouldn't even have happened if the money from SingStar hadn't come in in such an abundance. So it's some we we all get sort of grumpy. I think you know, I lost faith in Microsoft when they pedaled the Kinect out. I think I've equally got us frustrated with different things that PlayStation have tried to pedal across the years. But some of these accessories that us as mainstream gamers don't necessarily go for generate that much revenue behind the back door that they in a way do pay for the games that we love to see and enjoy. So just always remind yourself and don't forget to message in or remind me, George, go easy on that peripheral because it means that you've got that extra texture pass on that game you really wanted.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and that's amazing. You only by talking to people like Mike Grace, would you know of these things going on behind the scenes?
SPEAKER_01Well, like I say, I think he brokered that actual claim with us. I think we did a little Instagram post about it to bring people to the to the interview. And, you know, I also, as we always do, implore people to go to research the back catalogue of the main show, the unofficial controller podcast, and and dig out the uh two or three Mike Rouse episodes or more that we did. One focusing on AntStream, so that's applicable here, where it's the collection of all the dead games that they put up on the AntStream service available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, a great place to check out some of these older games that we've talked about on here on GT. And also about his tenure at PlayStation Studios, where he helped with um was part of the development team for the getaway, the getaway Black Monday. He was also involved in the Sing Star games. He was also instrumental in the trophy system. You'd think a a project that garnered so much support would um put Mike Rouse right in front and centre of PlayStation Studios heroes. Um, luckily for us, he's well under the radar.
SPEAKER_02Um a uh BAFTA winner and also a BAFTA judge.
SPEAKER_01He's a BAFTA judge, yeah. And he's also got his hand on a myriad of things. He's worked at other studios as well, um working on the Map V games, yeah. Absolutely, and he's also had his hand in developing PlayStation Home, which if you consider yourself a PlayStation alumni, you'll have a lot of emotion about. So go check out Mike Rouse, uh his interviews with us and his own channel, Retro Gamer Boy, on the on the Bluetooth. Yes. RGTube. Do you want to give me a little thought on Singstar or do you want to dive deep into gorgeous looking news he brought for us?
SPEAKER_02I was never someone that really was into karaoke, he was always a bit conscious of singing in front of people, never but Singstar, my my mate, got it um, and he'd have clear the living room, stand in front of the TV and sing some songs, and he'd just be like, Look, don't matter what you sound like, mate. I'm singing to pick a song, and I'd be oh low, so and so's on this. Yeah, go on, have a go, and we'd have a sing, a few drinks, you know, and it was just good fun. It brought karaoke home, brought it into the home so you didn't have to be in a cut.
SPEAKER_01You nailed it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, phones were good, they felt like really good, good quality microphones. I've still got them wide ones. You had to be a bit careful, you didn't yank them too hard, but I had plenty of lead on them, they were good, they sounded good. You had you could pick the games up cheap.
SPEAKER_01Do you want to know a confession? What I had sing star, I don't know what version of it, and there was a song I kind of got halfway close to me, and I dragged a good score out of, and it was either Westlife or Boyzo.
SPEAKER_00We bit a dead world of our own, and that and all else knows, and that and that and that and oh woo.
SPEAKER_01And my wife went out and I sat uh because I was on leave, I sat from I don't know, nine in the morning till five o'clock at night practicing that song over and over and over.
SPEAKER_00Um also got PTSD, and then she still built beat me.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were gonna say you come back with this heroic score. No, it's still lost.
SPEAKER_01No, I did, mate, yeah. And then was ridiculed for having took the whole day to practice.
SPEAKER_02Worth it then. Yeah, the sing star, marriage killer. Anyway, yeah, so we covered uh probably what we would have been playing, um dipping our toes into at the time. Um games in PS2, 360, PS3, um, all that weird crossover period. Um it's many, many more games. I mean, you can look up online like we do for researching the show, go and have a look and see, you know, because that'll bring back some memories when you see these games, hence what we've been talking about memories here when we we mention these games.
SPEAKER_01Um but I think it was time we uh we moved on to uh I'm disappointed you didn't talk about the equestrian released on April 27, 2007.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that angle.
SPEAKER_01You just made a horse noise as well, did you realise?
SPEAKER_02That's why my nickname's trigger. Um god. We've scarred the very darkest back pages of the game amazing and even delve deep into the interweb to bring you what was the latest stories in May 2007. First up from gamesindustry.biz. Would you like this one, George? Would you like me to read this one?
SPEAKER_01No, I'll go for it, mate. I see you've logged in some French pronunciation. So um, as my erstwhile colleague just mentioned, uh he's not my erstwhile colleague, actually, he's my continuing colleague. Uh, gamesindustry.biz and Matt Martin on the 31st of May 2007 had this to say. Ubisoft ice studio acquisitions. Ubisoft chairman Yves Gilmont has said uh that the company is on the lookout for possible acquisitions, although the publisher wants to stay cash positive. Ubisoft Chairman Yves Gilmont has said that the company is on the lookout for possible acquisitions, although the publisher wants to stay cash positive. During a conference on the group's recent financial results, Chief Financial Officer Alan Martinez told Reuters that it was currently considering two or three opportunities with development studios, with a price range in between 1 and 20 million euros. The idea is to stay cash positive, but will remain on the lookout for acquisition opportunities, said Gilmont. Yesterday the company revealed profits for last financial year of um€40.5 million euros, a 70% increase over the previous year. Following the results, analyst analyzed analysis Michael Pactor stated that he believes the French company is undervalued and expects the publisher to grow faster than the rest of the market. Interesting story to bring in here, RGT. Gotta say to Matt Martin looking a little bit like Graham Norton there, but uh that was that was a long time ago now.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I thought he looked a bit more like Alan Carr.
SPEAKER_01Um you're you're very kind.
SPEAKER_02Um I put this in here because of Ubisoft of recent times has lost hundreds of millions on the stock market. They seem to be in free fall at the moment.
SPEAKER_01Well, don't forget Eve had his he's had his knuckles wrapped a couple of times as well. It's interesting to see that infamous gaming celebrity crop up at the right side of the conversation about Ubisoft for once.
SPEAKER_02And this is a time, you know, 2007, nearly 20 years ago, when they were going the opposite way. They're on the up, they were looking for acquisitions, they're gonna be able to get the colour.
SPEAKER_01Assassin's Creed performing well.
Party Classics: Buzz Quiz Memories
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um that obviously were doing the fallout uh Far Cry game, sorry.
SPEAKER_01Um The Had a lot of games coming out, a lot of games that were doing Far Cry 2 hit well during this era, phenomenal game, still lauded now for its physics, etc.
SPEAKER_02And also I think to look at 20 years ago, what we thought was a lot of money, 40.5 million euros would probably make the first two missions of a God of War game, if that you know, and this is what the whole company was valued at in 20 years. We're now you know, Microsoft's paying billions for studios, Sony's paying billions for studios.
