A look at gaming in March 2002

March 2002 feels close enough to remember and distant enough to surprise you. I’m flying solo for this Flashback, so the format gets leaner and a bit more personal, but I still pack it with the stuff we love: what we were playing, what was launching, and what hindsight has turned into cult gold for PS2, original Xbox, and GameCube collectors.

We start with the games that framed the month, from Colin McRae Rally 3 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2002 to Star Wars Jedi Starfighter and Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast. Then we drift into the releases that aged into collector conversation pieces: Cubivore on GameCube, Jet Set Radio Future’s timeless look and sound, and the wonderfully odd Mr Mosquito. If you’re into retro gaming prices and “why did this become rare,” this stretch is a mini time capsule.

The back half turns into pure early-2000s headlines and hardware trivia. I read and react to stories that blamed handhelds for “mutated thumbs,” tried to block Mafia like it was a criminal handbook, and ran the usual tabloid outrage machine at games like State of Emergency and GTA III. We also get nerdy about the Japanese-only Smoke Xbox, a mini Xbox-style AV selector, and a GameCube adapter that lets you use a DualShock 2. Then it gets unexpectedly relatable with a 2002 letter describing what we now call FPS motion sickness, plus what actually helps.

If you enjoy retro game history, gaming controversy, and real talk about how games feel to play, hit subscribe, share this with a friend who lived through the PS2 era, and leave us a review on your podcast app.

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Transcript

Solo Flashback Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:33

And this week we're in March 2002 on March ET, and this week I am not joined by anybody, it is just me. This is the first flashback solo. Um a few of the guys have had work-related issues this week, so can't make it onto the show. We thought about resting the show and we thought, do you know what? No, we're not. I'll do a solo. You guys are getting used to these two shows a week with the UCP and this flashback episode, so I'll still get a show out there. Um, it's probably gonna be a bit short. I've tried to give a few more news stories of the time, so I'll still give you a more fuller show so you can still still listen along and then you won't miss out on a flashback episode. Um, like I say, this is March 2002. Um again, a time that I when compiling this thinking, what was I playing in March 2002? What was I even playing in 2002? Um had to sort of think back and could remember a few games. Um now the games I'm now gonna show as what we would have been playing or talk about as what we would have been playing. Um, are sort of these are what were released around about February, March time. Um, although there wasn't a great deal released, it's an interesting time, but an interesting month as well, a few weeks in gamer, because there's some games here I've played, there's an there's a lot of games here I haven't played but always wanted to. There's also a few games here which have gone on to be very collectible, very cult classics, which I found was quite strange from all being released on you know round about the same month. Um, first of all, um I'll mention probably games I I would have been playing. Um Colin McRae 3 or Colin McCrae Rally 3, I should say. Um loved the Colin McRae series. Um I think it just went from strength to strength. Obviously, they then diverted later on into the dirt series, which we spoke about in here before, but great games, still I think hold up really well today. I mean, even if you go back to the original Colin McCrae's, I mean they were doing something different then in rally games, and um, yeah, great fun. Um what else did we have here? Again, something else we've spoken about loads on here, but I will mention it. Um Tiger Woods PJ Tour 2002 um series was really getting into a stride then. Great fun. We've said this before, me and George, you know, pretty much most Tiger Wood games are just great fun. I mean, 2004, you know, you get up to them 2002, 2003, 2004, sort of that arcadey, but more professional golf, great fun with friends, multiplayer, have a round of golf and a few drinks at home. Absolutely brilliant. Um, a game I did really enjoy, actually. And I went back to oh, I'd probably say two, three years ago, maybe a bit more. I'm probably misremembering the time, but um, Star Wars Jedi Starfighter. Um, I played this on the PS2, um, and I remember that being great fun. And uh at the time, I I don't think many people were sort of speaking about it. I think most people were um more into the um Rogue Squadron games and that on the on the GameCube. Um, but I always thought these were decent games. There was the two, weren't there? There was Starfighter, Jedi Starfighter, and I think it was just Starfighter, which were which were great games, you know. They were you know, you had your missions and um the different Star Wars ships, and yeah, I think I think they were very playable games. I mean, I don't know what they sort of retail at nowadays. I mean, I remember I say this a lot as well. I don't know me and George both do, but I remember when I was you know heavily collecting from a PS2. Um didn't really seem to be that expensive games. Well, there we go. I've just looked it up while I'm talking. Um£2.50. So still not a very expensive game. Um, but I always quite enjoyed it and the different missions and and things you could do. Um, always liked the sort of the the the flying games of Star Wars as well as you know the more sort of on foot battle games. Um you had things like triple play, EA Sports, triple play, um baseball, uh not something I really played. We had uh Project Zero, made Maiden of Blackwater, Fatal Frame. Um far too spooky for me at the time, but I know people like those games. Um we had another Star Wars game in Jedi Outcast, um Jedi Night 2, um, which I think I believe I've got on my Switch collection I've got of the Star Wars games, but um I remember that being quite well thought of. Um and I do believe I think I have played it a bit. I mean the controls now are a bit they're you know, they're of their time, but still a a game in time which was you know Star Wars fans still think quite highly of, I believe, so it's definitely worth a look. Um going on to some of these more games that have turned into more rare collectible titles. We've got like um cube or um for Nintendo GameCube. Now, obviously we didn't we didn't get this in Power Regions, this was uh Japanese and North America release. Um very unusual game. If you look this up, it's very it's almost sort of got that Minecraft sort of look to it. It's very strange, but I know now does you know push a high, high price if if that's something you'd you'd want on your Nintendo GameCube. I mean, but be prepared because set your set your financial heights high because this is an expensive game. Um also got Jet Set Radio Future. Um now I love the first Jet Set radio game. Um it was that it was those graphics, it was those sort of cell-shaded um hand-drawn graphics that you just think they they just don't seem to age. Um and it always just stood out to me, and I remember when I saw people who had Dreamcasts um and always thinking, God, how good does that game look? Do you know what I mean? And you know, you had your arcade games on on your Dreamcast, but there was just something about Jet Set Radio. Now, obviously, when Dreamcast struggled and Microsoft sort of took on a few of those franchises and obviously done Jet Set Radio Future, which I haven't played, I'll admit. Um it's getting it's getting a bit expensive now, but definitely worth one picking up, I think, because