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 March 2008
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March 2008 is one of those months that looks ordinary on paper, then turns into a full-on time capsule the moment you start pulling at the threads. We’re back in the thick of the PS3 vs Xbox 360 era, with publishers throwing money at visibility, franchises fighting for mindshare, and the Wii and PSP quietly proving that “fun” and “portable” can be just as important as raw power.
We dig into the games that defined the vibe, including Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and its great alternate history hook paired with rough, corridor-led shooter design. We also talk Lost: Via Domus as a licensed game that feels more like a curiosity than a must-play, then swing hard into why the PSP was absolutely singing in 2008, especially with God of War: Chains of Olympus delivering shockingly strong visuals and that classic pick-up-and-play flow. On the Nintendo side, Super Smash Bros Brawl gets us thinking about the Wii library beyond Wii Sports, plus we shout out the kind of arcade-at-home joy you get from House of the Dead 2 and 3 Return.
Then we hit the March 2008 news that aged in the most interesting ways: Sony publicly shrugging at GTA 4 episodic content, an Xbox exec predicting the death of consoles within 5 to 10 years, and the wild timeline where EA tried to buy Take-Two right before GTA 4 changed the stakes. If you miss the soul of older releases, worry about what “owning games” even means now, or just love the history behind the hobby, this one’s for you.
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Welcome To March 2008
SPEAKER_00The games you love, the stories you forgot. This is episode 21, and this week we're in March 2008. I'm RGT, and as always, I am joined by the man who is very fast to have a blast on a Dreamcast. He's full of glee when he's playing the Atari ST. Was in his game and prime when he was on Ocarina of Time. That's UCP George. How you doing, mate?
SPEAKER_03Wow, that was almost like a biographical s like gameplay history of me. I'm a little bit seduced.
SPEAKER_00I was quite pleased with those. They were perfect.
SPEAKER_03Much like your good self, practically perfect in every way.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I'm not sure about that, but um well, that's what it says in the script.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And then it says RGT, well, I'm not sure about that. And then George says that's yeah. Anyway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Getting on.
SPEAKER_00Don't break the fourth wall. Um, I'm fine, thank you very much. Yeah, yeah, no, I'm very well, thank you. Yeah, very good. So being interesting to uh have a look at March 2008. Um, what we were playing, see if the Gen 7 was getting up and singing by this point, and see what games are coming out. And few on here I recognise, a few I haven't played but have liked to have played. Um, but let's get straight into it. Let's have
Turning Point Fall Of Liberty
SPEAKER_00a look. These are sort of from end of February into March 2008. Um I'll kick us off because one of these games, if you listen to the UCP, you'll know I have played quite recently in the last two or three weeks, actually, and that is Turn and Point Fall of Liberty. Um I played this on PlayStation 3.
SPEAKER_03Um when you talked about this the other day, I had a completely different artwork in my mind.
SPEAKER_00Well, we were talking about this off-air. Now, the reason I I bought this game a while ago. I mean, this game is £2 now, it's not expensive. Um But when I was looking from a shelf for something to play, I'd finished Infamous 2. I was looking for something else to play, you know, Gen 7 wise, and I saw this artwork and thought I I don't know why this artwork seems familiar to me, and I couldn't think why. I didn't know if that was reminded me of um oh, what's the one in um Germany where you play in the war and you bring the colour back to the town?
SPEAKER_03Oh, saboteur.
SPEAKER_00I didn't know if that was that reminded me of saboteur or something like that, and I thought, have I played this? Turns out I hadn't played played it.
SPEAKER_03Um this did get turning point for the liberty, did I feel got a lot of advertising money on it?