SPEAKER_01Um it's the ever rise of a capitalist economy, I'm afraid. I think I think the good news story in here, RGT, is that the hobby's growing phenomenally, I think that's what you're saying, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Oh god, yeah. Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, I just found it interesting, Ubisoft, you know, as quick as you can rise up that ladder of being a really big studio, you can come down even quicker, you know. The fall is as quick as the rise, but I just thought this was interesting that these were seen as some of the top dogs at the time. Um, and until recent years, probably still were, but you know, they were quite open about what their value were, like quite open about what wanting to expand and incorporate new studios. And don't forget, they they went for a bit of a period after this where they did pick some studios up and they were doing these little side games like um oh, I had it as one of my hidden gems, a little the submarine game. Bless me, I can't remember what it was. I remember it. There they done all these little side games that would be coming out, and you just thought, oh, they they they got their fingers.
SPEAKER_01And that was developed by a Sony owned studio memory serves, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yes, yes, it was, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, what was it called? Some deep yeah.
SPEAKER_02Brilliant little game, fantastic little game. So they were doing these little s little games like this, but they were also releasing your big games, your Assassin's Creed, your Far Cries, you know, and yeah, it's a shame to see where they went and where they are now. Um yeah, they seem to went to I think they probably grew a bit too big for themselves, and I think most of their games went for quantity overall.
SPEAKER_01I think you can track their journey all the way back. I think I played No Man's, no, no second prize on Atorius. T was a Ubisoft game. They've been around for a lot longer than you realise. Yeah, French company, yeah, large, done well for itself, made some decent acquisitions along the way as it's grown and changed. I would say in this era though, Ubisoft were still relatively fresh. I think that people were looking on them as a revitalized sort of European package. Um, it was fielding some good games at the time. You know, we talked about a couple of them. Um, they had lots of different good things coming down the pipeline as well. Assassin's Creed 2 span off what two or three games from itself alone uh before we arrived at Assassin's Creed 3, which is a personal favourite of mine but has had mixed critical reception. Um over the fence, you've got the Far Cry games, they were pumping. I would say that um around this era, if they decided they weren't going to publish a game on your console, you're probably gonna sweat a little bit. Um, but you know, RGT is absolutely right. When you look at this this lens, 20 years is really nothing for passage of time. But what that capitalist economy has done and the ever-rising hobby has done to the fortunes of Ubisoft and everybody else that's attached to the ecosystem of gaming, for the most part, has seen obviously there's casualties, but for the most part, people have been dragged up by the bootstraps just by being on the periphery of the gaming experience. Umbisoft are worth a hell of a lot more than that now, and and and even if they were going on a little short acquiring mission, I mean one to twenty one million to twenty million euros, that'll get laughed at on a website now.
SPEAKER_02Um and the thing is, I think what one thing you've got to say, I know we I do tend to moan about Ubisoft, but what you've got to say about Ubisoft is their variation of genres of games they make, you know, from from the you know, they do like the Just Dance games, they do Tom Clancy, they've done a safe park game, Rock Smith, Assassin's Creed, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. Um, they even done that Starlink, um, the battle games where they tried it with the toys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, with the peripherals, fair play games.
SPEAKER_02And obviously, one of your favourite games, Anno. Um I forgot that was them, yeah. Yeah, you know, so they they've always tried different things, they've always had variety in their in their games.
SPEAKER_01They tend to build a totem around a genre and then stick to it. So Assassin's Creed kind of stroke watchdogs, but more Assassin's Creed owns the open world environment. You know, their strategy is anno, then it really sounds like they're really messy. I'm not in saying that though, I've seen various Tom Clancy strategy games. Tom Clancy End War, I think was one of theirs from memory, um, and a few other similar games. And if you think back even to like PS3 here, if if this is one of theirs, and I think it probably was, they did some of those um Tom Clancy sort of open world fighting games, very kind of mid mid-PS3 life cycle, P360 life cycle that were quite impressive as well.
SPEAKER_02Rainbow Six and stuff, didn't they? And they also done um I think they done the Avatar game, didn't they?
SPEAKER_01That you played on that was then, yeah. And the latest version was also then from memory. I think they had a hand in um Beyond Good and Evil. Therefore ago, they had a hand because it was the same guy in King in King Kong.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so you know they're they get about uh big company, um, but I think the lens of this is really not just Ubisoft and obviously seeing East Gilmart there on the uh there in the news is uh in a in a positive way is interesting. But I think the the difference in the last the hobby felt big in 2007, right? You had the launch of the 360 and the PS3, we were riding high off the back of that, and the DS was doing tremendously well, we have the PSP out as well. The gaming industry felt alive in some ways in terms of its representation on the high street, never been bigger than this. Yet we're in a world where the high street is dead, and the gaming industry is what a hundred times the size it was based on the numbers you're putting in front of me now.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, you know, they're saying they were looking for studios of a price range between one million and twenty million, which is absolute pocket change. Do you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01That again, we don't know what they were looking for in their bids pick up a 1 million one in this era. They might have been looking for mobile phone developers, so they could you know expand that division because they saw a little is this the future sort of thing. We don't know exactly what their acquisition plans were. Um, but as you say, the important thing here is could you even get a mobile phone game company? Because mobile phone game companies are dead, so bare minimum mobile phone company that you would think you could pick up would be um Eric Barone, Stardew Valley, something like that. If you could try and buy him, you know, you'd be thinking one to twenty million might get him out of his garden, but that's it, and that's no disrespect. To him, but almost a mobile phone game developer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, the industry's changed. The gaming the gaming the expectations it was as gamers has changed as well. So I think that's had an upward trajectory on the um budgets and the scale that people spend their money on.
Karaoke Confidence: SingStar’s Legacy
SPEAKER_02And I always wonder if if you know, like Eve's, if if they look back at these old articles and think, if only we'd have bought them, if only we'd have bought them, if only we you know, if only we knew completely because you obviously, you know, there's certain certain things with the it still is to this day, with it's hard to follow trends in in the gaming world, you know, because what'll be for two years like Call of Duty or online shooters, after that they can fade away and there's something else big again. So you've got to try and predict to see where where it's gonna go. And you know, even bigger companies have tried to actually push the market the way they want it to go, like with Xbox and Games Pass have almost tried to filter you into that system to say this is what you want, but it doesn't always work. And so at this time you can imagine them thinking, right, what do we think's gonna be big? Let's find some little studios that are doing good things and see if we can pick them up cheap and then and get them part of the bandwagon.