it's you know it's sort of the last one in that that sort of era. I mean, if you think that that's probably a bit expensive for you, or you don't have original Xbox, or you don't have a Dreamcast to play these games on, um, is a game called uh Bomb Rush Cyberfunk on the PS5, which is like a a love letter recreation of the Jet Set Radio Future uh universe, um, which is which is really good. I think I had it as a hidden gem over on the Unaffix Controller podcast um last might have been last year or a year before. Um, but that's that's on the PS5. Um that's a great game, um, very similar. Love the graphics, got that sort of that cool street sort of hip-hop sound as well with the soundtracks and and the and the different gangs you can go around and do missions for. Um, great games. If you want to play something similar on a modern console, then yeah, then check that out. Um we also had Mr. Mosquito. Now, this is another one I haven't played, um, but it does seem to crop up quite a lot on these sort of rarer PS2 must-plays and bits and pieces on YouTube and podcasts alike. Um it looks very interesting. Um, I think it was called Ki or K in Japan, I think. Um I think this was PS2. Um, but you yeah, I think you that's more like I think they describe it as more of a stealth game where you fly around and you have to try and um you know, you're mosquito trying to bite bite people without being caught. Um very unique, um, very unusual gameplay style, but does look quite playable when you see it on these videos. Um, another one I think is starting to govern a you know a higher price now in the sort of the collectible circles. Um what else do we have on here? March 11th, we had Hotshots Golf. Now, we obviously knew that over here is everybody's golf. Um I've loved the everybody's golf games. Um started playing the early ones right through, and I mean the PS4 and Vita versions, I put a lot of hours in maximum, you know, maximising your character's stats and beating all the uh core sort of boss golfers, and I just found them I know it's that sillier side of golf, but I've always thought if you step away from your Tiger Woods or even your more serious PGAs and bits, and you want a good golf game, but it's got that that fun element, that sort of arcadey feel. I always think everybody's golf is one of the best at doing it. Now I know other golf games have tried this. Um, you know, you've got your your Mario golfs and even the latest one, Golf Rush, I think I played on Switch. Um, but they always feel a bit more hollow compared to everybody's golf. Um, like I say, the Vita version's fantastic, hours of fun to play in them, and you know, going around the courses and lot of say taking on these golf masters at the end of each course to try and beat them. Absolutely brilliant fun. Um, what else do we have? We had worms blast out. I mean, you can't really go wrong with a worms game. Um, great party games, you know, brilliant with a group of you. Um, what else did we have? Oh, there was Maximo was uh Ghosts to Glory. Now I don't know if that was um a second game of that. So I remember the Maximo PS2 game, um which I think this is uh the Maximo PS2 game was I think it was supposed to have been a 3D um like Ghouls and Ghosts or Ghosts and Goblins. Um, but I know it's quite highly regarded. Um I know some people say it's quite tough. Um that's another one I haven't got, but always thought I'd like to add to the collection because it's it's one of them, you know, I think fairly big hitters on the PS2. Um, and it always looks really interesting to play. Um, and I don't know what the price was. I know it was expensive for a while, I don't know what that'd be nowadays, um, but very, very interesting game. Um, and finally, I'll probably go with um there's an ultimate fight and championship game on the Xbox called Tap Out. Um excuse me, might have a drink. Um now I've played the later UFC games, um, but I never really played these earlier ones. I don't know what they're like or whether they're any good. I know we had there was one or two maybe on the Dreamcast. Um but I mean it proves the era. I mean, you've got Chuck Liddell and that on there, and you know, so there was obviously some some big names. This is when UFC was starting to get a lot bigger then. Um, but always interesting. I mean, like I say, the later ones I've played up till about UFC three and four, and quite enjoyed them, but they got a bit samey for me and got a bit sometimes a bit complicated with your grappling and stuff, and they're a bit too in-depth for me. But I don't know what these earlier ones are like. Let us know um if you've played these or any good. Um questions at unfit controller podcast.com. Or join our Discord, bits and pieces like that. Come have a chat, let us know if you've played them. Um but I think that's what I'll leave it there, I think, for what games are. Like I say, there wasn't many. I've covered probably the most that were released. That was a bit of a sparse month, but some interesting ones, like I say, from some um sort of hidden gems to rarer games to some, you know, some some good titles with your Tiger Woods and your hotshots and bits and pieces like that. Um but I think it's time for the news. Um we scoured the very darkest back pages of the Game of Mags and even delve deep into the interweb to bring you what was the latest stories in March 2002. First up from Eurogamer. Um I've got a few stories here from Eurogamer, but some of these you'll find quite funny, some you'll see is the the sort of the thought of what people thought of video games in this time. Um and this just this first story just makes me laugh so much. Um this is by Tom Bramwell, who was the former editor-in-chief over there at uh Eurogamer. And the title, it's only a short story, but the title says this all children mutate, Game Boy blamed. Perhaps the author just saw some really impressive blisters. Um he goes on to say, handheld technologies are responsible for physical mutation in the under 25s, according to a drastically sounding new survey quoted by the observer yesterday. The study conducted by the cybernetic culture research unit at Warwick University shows how youngsters in nine cities around the world are now the proud owners of overly muscular and dexterous thumbs. A physical abnomal, I'll get there in the end, which the report claims is caused by the regular use of mobile phones, game boys, and computers. And this was the source obviously from the observer. Um I mean uh geez, I mean uh do any of us gamers have mutated thumbs? I mean, I've never really noticed to be honest. I mean I've got sausage fingers all the way across that just matches the rest of them, really. But I mean, would it really mutate? I mean, this sounds from the era, this sounds like that scaremongering it was to almost try and convince parents not to let their children play on games, um, careful, because your children are gonna get mutated thumbs. I mean, come on. I mean, it's it's you know, you you you you can change your physical structure of your fingers from playing a guitar or the tops of your thumbs from volleyball or the inside of your hands from hockey or anything like that. So I think mutated thumbs from using a controller, mobile phones, um, I suppose may have been more then with buttons on phones rather than you know the touch screens that we have now and then computers as well. I'm not I'm not sure about that. I mean, I'm not quite sure where this cybernetic culture research unit at Warwick University managed to find these kids with mutated thumbs. I mean, they must have been absolutely killing Smash Bros to get the fums that big. Yeah, so um I'm not sure on that, but uh great snapshot of what what was being said at the time about games. Um next up, also from Eurogamer, Mafia shot down by