SPEAKER_01Well, this era was like peak online, it was getting crammed into you know, if you've got online in Bioshock, you've got a problem, you know, you've got serious issues, and this was that era where yeah, great single player game, you're gonna have to shoot in a multiplayer in. What? Like Last of Us, prime example, yeah, yeah. Multiplayer's good, absolutely did not need it, but because a game was dead unless it had multiplayer in this era, yeah, and that's that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_02You had to have you had to have a DLC, which they got with left behind, and then they had to have a multiplayer. You always had to have a DLC to get someone to download something, and you had to offer a multiplayer, and that's just what it was all about at the time. I mean, that might have been what the studios they were looking for, people with experience of online or or you know, can be make a DLC for the current games.
SPEAKER_01Who knows? Well, look at their sort of slow to medium incorporation across their own franchise, was it Assassin's Creed Brotherhood or something, the one sitting in Istanbul? It didn't have online interactivity, maybe in the way that we're thinking of, but it definitely had like the inspiration with the tower defence sections, and I think there was some form of DLC within that, there was some form of like extra costumes within that. There was some it was all funneling towards either a as you say, cosmetic DLCs or B online and when through the medium of online, then that whole cosmetic DLC cosmetic thing was on again. So yeah, they could I mean one million quid will buy you a studio that'll draw you a load of different hats for um your Assassin's Creed character, right? So you know it could have been anything at that point, but yeah, really great bit of news there. What's next, RGT? What else do you bring from the the closet?
SPEAKER_02Well, this is also from gamesindustry.biz, and this is titled Well, this is this was an unknown contribute on this from gamesindustry.biz, so someone done.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say this looks shady. What's going on here?
SPEAKER_02But it is EA Shifts Gears with Need for Speed Pro Street. Compete in the ultimate street racing showdown with EA's Blockbuster Racing franchise. Redwood City, California, May 31st, 2007. Electronic Arts Incorporates announced today that the Blockbuster Need for Speed franchise is introducing a new version that drives the series in a new direction. Need for Speed Pro Street is a groundbreaking Need for Speed experience where you thrust to compete head to head against the best street races in a multitude of racing showdowns. The game is being developed by EA Blackbox in Vancouver and is slated to ship this fall. Need for Speed Pro Street accelerates street racing culture by providing the ultimate stage for the pursuit of street racing supremacy, said executive producer Larry Lapierre. This is a game about building the ultimate performance-tuned battle machine, taking it to uh multiple disciplinary showdowns all over the world, and pitting your skills and reputation against the very best street races. Need for Speed Pro Street boasts impeccable precision and impressively detailed photorealistic graphics, um, effectively transporting you to the centre of the action. It pushes the auto-sculpt technology to a new level, allowing you to directly impact your car's performance for the first time as well as personalise its appearance. Need for Speed Pro Street is a true taste of raw adrenaline and racing with consequences. Every dent, um, every scratch and every crumpled body panel is a battle scar, proof of your commitment and competitive metal. Uh with all uh with an aggressive and skilled AI system, you become immersed in an unmatched, unbelievable race experience. Add in revolutionary online mode that will redefine the meaning of competitive social play and need for speed. Pro Street is the ultimate formula for an emotionally charged street racing showdown. Uh ProStreet will be available for Xbox Free 60 video game entertainment system, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, and Wii as well as PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, Nintendo DS, PSP, um handheld entertainment system, PC and mobile. Um I put this in here because we've we've been chatting recently about need for speed in various different forms and games, and this is when EA was trying to shift from that they still had the street racing, but let's make a professional more now, they were then moving the game over into a different direction. Um and you can tell even from this article, which is obviously written by EA, that's why it's an unknown uh contributor, because every sentence starts with Need for Seed Pro Street, and getting that name in your head every time. But it's have you played ProStreet at all, George?
SPEAKER_01No, I ProStreet always interested me, I'll be honest with you, because it was a little bit more of a return to realism, is that the wrong thing to say about that?
SPEAKER_02No, I think you're right. That's where they were then shifting over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it in the in the moment of 2007, don't forget I'm busy playing Forza, which I considered a simulator, need for speed pro street, as much as it may have turned my head a little bit, I just never bothered with it. To me, Need for Speed, no matter what they did with it after this, because I think we've got Pro Street, I think we've got another more simulator one. I think they've done enough.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think they'd done Shift, didn't they? Need for Speed Shift and Shift 2, they they were knocking these games out all over the place.
News: Ubisoft’s 2007 Expansion Plans
SPEAKER_01It felt like to me, though, as a what I would call sort of grew up a Microsoft Microprose is Jeff Cramman's Microprose Grand Prix simulator. The first iteration of Need for Speed that we've talked about off air, road and track, which appeals to me very greatly. Although Arcade admittedly did have some sort of tendrils in simulator, like you couldn't just bomb down these open streets without being changed by the police. Yeah, I think it's in the car connoisseur. It's like we said off air, I think I said here's the keys, go check out this new Lambo, and you can go blatted down some really great open roads. By the time Pro Street rolled around, as much as I love the underground um Need for Speed underground games, the Need for Speed brand had been walked into what I can only call the Boy Racer Kevin territory, and the damage was done, and although they tried to reframe it under a more kind of realistic lens, and then continue to try again and again. Like, I don't know, like for me, this was a franchise that I was never gonna touch again.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think for me, I was a big fan of Need for Speed, obviously, with your carbons and your undergrounds, and um I really really enjoyed, and it's still one of my favourite games. I don't think this age very well now, but I played this game to death, and that was undercover. Need for speed undercover was a brilliant with that more storyline, undercover cop and great battles. Really enjoyed that game. Had my favourite one of my favourite cars of all time in as well, which I I got from start to finish and just kept souping up, which is an escort Cosworth, absolutely buried, and then they like say they changed route with Pro Street, and I remember I remember playing Pro Street because I was just such a fan of Need for Speed, and I admit I thought, well done. You you could there's only so many street racing gangs with a panther painted upside your car you could do. You need to you need to do something different. Was this the way to go? I don't know. They they went right off and we were talking about this, they'd done the run, the shift, pro street, and they're all a bit that was.
SPEAKER_01Well, we were we were this whole era feels as I think as you're gonna say, very experimental. They were just trying to.
SPEAKER_02It was because everyone was so different, every game was so different, and then and as we were talking about, they then done a full circle, whereas to nowadays they're back in that sort of street racing culture, almost back to where they were with the way the races are done, a bit more open world with heat and yeah.
SPEAKER_01I don't even know where they're at. I think the last one I paid any attention to because its visual art style was so like visually arresting, like it would stop you in your tracks, was the one where you had the almost anime style animations on top of a very realistic looking need-for-speed game.
SPEAKER_02Unbanked that's it.
SPEAKER_01Now I know that wasn't what people would want it to be, but visually visually wise, visual-wise, from the trailer, I know it didn't play out in the main game the same, but from the trailer that thing looked incredible.