Italian police. I put horses' heads in people's beds because I play at being the mob. Um Mafia has apparently become the latest take two game to run into controversy with Italian police trying to block its release in the homeland of organised crime. The game's Italian distributor, Siddiverti, commented that the game is aimed at adults who should be capable of distinguishing between reality and fiction. But Italian police and politicians were less forgiving. I'll do anything I can to ban the sale of the game in Italy. Roberto Centario, president of the police's anti-feft anti sorry not anti-theft anti-mafia unit, is quoted as telling an Italian newspaper. This is an instruction book for wannabe mafioso, Roberto added, ironically quoting almost from a marketing blurb of the game. Indeed, developers Illusion Soft Softworks told the Prague Business Journal that Italian politicians are providing us with excellent advertising, surely worth millions. Assuming that the police failed to get the mafia banned, the controversy is sure to make it an even bigger hit in Italy than it would have been anyway. Um again, this is a snapshot at the time where I think a lot of people were still um they were still unsure of video games. A lot of people who didn't play games were unsure of of where the this big boom in home gaming was going and you know almost found it a threat. You know, it's like when um excuse me, like horror movies made, you know, started coming into the uh coming into the fore and and people watching them, and it was, you know, you know, it was the devil's work and it was putting ideas in young people's heads and blah blah blah, which tend to have faded away, but then the game had come about and you know there were certain court cases and trying to link it to playing games rather than just the the the you know the young person doing it off their own head, it was always trying to be linked to a game, and this is the same here, you know, and I think you know this is you know Mr. Roberto here from from Italy was obviously really worried about this, you know. They had problems with a mafia in Italy, and he's seeing this is almost obviously before playing it, but they obviously don't understand the games, but he's seeing it as a uh like a starter kit for a for a mafioso, which obviously the games aren't you know the games are taking a look at mafia history and and putting you in a section of the game, you know, it's not it's it's quite detached from from you know real life, but obviously they don't see it like that. They're they're they're worried about these games, they're worried about the power of these games, they're worried about the impact that'll have. Um obviously nowadays you look at games and what they portray and how gory they are, that seems to have stepped back a bit by that, you know. We have the age ratings, but I mean you call the duties and things like that who are showing actively almost real-life war scenarios. Um it doesn't really get mentioned too much in the press, you know. But this sort of era, these early 2000s, these games were were you know causing controversy with with with the topics and that that they depicted. But I mean, if you go back and play in a mafia games now, it's it's almost more a history lesson in the era, and and you know, rather than training you to be in a mafia, it's more uh giving you a history lesson on the mafia at that time, um, which I've always thought was a good game, but never thought as an instruction booklet. But I would imagine his fears were uh as time went on, his fears were uh reduced a bit after the other games and bits and pieces come out. Um we've got another one from Eurogamer. Um, we're still going on this same topic at the moment. Um I'll put this one in because this is a game again. I mean, my mate introduced me to loads of games back in the days. We we shared a place together and bits and pieces. This is one he picked up from our local store, a little computer shop down the road. He used to go in and trade in, pick games up, and he'd come back with this one day. Um and I'd never heard of it. And we got playing it and thought it was fun. And I didn't really, I think it was a few months later in the gaming magazine where I read the controversy with it, which didn't I didn't even click with me at the time, but anyway, let me get into it and I'll I'll you know tell you what this game is. Uh the title of this is Ban This Filth. Daily Mail rediscovers violent video games. It was only a matter of time, but the controversial in brackets are not particularly good. Um which I always had quite good fun with this, me and my mate. Anyway, um Street Combat game, state of emergency has incurred the wrath of Britain's self-appointed guardians of morality. Look out, the Daily Mail, mmm, and a shocking um 58-page expose. This morning, the paper posed the question Do you really know what's on your child's computer screen tonight? I still want to laugh, I didn't know what they're talking about because they're talking about it's calling it a computer rather than a console, but there you go. Not state of emergency, one would hope. A mini skirted gal in a military-style jack boots runs up to a passer by and delivers a punch so ferocious he's decapitated. Writer Nicole Tyra sprouts in righteous fury. Not just fury, righteous fury. Blood fountains up from the headless collapsing trunk. As the head hits the floor, the gal snatches it up and uses it to bludgeon another passer by. Sorry, I shouldn't laugh. Because uh Nicola is bloody angry with this, so sorry Nicola, I will carry on. This, believe it or not, is a game called State of Emergency and it is aimed at children. Not necessarily. Apparently, our Nikki didn't spot the prominent BBFC 18 rating printed on the front cover of the game. Bad journalism, Nikki. Which signifies that the game is actually aimed at adults and indeed that store owners must not sell it to anyone under that age. Determined not to let simple facts get in the way of a good rant no, Nicola continues to express her distaste at everything from the recently released Hooligans Storm Over Europe. Brackets violent and antisocial. To rather more entertaining games such as Grand Theft Auto III, a celebration of recklessness, chaos, hooliganism and fuggery, which invites the player to commit acts of mindless violence. And Max Payne, whose bullet time effects apparently suggest that guns are not just an instrument of death, but an object of beauty. And the solution? It's up to parents to become computer illiterate literate, sorry, not illiterate. Find out what their children are watching and be prepared to ban violent trash. Yes, apparently stopping your own kids from playing violent games isn't enough. We have to ban this filth to make sure that nobody else can get their hands on it. God forbid that they might actually find it entertaining, and if it happens, how long will it be before the fuggery on the screen is trans translated into yet more sickening reality? Still, she got half of that right. Parents should become more compu more computer literate and check up on what their kids are playing. Obviously a lesson that Nicola herself needs to learn, as she admits to being shocked to discover that her son was playing Karmageddon at the tender age of 16. Perhaps you should be paying more attention to the gaming habits of your own children instead of trying to run our lives. Yes, it was. I mean, it was more from what I remember, it was more you know, not so much realistic graphics, but it was a game at a time. Rockstar again. I mean, they got absolutely trance, but Nicola here, she's obviously got a bit of a pet peeve of Rockstar, um, with state of emergency and Max Payne and um GTA 3. Um, but again, she's missed a point of the age rating, you know, and then to blatantly go on at the end and say she didn't realise her uh kid was playing Carmageddon. Um at the time, Carmageddon was especially on PCs, it was one of the most violent games you could play where you're running people over for points in your in your car like something from you know um a Mad Max movie. So yeah, it's again though, it's it's coming from you know, I'm gonna be biased, I'm a gamer, but it's coming from a point of view um of someone that's never been a gamer. Um they've seen this rise in it, and they've seen how violent some of these games can be, but they instantly think that because you play this violence, you're gonna commit the violence. It doesn't work like that. Um you know, we play many a game where you're you know you're shooting people or doing bits and pieces like this. You don't ever think about going out and doing that. It's it's it's it's a game, you know. Same with movies. I mean, movies are probably even more um you know graphically you know horrific at times, you know, because you it seems more real with the actors and actresses, but come on, Nicola, get on, get on to them about movies. But then I suppose you're thinking, well, movies are 18 graded, the games are as well. Um now one I probably do think she might have had a point on here was Storm Over Europe. Um from what I remember was you had to actually form your own hooligan gang um and make your way across Europe, taken on European teams and beaten their ultras. And yeah, from what I remember seeing of that, that was quite violent. And not only because yes, there's violence again, all these games are violent, but it was on a subject which was you know, hooliganism, yeah, it's not really um something we want in football, so to actually push that was you know, probably that's probably the one where I'd say, yeah, yeah, that's a little bit on the edge. Um, but again, it is still a game, it doesn't mean people are gonna go out and start their own ultras, but yeah, I think again, I'm repeating myself, I know, but it's it's it's a it's an opinion of the time. Um, there was a lot of this round at the time. Um you know we had the incident with you know um a young man in America who committed some atrocious acts, and when they looked back and they realised that a few hours before he was playing voice city, and then suddenly the court case ensued, and it was all trying to link that he'd done this because he played voice city. Yet again, he was a 15-year-old uh young man, I believe. And when it came to court, the rock star lawyers just went, Well, it's an 18-game, why did his parents buy it for him? So there is that crossover. Whether that was anything to do with it, I very much doubt it. If if you're inclined to carry something out like that, um I would imagine you'll probably think about that before you play a game as well as after. So, yeah, I'm not sure, but yeah, I think um Nicola was quite scared of what games provided, and I would imagine probably nowadays she's probably uh quite a keen gamer. So hope you are, Nicola. Well done. Um a bit of a change of tact now on the old um stories now. Um, this one came from Game Informer, issue 107. Um I thought this was quite interesting. These are some little bits I saw, bits that were coming out rather than stories. Um, and that's a couple that I didn't know existed, so I thought I'd chuck them in here as a bit extra. Um, and the first one is the new Xbox. Uh, Microsoft of Japan is offering a limited edition black see-through shelled Xbox to gamers. Um, when the system launches over there on the 22nd of February, um, this version of the console will be restricted to only 50,000 units, which will sell for 39,800 yen or around$50 more than the regular price. Also coming with this special edition Xbox will be a silver plate keychain featuring the engraved signature of Bill Gates. Game Informer contacted Microsoft as to whether it plans to bring this Xbox to America, but no final decision has been made. Um now I found this interesting because I thought I don't remember hearing or seeing of one of these. Um, I when I done a bit of research, I found out they were called either the Dark Crystal or Smoke Console, which was Japanese only. So they as far as I know, they did not bring that to um North America, it was just Japan. Um, and then I thought, oh, I wonder if this actually didn't get released, that was just an idea. It actually did. Um, you can find them online. I think they're quite expensive because they're quite rare and you know, Japanese exclusives. Um, I think I saw one, a guy who was in the military and based over there. American guy who's in the military based in Japan bought one and brought it back to American bits and pieces. But I mean, I think personally, this is probably one of the best versions I've seen of the original Xbox. I wish they had brought these to Europe but and North America. I know you you know limit editions are nice and sell out quick, and people want to buy them, it gives that bit of boost to the console sales. But I wish they had brought this out because that's sort of look it up, you know. If you're online now, look up and have a look at it. So it's like the Japanese-only dark crystal or smoke um console, and that's got that dark, you know, there's always the rage one at the translucent coloured plastics, but being black like that and completely black all over, it does look really cool. That's an awesome version of Xbox. Um, I've never been a great lover of the look of the original Xbox, great console. Don't get me wrong, games on it, superb, so many great games on that system. One of Xbox's best systems apart from the 360. Um, but um I do like the look of this one. I think that that could have been the one they went with. And I mean it's quite interesting releasing keychain with Bill Gates' signature on. I mean, I don't know if they done that with any other of their limited edition consoles across North America or Europe, whether that was just a Japanese um touch that they added to it. I wonder if there's many of them about. I didn't actually research the key rings. Um, but if you know of the any of these keyrings or you have one or if you've seen them, again let us know. Questions at unfish controllerpodcast.com or jump on our Discord where we've got the flashback section there. Come jump on there and have a chat about that. But yeah, I just thought that was really interesting, really different. Um and you don't see well, not me personally, you don't see many limited edition original Xbox consoles. Um, I mean my one, which is now needs a bit of repair now, my original Xbox or the one I use, um, it's got a I've got I've left it on because when I bought it, I just thought that was such of the time. That's actually got a a sticker skin on of a of a like the tribal patterns, which are all sort of the rage with tattoos at the time. Um, and I I kept it on just for the basic reason. I just think that is so of the era. Um, but I've also got it's another thing I should ask you guys really. I've got a NTSC um X original Xbox Um in box. The box isn't sealed, but the console has still got the plastic on it, it's never been used now. Do I get myself um you know, get it set up so I can play it over here with the uh electrical current um change? I can't remember the name of it. Um trend transistors, I can't remember, but do I use it now as a brand new console or do I just keep it as is? There's a brand new, you know, old stop system that's never been used. Let me know. Um but yeah, I don't know what to do with that. But you know, there is obviously there was the Halo editions, there was um, I can't remember what ones there was. Was it a silver one? I know some friends of mine had the crystal one, you know, the white clear crystal one. That was very cool. We had that over here. I don't know if we