SPEAKER_02I really thought when that when that trailer came out, I was like, they're back. I thought they're back to where they were. I played the game, I did there's something not right with the system, but I played Ne for Speed Heat, I played Ne for Speed Payback. Oh, yeah. And they were all open world with a bit of going back to a bit of what was there before, but they keep trying to introduce new things. I think it was payback, where rather than putting the parts on your car, you had to spin a roulette thing to see what parts you got each time.
SPEAKER_01I remember something like that. I don't know what game that was.
SPEAKER_02The actual open world of the game and doing the game was quite good fun, and I played it to completion, but keep rolling that all the time. Just give me can I just buy an exhaust and put on my car? Yeah, you don't have to keep rolling, you know, and that was all a bit so they keep still trying new things to this day. Um I can understand the issues they got. The the the car world was a very different place in the early 2000s to where it is now. So making a fast and furious inspired racing game, it's been done a thousand times. I don't think it's gonna stick nowadays. So this was that sort of start of them well pushing off in a different direction.
SPEAKER_01You have just opened my eyes to a very interesting question.
SPEAKER_04Hmm.
SPEAKER_01With the state of the automotive world in as we find it, with the transition from ice internal combustion engines to something else, be it electric, hydrogen, whatever, I'm not here to decide what the final uh modus operandi is for how the vehicle moves forward. But all the heart and passion of the car era is now, is is already dead in some respects now. Um any modern game based on any new automaker's output going forward is gonna be damn near silent in terms of its audio output as a car, because it's it has no internal combustion engine technology even allowed in it. So car games I think are probably gonna unless cars start to attract people in a different way going forward, like young kids get revved up by the sound of its battery, or I don't even know what, um, or the noise it has to make to warn pedestrians that it's coming. Maybe auto manufacturers could have some fun with that. Some have, but it just sounds like someone playing out of a speaker, if I'm honest, it's absolute garbage. So, have we already had the very apex of car games, RGT, is what I'm asking to you, because anything past now is going to just be a retrospective tribute to an era in automotive history that when it was good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you're right, and I think I think the games that probably will keep carrying on and bringing the new audience in will be your professional motorsport games, your F1. I mean, they could integrate, and I don't even know if they have, but like the elect uh the electric F1 as well, they could bring that into Formula E. Formula E, that's it. You know, you could probably base games off that as that becomes more and more popular, and more and more people follow. Um, so that I think the motorsport games always be there, but the car culture games is a tricky area to see where that goes because you're always going to have to look back to that that sort of era, whether you could incorporate a game that was more of someone who had a you know, you had a hobby of a classic car, and you could restore this car, go off and race it, bring it back, earn some more money, do some more bits. I know it's a bit generic, but you could aim more at that that sort of audience, you know, the car collector stroke, you know, connoisseur. Because I think each car game is is tried to style itself on the ear of the moment, you know.
SPEAKER_01Very much, and this is what I'm thinking like how what they do it, they can't do it anymore.
SPEAKER_02No, no, you know, and that's it's it's it's a limited area, and it is worrying to see what happens. And not to say this was the first time Need for Speed had to say, Well, hold on, we need to go a bit different here. Well, let's try and keep it in with still street races, but let's make them legal street races, let's try and sway it onto the track a bit. And yeah, I can remember playing this and thinking it didn't feel like need for speed. Um, and I think I had some sort of fun with it, you know, it's probably a six out of ten, five out of ten game.
SPEAKER_01The m the messaging to me, as someone outside the ecosystem a little bit, was just very confusing. You never quite knew what you were gonna get.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and even in this, they were literally trying to tell you this is what you need now, this is this is what you need to play now, because this is all new the new way of playing need for speed, but that didn't obviously stick, and then they went on to shift and shift two, and that didn't stick, and the run that didn't stick.
SPEAKER_01Make your mind up, guys. I think.
SPEAKER_02But then you had games like Codemasters were doing like grid, which was no, let's keep away from street racing, let's do some really good circuit race and career mode where you can progress for a career. And they nailed that.
SPEAKER_01I personally still think grid takes some beating. Like the first time I played grid, that opening level with all the ticker tape and stuff coming down at the start. Like, honestly, I was like, wow, this looks real. And as you cross across the formulas, it's still a very, very, very rewarding game, and it does allow you, if you want to, to focus on certain genres, like you don't have to go all open wheel if you don't want to, but the way it progressed your career along, very interesting.
SPEAKER_02Well, very fortunately, funny enough, to link it back into the story. Grid was fantastic until EA bought them and then made Grid Legends and completely ruined it because they tried to take it back to street racing again, and that sort of yeah, well, it wasn't street racing, but it was more edgy. It were taking that sort of grid auto sport away from it. And you know, grid grid auto sport was one of them games that was the first games I played racing online. You know, I was I was decent. Oh really? Yeah, I used to every night I was drifting, doing the drift competitions online. Um, used to love it, absolutely love it. It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant game. Yeah, really good.
SPEAKER_01What give me an insight into your life because we've got similar age children, so they'd have been, you know, going to bed early doors, you'd have been coming in. Don't your beloved wife would have been preparing you. What sort of meal would she have prepared you? Would you have scoffed it down and been like, oh, I've got to get this scoffed down, Don's. We've got to get online, gotta play. Um got my drift championship tonight, and you're like sort of choking on it. She's like, Slow down, Tomothy, you're gonna choke yourself.
SPEAKER_02Tomothy now, wow. Um I would be um yeah, I'd normally play while tea was being cooked, and then we'd watch TV together. But I had the fortune of finishing early than my wife, I'd finish two or three hours early. So I could play a f play a few games, you know, prior to uh getting home from work. So yeah, that was uh that was always good, always good. Keep it clean, keep it clean.
SPEAKER_01Don't say that, you give me away.
News: Need For Speed ProStreet Pivot
SPEAKER_02I know, I want to give you away, you're just showing up. Um, do you want to get this last piece of it?
SPEAKER_01This is my very best behaviour show.
SPEAKER_02This is where I'm I know, so I have to just sometimes just remember.
SPEAKER_01You don't they don't know what they don't know, but then you tell me off. You you out my behaviours. Yeah, out when you and this is like a very nice audio pleasure area for people to be nostalgic. Um I was doing some research on this just moments ago. Online market massive by 2012, worth 13 billion, reckons DFC. Uh, this is reported by Robert Pachese.
SPEAKER_02Uh Eurogamer. This one is Eurogamer.