got the halo one over here, but I know that's quite rare. And then there was also that other green one, a lighter green one. It was a Mountain Dew one, I think, which is really rare. Um, but yeah, let me know if you've had any of these limited edition Xbox consoles. That's just some reason they're quite cool and something you don't see very often. And kept reading this really makes me want to play the original Xbox again. Dust off the halos and have another blast on those. But yeah, um, but following on from that, this is also in Game Inform magazine, actually on the same page. Um, like I say, if you're interested in this, this was um issue 107. You can find if you go on archives in the archives, you can find it on there. Um but also like I say from Game Informer, there was this um um extra you could buy. Um you could buy it for your original Xbox, but it I suppose uh with with the plugins it had you could use it for your multiple systems, and that was called the X Selector. Um, this was manufactured by Innovation, um, which I remember Innovation doing loads of these sort of add-on bits and pieces for your systems back in the day. Um, and at the time this was listed at$19.99. Um, and it says this minuscule Xbox replica is actually a switch box that supports up to four different systems. Any video game console, movie player, or audio device can be plugged into this cute little gizmo. The green circle on the top of the mini Xbox is the power switch. The open tray is the selector that cycles through the devices you have connected. It's actually pretty cool, but to much dismay, it only supports standard AV cables, which is a shame. But if you if you go and you know, standard AV, yes, I know you know this just people you know this the difference between composite and component, but anyway, this basically looks like a mini little Xbox. Um it's got the little green symbol on top, obviously not Xbox, but it's got the it's almost identical to mini Xbox. I mean, by the looks of it on here, I mean if you got your you got your one out to your TV, so you yeah, so it's it's like they say, yes, four you can put through there. Um and I never back in the day I'd never heard of really heard of select as much then. Um it was more later when I set my games room up that selectors came to the fore with me and HDMI selectors bits and pieces where you're where you're putting multiple consoles through the through the singular um um ports on your TV give you that chance to select. I mean, I in my old setup I had 30 consoles set up over sort of four or five screens, so these were a must. But I mean, I would have loved one of these, you know, that Xbox looking one. If you could if you could get these selectors that you know replicated a console as well, and then you could pair it up so your Xbox systems, you know, your original Xbox PS2 and that run for this little Xbox one and so on. I thought it was really good. I mean, 20 bucks back in the day, I mean I suppose it's probably about the equivalent to about 40 bucks nowadays, but even so, um, if you were a big gamer at the time, and I mean I didn't really know people who had multiple systems, only the older systems that they hadn't traded in for the new one, not a PS1 and a PS2 or N64 and a GameCube, but most people would trade up, you know, so you didn't really have too many with multiple systems. But um, this you know, if you'd started setting up a games for them in the early 2000s, this would have been an add-on, I'd have been all over. Yeah, absolutely brilliant. But yeah, check that out on there. Um, X selector, that's called. Um, I think they're quite rare nowadays. Um, I sort of looked them up and I think it was quite a rare piece that obviously original Xbox collectors would love. Excuse me, so I was just having a drink. Um but also keeping with the accessory side this one I thought interesting because over on our Discord, unofficial controller podcast Discord, this week there was uh a big chat about favourite controllers. Um, and there was people saying they absolutely hated the GameCube controller, there was people saying that's their favourite controller of all time, there was people saying they loved the N64 controller, there's people saying they hated the N64 controller, um which we all have our preferences, and I mean most of our preferences for controllers would be guided for either nostalgia or how we know it feels. If you're a retro game and you're still playing retro games now, you you're getting regular use out of these controllers, so you can still have a retro one, you know, even though technology moves on, sometimes it's just that old controller does it for you. And I mean, for instance, people who play Smash on Switch, they even released a GameCube controller version for it because so many people love that for Smash, which is you know, which is good. I mean, for me, I like the GameCube controller. Um, is it one of my favourite controllers? No, the only thing that lets it down for me is the um the analog stickers angled, you know, that's like that angled sides rather than smooth. So you you click in. Now I know that has us uses, but that's not for me. But I still have a very comfortable controller. Um, but going talking about the GameCube controller, this is why I thought I'd put this in because you guys who were debating your favourite controllers this week, um, this will probably interest you, or you're gonna hate it. Um, this is called GameCube Total Control again by innovation. I mean, they these guys were knocking these accessories out all over the place, and again, 19 bucks 99, 20 bucks. Um, do you hate the GameCube controller? Well, never fear. Innovation has created a device that will allow you to use the PlayStation Tools 2's JualShock 2 instead. All you have to do is plug this device into one of the GameCube's controller ports, then insert the DualShock 2 into the other side. We used it for a number of games, including Tony Hawk, and didn't experience any difficulties whatsoever. Where's the total control device for Xbox? Now, this could start a bit of a war on Discord because people are going, Why would you want to use a PS2 controller on a GameCube? Um the only thing that I can see where this would be very useful. Alright, hear me out before anyone goes, No, you need to use a GameCube controller. The only time I'd say this is useful is if you've got a frame that's got a GameCube back in the day, and he only has one controller, but you have a PS2. Now for 20 bucks, you can get this, take it round, and still have two controllers and play two players. That's where I see this could be handy, or if you've had a still got your PS2 and a GameCube, again, you only got one controller, this could be handy. I mean, the controllers back in the day were probably 40 bucks, so this is half the price of a new controller, yet you can still play two-player games. So, yeah, I mean, me personally, I know later game, and I do now, and as you know, I love the retro fighters brand. I use their controllers, modern controllers on the older systems. I think that's a great thing, and to make have a wireless controller on something that would normally be a wired controller on your PS2, for instance, PS1, blah blah blah. I think they're brilliant. But would I want to use a PS2 controller on the GameCube? No, I think you just need to use a GameCube controller on the GameCube, don't you? Surely I mean it uh I mean, even now when I play my Retron 5, um, and the same again, I know the Retron 5's not for everyone, but it's handy if you want it on a modern TV, you know, you can quickly chuck a cartridge in rather than having to go in the game room, got it set up on your main TV. Um, if I'm playing a Super Nintendo game, I know you've got all the ports on the side, and you can use whatever controller you want, you know, 8-bit do's originals, whatever. You can use a Mega Drive slash Genesis controller with your Super Nintendo, blah blah blah. But I don't if I play a Super Nintendo game, I'll use a Super Nintendo controller. If we play a Mega Drive game, I use a Mega Drive controller. I think this is part of you know the experience of playing those games. I you know, some people won't mind. It was probably back in the day, like I say, ideal for those two-player sessions when you know you didn't have enough controllers. Um, but for me, yeah, I like you know, it would put me off using the using the JewelShop 2 on a on a GameCube game, it'd feel weird, you know. Your third party stuff, your Tony Hawks and stuff, probably wouldn't feel too obtuse because you probably played that on your PS2 anyway. But if you're playing sort of Nintendo first party stuff, yeah, I mean Smash Bros and that. Oh, can you imagine use PS2 control? That that'd feel weird to me, but there was obviously a place for it at the time. Um, and like I say, another one from Innovation. Um, that these you know, these extras they were making, you know, they that seemed to be the era of extras, you could you know, from multi-taps to these things, that it was anything going at the time, but yeah, really, really odd timing gaming for all these little extra bits. Um finally, um, we've got one more bit. Um, sorry the show is a bit shorter this week. I know, I know, but obviously it's only just me bouncing off myself. Um, but finally, um, I thought I'd add um a letter in, and this was from um EGM issue one five two. Same again if you go on to Internet Archives, you're gonna have a read of this. Check it out, issue one five. And you'll see on the letters page page 22 or 26, someone on that. Anyway, have a look on there, you'll see this. Um, I've added this story in because this is something I used to suffer with a lot, and these style of games I didn't play for a long time because of this. Um and it's I didn't realise that obviously someone even back then was suffering with this, and they didn't even have sort of a term for it then. Um but obviously we know it now is motion sickness. Um I'll I'll read the article first and then um and their response, and then I'll I'll I'll talk about if you you know if you don't know my experiences with it, I'll I'll I'll tell you about mine. But um this letter was from someone called Cryptic Void at AOL.com. Um and they said, and the title is Gamer Sick of Games. Um they've put I was wondering about a video game related sickness I seem to have developed. I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced it or at least heard of it. It is a nauseated feeling that develops in my stomach after a long period of playing first person shooter. Uh shooters, brackets FPSs, as we know. Um and also it happens when when he's in tight corridors and enclosed spaces. Um I suppose it could be termed as video game claustrophobia. I'm not claustrophobic in real life at all, but it only takes two hours of playing the right game to get me so sick that I can't play anymore. I even played Medal of Honor, um, PS1, a mission where you're in the corridors of the German ship, to the point where I threw up. Any ideas on what is wrong? Um They've answered by saying uh this isn't the first time we've heard about this problem. In fact, it seems like for every couple of dozen folks who are totally fine with F FPSs, there's one who inevitably gets sick playing them. We haven't really heard of confined spaces making people nauseous, but gamers have complained that the the bobbing motion um some characters display when they walk, like in Half-Life, induces a C-sick feeling. The choppiness so it associated with a low frame rate, less than 30 frames per second, can also cause you to feel ill. Well, don't play an FPS on the switch, then um only joking, Switch fans. Only joking. You might want to try and play Halo. Are you surprised we recommended that? Or another FPS that has a lot of open environments and high frame rate to pinpoint your problem. Smoother or slower-paced games like this might not trouble you, so you may not have to miss out on the genre completely, or maybe you should get out of the house after two hours, do something worthwhile. Hee hee, just kidding, we're probably worse than you are. Um, so like I say, not many people even called it motion sickness in. So this was probably quite a new thing. Um, I don't know if sort of the generations before, with the sort of PC FPSs, your quakes, your dooms, and unreal tournaments, all that sort of thing, whether that people suffered with it then. I didn't really hear of it then. This is probably the earliest I heard of it. Um but yes, it is basically motion sickness. Um the weird thing with me is um I managed to sort of pinpoint it down after I got PlayStation VR when that released a few years ago, or quite a few years ago now. Um and the weird thing is being in first person view on a VR, I was fine. Didn't get motion sickness or you know, mo and the only motion sickness I fear a little bit was on maybe a Star Wars game where you were in a spaceship and loop to loop, that sort of thing, but only very mildly. Um but first person sort of games I didn't get sick with, and I started to work out that the thing was because when you're playing an FPS game, you're moving your analog stick to move the head of the character, but you're not moving your own head. Whereas when I was in VR, I always my own head, so I didn't get sick, but it was the motion of it moving without my head moving, I think, which made my brain think, oh hang on, and made made me sick. Now, um, in the Discord a few years ago, I can't remember who it was, I think it was our uh Discord sheriff uh Boba suggested to me why don't you go back and play a lot of the older games rather than these new ones because I used to even watch he used to play a lot of Call of Duty post videos, his best shots and bits and pieces, awesome player. Um, but even his videos of 30-second clips, minute clips would make me feel sick because it was so fast-paced. He said, Go back and try some of the older FPSs, which I used to struggle with, but then I went back and played um and touch wood. I haven't had any really problems with them. Um I've played through Palo 1, 2, 3, sort of been playing through four, um, been fine. I've been playing quite a few first-person games, I've been okay, so I've sort of almost gone back all the generations and trying to work my way back through and see if maybe now I'm a bit older, maybe you know, I'm I won't get it so much. But I thought it was interesting because of something off suffered with, um, but to see it this early in 2002 that someone's obviously suffered that much, he obviously loves, or they obviously love, um, first person games and felt it necessary to write in to try and get some, you know, some advice on it. But yeah, really strange how it how it makes you feel. Not to say, I don't know, you know, let us know if have you do you suffer with have you suffered with motion sickness when playing games? Um, not to say he was well, they were obviously confused saying video game claustrophobia because he probably thought it was in the tight space and stuff. But um, yeah, let us know if you've suffered with that, if you're like me and sort of grown out of it a bit and you're okay with it now. Yeah, we'll see, you know, just just see how many people have this. I wouldn't have thought as many because I don't know many myself who suffer with it, but more on the VR front, which obviously doesn't affect me, but yeah, um that's the end of the news. I hope you like those. Um I tried to chuck in a bit of variety from um you know the rage of people at the time from children having mutated thumbs from playing too much Game Boy to uh you