SPEAKER_01Oh, is it? Okay, so he's the associate editor, so you'd like to think he knows what he's talking about. And in some ways he does. This was 31st of May 2007, if you want a time stamp for the forward conversation. Industry research DFC Intelligence believes the online gaming market will be worth more than 13 billion US dollars by 2012. Gamesindustry.biz is reporting. Uh, it's where everyone gets their news in 2007 by the look of it. Digital distribution online consoles will account for around 1 billion US dollars of that, apparently. But the biggest owner will be the monthly subscriptions to online worlds. PC gaming downloads and virtual sales are expected to make up around 40% of the pie. And while MMORPGs dominated online gaming cash flow in 2006, the report seems to think the fastest growing genres will I feel like that's where the comma needed to be. You'll be the first person shooter's sports and racing games. For PC games, digital distribution is expected to become the leading business model in East Asia, said the report. However, the video game console systems are expected to see strong growth in digital distribution, and by 2012, revenue from digital distribution on console systems is expected to pass US 1 billion US dollars. Although East Asian countries are leading the online gaming market, DFC expects European and Japan market Japanese markets to bulge over the next five years. There's plenty more where that came from over on gameindustry. RGT, I was doing some quick research earlier, and I had to give Google a kick, not to just dig up this same article from 2007, but to maybe look at it through a more modern lens, and what we know what we know through the modern lens is by 2012 the gaming industry was worth a hell of a lot more than that. Um by some significant margin, from what I can find. Um but even then they're floating numbers in 2007. They think they're crazy saying that the online market might be worth 13 billion by 2012. By all intents and purposes, I think it was worth about double that, depending on how you break these numbers down and what matters where and how. I think you know the numbers I broke down earlier were consoles, so uh they had surpassed this by 2012. I think if you roll in the MORPG online cash, if you roll in some of the subscription services for consoles that maybe weren't at that moment maybe as prescient as they they were. If you roll in sort of DLC and um cosmetics and different bits and bobs, so you know, ended up being maybe a lot bigger beast by 2012 than it was even considered to be in 2007. So there were markets and games and downloads that maybe people hadn't even considered when this report was originally written. Um, to think that they blew the doors off of what felt like a pretty healthy guesstimation at 13 billion and definitely showed incredible growth. Where we are now is beyond all sense of rhyme and reason. I think you could argue gaming is especially now through the decline in sort of physical cinema numbers, you could argue the rise of the streaming services in terms of TV and movie, but you know, I think you can quite strongly argue now that gaming is probably the biggest entertainment property on the planet. Um it's grown from being something that boys did in their bedroom to become something that the family do, that every sex and everything you can imagine in between has some form of gaming device in their hand or their pocket or on their phone. It's uh it it is so much bigger than they could possibly have imagined in 2007 RGT. What's your take on all this?
SPEAKER_02Oh, sort of going back to one of our previous stories when we talked about Ubisoft and Bits and Pieces, and we were saying why why were they just chucking, you know, you need to have a multiplayer, you need to have an online, you need to have a DLC. Because they they were foreseeing that this was going to be big, they didn't get nowhere near where they imagined that was going. No, I I think some studios still thought, is this a fad? Will List kickoff is this a bit like VR that comes and goes and doesn't really stick. But I mean, you can like I say you can see what I wanted, these DLC packs, you can see why you know you would end, and especially with things like Xbox Live, you know, digital games was was going starting to re- and and mate, they made it easy in terms of the cosmetics and what have all the con you know you go on the PlayStation store even today and it's like what the hell?
SPEAKER_01But the 360 store back then was like in skins, cosmetics for your avatar, whatever, it was so easy to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and and making it that easy meant that people really jumped on to do stuff. And I remember even I can remember the first time I think I downloaded a game on my PS3, and I was just like, What the hell is it? Where's the disc? You know, I was like, What? And and I think my mate done at first and said, you know, have you tried downloading a game yet? I was like, download the game, how'd they do that then? I was like, really, download it, you know. And I didn't even know, honest to true, honest to god, I didn't even know I could put my PS3 online. I wasn't even aware at the time, and then I put then I'd I done it, I had to try and get a long Ethernet cable and all this. They said, No, you can do it wireless. I was like, what? Wireless internet on the PS3 yes, and then done it, downloaded the game, and I was just like, wife come home and I was like, You didn't believe it. I downloaded the game. I didn't even have to buy a disc and then leave it. What game was it? Um god. I'll have to come back to you now, I can't remember. I'll have to look back. I remember downloading it on the PS3 and just thought, the future's here. The future is here. And then shortly. I only asked. I killed my console playing um Uncharted 3. Because by I put the discs either side and they fell on the system and blocked the fans off.
SPEAKER_01The reason why I wanted to know is because something tells me that you've probably bought this physical scent.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I probably have. Ten times. If but I yeah. I might have done if I've I've got a funny feeling it was something not amazing, it was just a lit was one of them smaller games they'd do when they were trying to keep up with the jeweled or something. Something like that, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What was that one you said you were playing an episode ago? Is that in it?
SPEAKER_02Spelunky or no, no, no, no, sparkle that was. That's what I meant. Yeah. I know what it is. I can remember now the very first game I downloaded. It was Uno.
SPEAKER_01Mine might have been Uno. It was either Uno or something like Jet Force Gemini. No, not Jet Force Gemini, Jetpack Reloaded.
SPEAKER_02It was Uno, and I downloaded another sort of card game as well. It might have been Monopoly or something like that, because when we'd gone holidays, we always had a pack of Uno cards, and because we took the console for Buzz, I thought, I'll put Uno on, and we started playing Uno together in the same room but on the screen as well, which makes no sense when you've got the cards, but it's not my confession to tell, but uh I'll give you the outside touch points and you can determine this from yourself.
SPEAKER_01But OG, you you know, over on the main show, my original co-host Tom, OG as he's now known on the streets, he had an Xbox 360, he had the Xbox 360 arcade camera, and he had a copy of Uno. Oh, so you could play online see this as roulette chat, Omegle, for want of a better word, with a bit of a Diddy used to do his barn all up and I to be honest, as I say, it's not my story to tell. But I think you've got the bullet points.
SPEAKER_02He's not a very early sort of Twitch streamer.
SPEAKER_01I think you're being too clean.
SPEAKER_02Oh, dearie, dearie me. Oh, I can't wait to see OG again and dig this one and cry matter.
SPEAKER_01Did you have Uno, OG?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, yeah, I love that game, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you didn't you ever use the camera with it, did you? And then boom, just see where he goes. I think give him enough rope he'll hang himself. If you're listening to this, oh he is OG, eh?
SPEAKER_02Why come you didn't wear a shirt when you played it?
SPEAKER_01Oh, edit this out, edit it all out.
SPEAKER_02You're in trouble.
SPEAKER_01He only listens to the ones he's in, so we got away with it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, good. Um, but yeah, this is like I say, this is so interesting that they would everyone was thinking, well, this online, this digital side of it is is gonna be big, and you know, by saying that it's gonna be um what do they say, 13 billion, and then you're now saying you've researched and it was 26, and you're like, whoa.
SPEAKER_01They no, it wasn't, it it was I didn't I didn't report the numbers at all.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sorry, I thought you said it was probably nearly double that.
SPEAKER_01I thought you said I think it was nearly double that. I think it was even more worth more than that. Uh somewhere around the 18.4 maybe somewhere between 18 and 22 billion, possibly.
SPEAKER_02And I noticed as well, PC had a very big foot in that of 40% of the pie at the time.
SPEAKER_01Well that's what I'm I'm struggling to pick out because uh I went down a specific route with this research before I realised it was rolling all of this in the all of it.
SPEAKER_02Uh I suppose for the console world, I mean PlayStation was right on the catch-up with this. Xbox was going all in on online and digital.
Are Car Games Past Their Peak
SPEAKER_01I mean they knew from the get-go exactly what to do. They'd had a little bit of a soft launch with the original Xbox where they made it easy. The PS2 didn't obviously the Slim did launch with the capability to Ethernet straight in the back of it. Obviously, the PS2 fat did not. So then there was the you had to sell another piece of equipment, you know, the games online for that were pretty rare, it was SOCOM really, and Final Fantasy, and yeah, that's going to pique your player interest because they're big franchises, but within reason, over on the Xbox, you just kind of wang that Ethernet in the back of it, and Xbox Live was pretty slick. Um, when they got to the 360, I would say this all barriers to entry in terms of the ability to use it were removed or definitely softened. I had a problem, the fact that I didn't have any Ethernet cables that I could route at that time. Um, well, guess what? They did this thing that you could just plug in the back and it gave you wireless.
SPEAKER_02Two little aerials, weren't it?
SPEAKER_01Two little aerials, quite a cute little thing with the little nodules on the back for it to click into. It was relatively well done, although you had to take a loose wire into a USB port and power it. Yeah, um, it was neat-ish, um, but it gave me that functionality. As soon as I got online and paid my$39.99 a year or whatever it was, everything was slick, everything felt clean. You got in a game, it just worked. Um, your gamertag followed through your online purchases, and I do want to swivel back to this. I found it easier and more acceptable in my mind to buy a card game like Uno or Carcassone, I spent a lot of time with, or Peggle. These were small games that I wasn't really that bothered about dropping two quid and never really claiming my digital ownership, for one of a better word. Somewhere, somewhere, linked to an old email address that I can't remember what it is, I've got a plethora of trophy uh achievements and games attached to me that are just dead money now. And I kind of refuse to let that happen again. I think that's why a lot of us are kind of stuck in the ecosystems we found ourselves in. Very true. Maybe when this gen ended and we went to the next gen, I think wherever you found yourself and put and phones are guilty of this as well in terms of the ecosystem that you're in. You kind of don't want to leave because you've got this kind of half-invested value, perceived value in the ecosystem of the movies or the games or the apps that you've already bought that you'd have to re-buy all over again as you moved over. So yeah, the 360 made it easy. This was, I guess it was all up for the scrap in the 360 PS3 era, but I think by the time you got to the Xbox One PS4 era, whoever raised the flag at that moment was really gonna be the winner, and I think that's bore out through this gen again, yeah. Um, and probably will continue to do so. And and yeah, mate, when this report was written, something like Fortnite had never even been conceived, and the the mere penetration of fortune that Fortnite must resolve it's gotta make these numbers look embarrassing in itself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it's I mean, like you say, it was early days for it at the time, but I mean, wow to where they they couldn't even have seen where it had been now. If someone had kind of gone back in time and given the figures for where it is, they would have been absolutely blown away by it. Absolutely blown away. Um yeah, well there's three stories there. I hope you enjoyed them. Um three different stories, but I tried to the reason I put these in was because obviously the troubles Ubisoft have been having now, this is a very different uh Ubisoft then. Uh Need for Speed is I thought this was sp quite different of where they were changing tact and route and trying all different things with Need for Speed that didn't really stick. But the franchise is still going today, so you know they must still get some sales figures. And then finally, on to just the uh the online market, which in 2007 was a mere drop in the ocean to where it is nowadays, and and the billions and billions. I mean, I think the greatest ever or gross and form of entertainment is Grand Theft 405, which is now surpassed oh god, I hate to think what it is, it's billions, and it's just incredible from a game that came out 13 years ago. It's just amazing, but yeah, so I hope you like those stories. Um but it's now time for what we affectionately call Stingray's boot, whilst nestled between some counterfeit nappies and a dodgy copy for Battle for Endor with some of the new releases for June 2007. Narray has pulled up, and how are you seeing Sting this week then, George?
SPEAKER_01Spring stop. Wow, whoa, I am seeing Sting, not as a man, but as basically a cloud of digital currency. He's trying to get with the kids. He's turned himself in, he's very future-facing. In 2007, he's turned himself into a floating NFC tag.
SPEAKER_02Wow, that's incredible. Yeah, he's definitely getting on the bandwagon.
SPEAKER_01He is. He sees himself as an emerging online currency, and young Wayne has stepped out. And this is this week I I'm seeing I'm seeing Wayne as the last vestiges of the physical gaming Empire. And I look at him and he looks very much like a he's got a very scuffed front cover, he's come as a PS2 case, he's got a very stuffed like scuffed front cover, and his his interior um paper artwork, his album art, he's it's kind of it's got damp. And I think the disc is a bit scratch. But he's he's looking at me, a bit like the cat, the puss in boots from Shrek 3, he's looking up at me with his big eyes, and he's just saying, George, at least you'll own me. Like I can't argue with a boy. If I if I his dad, like I don't even know what that will be in three months' time. I mean it's got an odour to it. Yeah. So it smells a little bit like um house gas. No, no, it's okay. Ray says he had a Scotch egg for his lunch. How are you seeing the ray?
SPEAKER_02Well they've both got out of the car. Um they got something out of the boot for Wayne. They seem to be trying to keep this need for speed here going. So Stingray's come round, he's he's trimmed a mullet. He looks like a little Paul Walker. Um he's got a t-shirt on, I can't quite see what it says. Is it slow and curious? I don't know, I think he's trying to be fast and furious, not quite sure. And then Wayne is Wayne's lot of three foot Vin Diesel, he's had his head shaved, he's got a muscle vest on, and he's in he's in a little Dodge Charger pedal car. But the problem is that's a cheap one, so he's having to make the sounds himself. So he's pretending to do burnouts and bits.
SPEAKER_01Mate, I don't I don't want to break the fourth wall, but we actually do that that for the uh Ray family anyway, you know. That car doesn't make a noise.
SPEAKER_02No, no, we always have to make noises up. Yeah, so these are the the new releases for June 2007. Um there is some absolute bangers on here.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna there is some absolute bangers in here.
SPEAKER_02I I know I'm gonna pick out firstly anyway, because go on then, Hansen. What you gotta this game started a whole new genre, and we've been talking about racing games, it's got to be dirt.