know, the police in Italy trying to ban mafia game because they thought that was an instruction booklet for being a mafioso. Um unbelievable. Um, to ban this filth, you know, from Nikki Tyra on her absolute tirade of against games like GTA 3, state of emergency, Max Payne. Um, yeah, to which funny enough, at the end she didn't realise her kid was playing Carmageddon, which probably one of the worst ones of the lot. So, but again, um it was the time for that. People were scared, they didn't know what this future tech was bringing, you know, to their children. So people were worried. Um, and we went right down a few accessories, you know, from the you know, the dark crystal or smoke Japanese only original Xbox, which is really cool. Look that up, that is really cool. Um, to the X X Selector to even playing PS2 Dual Shop 2s on your on your GameCube. Um and then finally, with a bit of uh bit of poor old Cryptic Void there with his um motion sickness on FPS games. If you are listening Cryptic Void, which I probably doubt you are, I hope you're over that now and you're still playing your FPSs, bless you. But I know how you feel. So yeah, I hope there's a bit of variety there. Like I say, it's not it's not always the same when you're sort of bouncing off just myself trying to, you know, say questions, answer questions, so it's a bit different when it's a solo, but I hope it's still giving you a bit of content. Um, but it's now for me to say it's now time for what we affectionately call Stingray's boot, what's nestled between some counterfeit nappies and a dodgy copy for battle for Endor is some of the new releases for April 2002. And as usual, I've got to go Spring Stop Wattle Whoa, as tradition says. If you're new to the show and you're probably thinking, what the hell is Stingray's boot? Well, Stingray, in obviously George, who created the show, Stingray was the guy who went around the village, you know, with the uh the boot of counterfeit bits and pieces, to hire a video off him, you know. Get a pack of 200 Lamb and Butler, you know, some cheap beers as well. That was that sort of guy. So we always call it Stingray's boot as the new release is coming out. Used to be a UCP um stall walk. We don't do it now, so we thought we'd bring him back on our second show, obviously. Flashback. Um, I won't do what how I'm seeing Ray this week because that's not the same about George there. So we'll we'll get back to how Ray looks next week. Um, but for what was coming out in April 2002, again it was it was slim pickings, but there was there were some games that you sort of think, mmm, I haven't played that, but I know they're quite popular series like Armoured Core 3, for instance. Um F EA brought out F1 2002. And I think these, you know, these F1 games are getting quite popular then, and you know, they're getting a bit more in-depth, they were getting a bit more realistic for the time. Um and people were sort of getting into their F1 then thinking, oh, not only can we, you know, you know, watch the Grand Prix on the TV, who can actually take part in Grand Prix. Yes, you know, me and George always talk about Jeff Graham and F1 Grand Prix on their Miguel, and that was great for the time, but it was you know, it was that 10 frames per second, slow 3D. It was realistic as you had at the time, but these were these were another level, these F1 games, you know, it was great fun to get to get in these cars and and race a um uh a race with pit stops and bits and pieces and teams, and yeah, really good. Um Winter X games snowboarding um 2002 was out. Um I don't think I played this because I was more into obviously first time around I was called boarders and that sort of thing, then later on it was SSX tricky and things like that. But I suppose this one tried to be a bit more of with the X games being starting to get really popular in the early 2000s, it was a good way to tie it into the sort of the fan base of of um winter game, you know, the Winter X games and especially snowboarding. Uh what else do we have out? Spider-Man PS2. Now I'm sure I played this, but I can't remember. Um I know it was sort of the first, I know the PS1 version was you know good for the time and the system. But remember this one being, you know, I wouldn't say groundbreaking, but it was you know, it's starting to get to the Spider-Man we know with the combat and and the web swinging as well. Um, but that's another one I must must go and play that. Um another game we've spoken about loads on on flashback, but I'll mention it here. Pro evolution Pro Evolution Soccer 2 came out in April 2002. Um enough said about those, really. That was really getting into a swing with number two. And once you start getting to three, four, five, and six, it was yeah, it was it was these as far as I'm concerned, it was the soccer game to play. I mean, they even had international superstar soccer two came out from Konami as well, which I think was sort of an international only version. I don't know if they used the engine and that. I know it wasn't as well thought of because I think Nad, if I remember rightly, I think they promised a more almost RPG sort of soccer mode to it, which was taken out um before release. So I think it upset a few people, so I don't know if that was any as if you've played again, let us know. I don't know if it was as good as what the Pro Evos were. Um said Wave Race, uh Blue Storm. I mean, can't really go wrong with a wave race game, can you? I mean, brilliant. Um, GameCube looks stunning. Um, GameCube. And I mean I remember it being praised for all the water effects and bits and pieces like that. Um, just great fun, innit? You know, just that arcade, you know, jet ski racing, you know, you can't really go wrong with that. Absolutely brilliant. Another game um I noticed here, which I've got as well. Actually, uh, whilst recording this, I sent a picture to my mate saying next game night we're gonna play this because I seem to remember, I remember this game, and at the time and it being released, I think, oh, that's controversial, or you know, that's gonna kick off. But I don't know if they ever did get the controversy whether they made it a bit more arcadey or not. I don't know. I've got it, we're gonna have to play this next time because it looks hilarious. But that is a game called Red Card. Um, and that was released, it was released in GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2. Um, and basically you you compete in all the continents, including Antarctica, funnily enough. I think it's a bit tongue-in-cheek. Um, and then you have to con you have to you know con do a lot of world conquest mode, um, and which in turn unlocks finals mode, which is the World Cup, um, and you you you play on each continent, um, and basically you get you can build up your stat points to do it's basically football rules with a bit more lenient when it comes to tackles. So you can almost like a one-on-one fighter or a um sort of an action RPG, you can build up a uh uh a counter on there to do special moves, so you can like two-foot people, or you can like elbow Lake over, so it's quite brutal in a way, which always, you know, from what um that Nicola was saying. I'm surprised she didn't mention this. Um I mean, even the blurb on the game says 50 international teams fight for the cup championships, which literally does mean fight. I mean, and the special moves you got yeah, you got some quite brutal special moves. Um, and it's over-the-top action, you know, slide tackling score enlarged than life, dimensional style. But yeah, it's it's a pretty mad game if I remember. I think there's some weird teams you can play as well, but again, I think at the time, I think if you have a controversial game, you seem to get a bit more publicity and they seem to like it. But um, I'm just seeing