SPEAKER_01Sims Pet stories oh Sims Pet stories a whole new genre, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But dirt for me really do you know what I mean? They were doing things, Codemasters there that EA wasn't, and then that went on with you know um Showdown and Dirt 2 and 3, just great racing games, and they in involved Jim Carner and Rally and time trials, and absolutely superb games. So, yeah, Dirt is gonna be one dropping in my bag that came out on the 19th of June 2007. What about you, George? What's you're gonna be your first pick?
News: Online Market Forecasts For 2012
SPEAKER_01I am stuck between a rock and a plethora of hard places, and I'll I'm gonna tell you why because I'll tell you what I'm looking at in this boot. I'll I'll pick one from this group. Um Super Stardust HD is one to note. Um, Overlord is definitely another one to note if you like Dungeon Keeper, that classic game, kind of is a kind of fun take on um killing the good guys. Um Lost Planet is, I think, worth an eyebrow raise because I've never played that.
SPEAKER_02That's not a good one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was a 360 exclusive uh for the longest time. Did come across the PS3 in the end, so did the whole franchise. The Darkness, which is a big favourite of mine, that had some real props in it, including, I do believe, the entirety of To Kill a Mockingbird in black and white that you can sit and watch with your girlfriend in the opening of the game. Really? Tell me if I've misremembered that. Message in, or message in and tell me no, George, you got that absolutely right. If you listen on YouTube, drop in the comments.
SPEAKER_02Looks like Harvey Retro on the front cover.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. Well, that's uh he is the Lord of Darkness. So having two snapping uh demons at either shoulder probably makes a lot of sense. I really enjoyed that game. I played it recently, just had a little uh thresh through the first one just to three is it on the page? PS3 was on 360 as well. I played it initially on 360, I played it again recently as a just to make sure I was mixing it up a little bit. I played it on PS3. Um I also want to put a shout out for Harry Potter on the Order of Phoenix, and everyone's gone, George, you had all this credibility, you'd nose dived it. That's actually a really, really great Harry Potter game for the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's a decent game, yeah. I enjoyed that. That was one of the first ones that really sort of grabbed the game, really. It felt like a Harry Potter game, whereas the others were a bit based on Harry Potter. This did feel like Harry Potter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think from sort of maybe Askaband going forward where they kind of stuck closely to the movie and the movie likenesses, um like things were ever on the up and up, but I feel like Aura Phoenix was like the very pinnacle of it, um, until obviously we got Hogwarts Legacy, but that's not a Harry Potter game per se. Um the other one I wanted to shout out was um and might be the one that I take home is obviously um folklore. Uh I think it's still a PlayStation exclusive from memory, but uh a really interesting game. Um I think it's probably about 15 bucks, I think, if you wanted to try and pick it up. People often try and lord this up as a hidden gem. Um, even PlayStation tried to pass it off as something they cared about in the early stages of the PS3, I have to say. Um, this game might predate uh trophies actually, but get back to me if it doesn't.
SPEAKER_02It's a bit more expensive than 15 now.
SPEAKER_01Twenty?
SPEAKER_02More.
SPEAKER_01Bloody hell, it's not worth that. What four five. Hmm. See, all these dudes doing the top tens on YouTube, if they're doing nothing else for you, they're making your pile of uh decaying plastic and silicon worth more than uh it probably ought to be. Uh right before the video game crash turns it all into a pile of junk. We're there pretty much. Um, folklore, I think, is gonna be my pick out the boot, RGT. Um, I'm glad I gave the others a shout-out because it was a close-run thing, to be honest with you.
SPEAKER_02Um I there was one I thought you might have looked at. It's I sent you a picture of this the other night saying, Well, I didn't know Ubisoft done an Ano 1701 on the DS.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's really what killed it for me, RGT, if I'm honest with you.
SPEAKER_02I mean the DS, you didn't fancy whipping out your stylus and having a little little go on there?
SPEAKER_01It wasn't per se whipping out my stylus that was so against. Uh you know me, mate, give me any excuse and I'll whip that bad boy out. I think it was more that uh I just didn't really see the DS of having the I didn't really see having the sort of grit to give me a decent annual execution.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, coming from a PS5, you might find it a bit bare bones.
SPEAKER_01It would be a bit of a step back, and then I think in terms of the franchise's evolution, it would be another step back beyond that. So um yeah. Is there anything else here a note? Because there's a couple of other things I want to shout out.
SPEAKER_02I've only done one, so I'll shout I'll shout a few more out on the phone. Yeah, go on then. Um I said dirt as the first one, um, just because of how good that series is. I was gonna say Harry Potter as well. Um Order of the Phoenix, like you say, from Prisoner Azkaban on, they really did sort of grab the likeness and you got it right, didn't they? They they definitely did. Um what else was I looking at? Oh, Tomb Raider Anniversary. Um that's that's the one I was gonna shout out. The good way of playing the the games, and we we did have a little playthrough of that a few years ago on our Discord, and um that's a great way to play the game.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I've played that most on Xbox, maybe from memory, but I'll tell you what, no matter where you play that, and I've even experimented with that game. Um on the show, we talk about games that end up getting ports to different formats and whether that works or not. Well, let me tell you, this era of Tomb Raider anniversary, what was the other one that they did? Um they did another one using this engine from memory on PSP, pretty much indistinguishable, you know. You play in it, it's banging.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, really good, really, really good. Great way to play it on there as well, and a big game for the system, you know. If you want that sort of treasure hunting game, you know, having it on handheld form is superb.
SPEAKER_01Um I don't think I actually want to chuck it out there, RGT, that I don't think there's a game that can hold a candle to Tomb Raider Anniversary, all those Tomb Raider games on PSP.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01The scale of it, the size of it, the production value of it, not not even GTA gets close.
SPEAKER_02No, and I think if if I remember rightly, aren't they quite cheap as well on there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I tell you one game that gets relatively close in giving you the big boy game chops on PSP is Warriors.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah because that's almost straight up port, it's indistinguishable, really. You could get a bit picky and be like, oh, but hang on a minute, mate. What are you playing it on?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that's very good, very close. Um, yeah, two moon anniversary, eight eight quid.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, eight quid on the on the PSP.
SPEAKER_01Same price as uh Innocent Life or Harvest Futuristic Harvest Moon.
SPEAKER_02Well that was 12 quid, so I think okay, my bad. So I think Driver 76, that's probably the same price.
SPEAKER_01That was eight quid.
SPEAKER_02Um, but yeah, there's some of our picks there. I mean, what movie are you going with, George?