if there's anything else on here. I think that might have been it with red card, not really anything I would have picked up. Like I said, it was a bit of a bit of a thin month, I think. Um, yeah, I think it's probably. I mean, if I'm gonna I'm gonna pick two. Um I won't go pro Evo because I always go pro Evo. So I'm gonna probably go with F1 2002, because I was quite into my F1 at the time. Um, so this would have been a great, you know, great way after watching an F1 Grand Prix and think, right, I'm gonna race on my own now, you know. That sort of simul early simulator version would have been great. Um, and I'm also gonna pick, I think I'm gonna pick, you know, I won't pick red card, that's a bit of an obvious choice. I'm gonna pick Wave Race, I think, Blue Storm, just for it's one of those games that made you look at the GameCube and think, mmm, there's something a bit more about this, you know. My mate got GameCube just to play because I think it was Code Veronic or Code Veronic Rex was a timed excuse exclusive on it, so he bought the cube just to play that big Resident Evil fan. Um, and I remember then thinking, oh, that looks a bit of a toy. That's weird. I just remember thinking, uh, it's a bit I'm not sure about this cube thing. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, and then when you actually saw it perform, you thought, oh, hang on, that's that's quite powerful graphically. That looks quite a good system. Um, and then wave race blue storm just looks looks phenomenal, I think. Not say with the water physics and that it's uh yeah, very colourful, very bright, uh resolution's awesome. Yeah, loved it. So yeah, I'm gonna go with Wave Race Blue Storm. Um, my film choice, I think. Um, I think I'm gonna this surprise me how old this film was. Um I'm gonna pick this film because I I enjoyed this film, it was sort of based on real life um um things that happened, um, a mission that happened, and I like the game. Uh like the film so much I bought the um UMD movie of it, and that is Blackhawk Down. Um, I enjoyed this film back in the day. It was brutal. Steady Nickela, but it was brutal. But um, yeah, and a sort of a flash of a of a real life event that took place there. So uh yeah, I think I'm gonna have that one out in a boot ray, I think a bit of Black Hawk Down. Um and before we go, I'll do a bit of housekeeping here as we always do. Um don't forget to check out our new website. So it's new, it's a few months old now. That's unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. Um, if you just search unofficial controller and it doesn't come up, either put the dot com in or put unofficial controller website as um it's fairly new, so it's not high up on the search list. But yes, unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. I mean, we've got flashback on there, we've got um challenge accepted that Digital Monk re does for us. If you don't know what challenge accepted is, he does a gaming challenge every month. Um, and it's just good fun. This month is how quick you can do the first level of GoldenEyes 64. Um, things like that, high scores or quick in and out challenges, really good. Um, very well done every month. So come and join him with that. Um, also on there's my hidden gems. I do a hidden gem once a month. Um there's a list of them on there from the different systems from Super Nintendo to PS4, some bits and pieces. Check them out if you if there's any games you haven't heard of you fancy what to pick up or try and keep them within a decent value as well, so you haven't got to um pay for the roof for them. Um, yeah, there's a bit of everything on there. Um, the show list, and if you want to see our ugly mugs and who we are and our backgrounds, we're listed on there from me, George, Seb, Scott, Bobby, we're all on there. Um, we must get OG Tom on there as well, as he is at the OG. Shout out to OG Tom. Um, yeah, so check out our website. Um, a lot I've said before on this. If there's anything um you want to contact us about um about this show, whether you know, whether you like it, any ideas for specials or you know, any of the games you've played, and if this is the only way you can contact us, that is questions at unofficialcontroll podcast.com. If you want to leave a comment on or you can leave a review, would love you to leave a review if you could on your uh podcast provider of choice. Um, but also you'll see on there contact the show. You can contact the show which goes through our podcast provider, which comes to us. It will never say who has contacted us, it's an anonymous thing. If you want us to read it out, and if you'd like to say your name, just at the bottom, just put your name and who you are, and we'll read that out next week if you want us to, you know, if you've got a comment about this or whether you had the the dark crystal Xbox or you had the GameCube adapter, let us know and uh we'll we'll chat about that next week. Um, again, I've mentioned the Discord, but come and jump on there because um it's it's a great it's a great little community on there. We're very proud of we're very proud of everyone that's in it. Um, and not say off spoke about challenge accepted, I've spoken about my hidden gems there on there. We've also got um um our gen 7 playthrough, RGT Back to the Past. There's a section on there, basically what we do. Um, me and one of the the guys on there called Fat Zen Geef, we come up with four generation seven games from eva the Xbox 360 or PS3 each month, and you guys vote on it and we play for it together, and then we have a discussion. We've done things from sleeping dogs, we've done fours and we've just done Remember Me, and we're now getting ready for another vote. So if you'd like to join in on that, come and jump on. Um, to join the Discord if you check out Unofficial Controller Podcast. Um Instagram if you're on there, go to the link tree. Also, you can go to mine, which is retro gamer Thomas, go to the link tree. There's links on there for shows um from flashback, unofficial controller, the email, the website, and discord. You can join straight in that way. Come and say hi. It's a very, very friendly community. Um, and we also have on there a thing called Let's Get Quizzical, um, which again, digital the wonderful digital monk we does. Um, and that is once a week, he puts a little quiz on there. It's not you know in a big group with everyone else. You can just sit there on your break at work, go through, and the and the answers are blank date. You just tap it to get the answer, go through, and just if you want to, you can put your score on. If you don't, just do it as a bit of fun. Ten questions every week. That's that's great fun. Um, and also we will be at OLL 26 in Epic Studios, Norwich on the 11th of April. We've got a table there. Um So if you if you're in that area or you'll visit any event, um it's a great expo from stage things to competitions to schools to um put the console set up. It's always a great event. John and his team always put a fantastic event on. So we always wanted to be present there. Come and say hi to us. We gotta let you say we're gonna have a competition on everyone. Excuse me. Come and say hi to God. Um so please come over to YouTube. Comment, subscribe, um, like you know, I would love you to come and join the community over there. Excuse me again. Um starting to take off a bit now, YouTube, we're really enjoying it. You can also watch a video on this as well. So come and join the comments on air, give us a comment, not say as they all say, like, comment, subscribe. Um yeah. And don't forget, give us a download, give us a review, hope you're enjoying it. Um yeah, and I think I'm done. This is me, RGT, just saying. Flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. I'll see you all next week. See you later, guys.