SPEAKER_01Um yes, I had one picked out. What you got for me, Ray? Well, it goes without saying, now I might be rocking the boat, but uh a film that I hated uh but have grown to love so much. I think this was out in 2007. I'm gonna take Transformers, Ray's got me a cam copy the Michael Bay with Shiloh Berth and Megan Fox. Initially, to me, quite insulting as a Gen 1 Transformers addict. Um, but over time I've really softened and just grown to just love it for what it is, which is basically popcorn. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna go with uh Mark Wahlberg and Shooter. Um which really surprised me that this was a this came out in March two thousand seven. Um I can't believe this film was nearly twenty years old, but if you haven't seen Shooter, that is a game where he is like a Navy SEAL special um sort of sniper. He does a mission for really good, retires for three years, but then they said they want him to come back because they think there's gonna be an attempt on the president, and then he goes to try and help to work out where the shooter would be, and then there's all a big twist of the story, and brilliant, brilliant. The same again, action movie, easy to watch.
SPEAKER_01And you can can buy buy closer play this evening. Do you think you could rewrite the shooter's script to be about me, you and the UCP?
SPEAKER_02Done, done. Awesome. Yeah, absolutely brilliant. Um but yeah.
SPEAKER_01Patreon perk, but you get to be in the movie if you pay it as a deer.
SPEAKER_02Steady, steady. We haven't even got a Patreon, so just can't down.
SPEAKER_01Um they could support us on the main show if they wanted to.
SPEAKER_02Well they could do, yes, over on the UCP, which is what I was then going on to is Unafficial Controller Podcast, which is uh the main show over 300 episodes. If you haven't heard that, go and check us out. Plenty of bad catalogue to download, listen to, videos on YouTube if you want to see our ugly mugs. Well, mine anyway.
SPEAKER_01Um then, I mean I have I've seen some of the videos lately, and I you're a catalogue model compared to me. I am, no mmm. I'm I'm good from afar, but far from good. I think if you had a 50-inch TV, you'd be like, oh my god, my love, pass me the sit back. George is talking again.
SPEAKER_02I doubt it. You've already got fan clubs, we know that.
SPEAKER_01I don't. And well so have you. And I think I don't know the last episode of UCP, I'd come off an eight-hour Teams call. And I'm not joking.
SPEAKER_02And you still looked f absolutely fantastic, so that just proves what an absolutely gorgeous man you are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, so that's the Unafficial Controller Podcast. Check us out over there. Um, I hope you enjoyed flashback. This was um episode 12, May 2007.
SPEAKER_01Um, do some housekeeping, baby.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm I am now doing it.
SPEAKER_01You just I thought you were finishing. I was like, no, no finish.
SPEAKER_02No, um we've we've got our website, go and check that out, unofficial controllerpodcast.com. If you want to ask us any questions about flashback, any questions about Unafficial Controller Podcast, any questions about um the shows and what we do or suggestions, ask questions at unofficial controllerpodcast.com, send us a message, or you can contact us on Instagram, Unafficient Controller Podcast, I'm retrogamer Thomas on there. There's a link tree. So if you want an easy way to get on the Discord, we've had a couple of new people joined us recently who are joining in with the with the challenges we've got and our Gen 7 playthrough. All you've got to do is go on to RetroGamer Thomas, go on to my link tree, click Discord, bang, you're in.
SPEAKER_01I think we actually might have turned on fan chat as well. So if you're listening to this on audio, click in the description and our podcast provider gives you the ability to text us. Is it text us?
SPEAKER_02I think just yeah, give us a message and that'll come through on Buzzbrook.
SPEAKER_01So we can so we can react through that, come back to you straight away.
SPEAKER_02We can do that. Um that's the Discord if you want to jump on air. It's a great group of people in air playing all different games from retros to like say challenges. Uh we've got RGT in the past with the Gen 7 playthrough, which this month is Remember Me on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Um we're also going to be um at OLL 26 on the 11th of April. We have a table there, so feel free to if you're going to that in Norwich at Epics TV studios, come and say hi. Um come and see what we're all about, and we'll have a little table there with bits and pieces on.
SPEAKER_01Doesn't matter what show you listen to either.
SPEAKER_02No, and also as of this show coming out um on uh Friday of this week, we are heading down to Bristol for on Saturday, which is the 28th, is Bristol Gaming Expo and Market. We will a few of us just go in there. We ain't got a table running, but we'll be there present and gonna, you know, as a few YouTubers going on that, we're gonna be doing a bit of game hunting, doing a bit of shopping, see what we can find. Um so if you do see a few.
SPEAKER_01Are you gonna put a flyer under every windscreen wiper of the cars that are parked in the car park?
SPEAKER_02It will be in every server station from the A12 all the way through to the M32. We've got 10,000 and bad boys just blowing out the stuff.
SPEAKER_01If you find one of these flyers in the wild, take a pick. Yeah, send it in. Send it in. Tell us where you saw it. Yeah, and the maybe the most extreme one may win a special Georgie Prize. I don't know what that is, yes.
Stingray’s Boot: June 2007 Picks
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we'll see. But yeah, so that's all the housekeeping done. And not to say, this was uh episode twelve. They go they're coming in thick and fast now. May 2007. Um really enjoyed that. It was brilliant. But like I say, thanks for all you regulars who are listening, thanks for the new people coming in, thanks for the downloads. Give us a shout out on your social media if you get a chance, or give us a review. I know everyone says that, but it really does help. You know, if you get five minutes, just give us a quick review, or you know, stick us on your Instagram story, something like that. Check out this retro show, blah blah blah blah blah. Um and yeah, we just really appreciate it. Like I say, thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, thanks to George, as always, for joining us. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01So see you again uh soon. Thank you for listening. I'm loving it. I wouldn't go that far. I'm loving seeing all the sort of traction and nice comments about um Flashy B, but as RGT says we need more, we need loads of it. Um so please smatter that everywhere or leave some form of review, interact with us. Uh message in, um, especially if we've got something wrong, put us right. Uh, questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. If you want to debate me on uh anything that we talked about today, feel free to message in and do so. Uh want to say thank you to RGT. Um got a load of bristling amount of content for you as well. If you're into the UCP, we've got the main show, comes out every Sunday, ready for Monday, in video and audio form. You're listening to this show now, it's a Tuesday or close to. Well done. You're a hero, you're one of God's winners. Yeah, why not? The retro god shine on you. And then on Wednesday, oh we've got nothing for them on a Wednesday now, RGT, because we're giving double it on the Sunday now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we do, yeah. But a lot to say, give us give us a review, give us a download as well. If you haven't, this is the your first flashback. Download the other 11, give us a boost. We're doing we're recording two shows a week at the moment, that's a lot of work, and we want to keep it going. So let's let's get let's get them downloads in, let's get a few reviews going, make it worthwhile, keep doing this. Um, and yeah, I just hope you enjoyed it. Um, lot to say thanks to George. Uh, thanks to everyone, and um, flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. See ya, everyone, and I'll see you next week, George.
SPEAKER_01See you, everyone. Thank you. Take care, RGT, you know.