SPEAKER_00I think it did, and it didn't quite turn out to what they expected it to be. 100%. Yeah, it was it was developed by Spark Unlimited, um, published by Codemasters, which I think turned a few heads because I think most people think Codemasters, this is gonna be decent, um, but obviously only the publisher. It came out PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows. Um it's an alternative history point of view. So, um, like I said back on UCP when I was talking about it, basically in real life, Winston Churchill was hit by a car, um, has badly damaged his leg and he walked with a stick for the rest of his life. This is if what happened in a parallel world is if Winston Churchill was killed in 1931, and basically uh Germany was coming across to invade America and like they'd won the war, and you you start off basically working as a um working on a skyscraper as a uh construction worker as they invade and you grab a gun and you sort of work with resistance. Um graphically it's you would it looks worse than some of the launch games on a PS3 Xbox 360S very generation six looking. Um first person shooter, very short first person shooter.
SPEAKER_03What are the levels like? Are they open or are they corridor led almost?
SPEAKER_00Corridor led. Wow. Wow. Yeah, there's some open-ish bits, it's a bit like a scale down resistance. Um not as probably not as good looking as resistance, even though it's two years later than resistance.
SPEAKER_03That was a talking point for me on the main show. Like, how does this hold up to even that? And you say it's worse than that, and I like wow.
SPEAKER_00And for instance, when you climb a ladder, you come out of first-person view, you go into third person view, and your character model, the first time I saw it, I sort of went, oh that's a that's a hard pill to swallow for a generation seven game in 2008, might I add. Um but it's it's a bit glitchy, it's a bit clunky. Like I say, I played through this in four and a half hours, five hours. Um it was literally a rainy Sunday and played for it in one sitting. Um, it's okay. You know, the end last few levels get a little tricky, but they're quite good. You get a decent selection of weapons. Um, but it's basically there's like five levels. When you're in one section of a level, you'll have a little tick box on the side, do this, do that, do that, and then you move on to the next level once you get to the end of that area. Um yeah, it was it didn't uh it didn't score too highly, put it that way. There was a lot of four out of tens, five out of tens, one star out of five. There was a lot of these reviews, you know, 40%, 50%, hence why even now you can pick it up. I mean, I think CEX are slightly two pound, two pounds.
SPEAKER_03Would you agree with those reviews of that time? It's not a one star game, is it? You finished it at least.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not I wouldn't I would think one star is a bit harsh. I mean, if if you're doing it out of ten, I'd s five or six out of ten, six is the higher end of it, I would say. I th even now I'd say if you like first person shooters and you like generation seven, you collect for it, for two quid, I think it's worth a go, really. Like I say, rainy day, put this on, you can blast through it in one go. It's alright, it's not bad. You know, it's a bit of like I say, it's an alternate storyline, which I think the storyline's probably better than what the actual game is. It's a good idea, you know. You're standing on this skyscraper as Germany invade, you have to work your way down, find a gun, fight your way out of the streets. So on that point, that's quite a good little narrative, but the the conviction of of the development wasn't great. There was a couple of times I had to restart because I'd got stuck on a can of cola or something, which I couldn't actually jump over. So yeah, but it's turning point fall of liberty, is um it's a curio worth having to go on, but don't expect it to you know blow your socks off or be a halo clone or anything like that. Ain't gonna be nothing like that, but yeah, worth having a little look.
Lost Via Domus Hits A Wall
SPEAKER_00Um, what about you, George? Anything on there?
SPEAKER_03Um, first thing to grab my fancy, as you call it. Yeah. Interesting phraseology. Uh, I'm gonna talk about Lost via Domus the video game for a moment. Now, me and my good lady wife got into Lost the Series, much to our chagrin. Although, you know, the journey was more enjoyable than the destination, let's put it that way. Um, but the video game kind of continues that on. It's okay.
SPEAKER_00But is it follow-on from the series?
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no. It kind of takes place in and around it. It's okay. It's not great.
SPEAKER_00Typical license game, is it?
SPEAKER_03I think it's trying to be a little bit more than that, but uh it's not aged well. I found it a little bit clunky. Um as a tying game, it definitely felt like the lower end of a tying game. I can't say I saw it through, and to be honest with you, I wasn't that impressed with it. You know, John Locke, he he looked pretty good. Um, as for the other characters, no. Um, so I'd probably reckon it's an interesting curio if you like the series, but you probably need to be playing this halfway through. Um maybe earlier, to be fair. Um while we're here, if I may be so bold, talk about maybe we'll do a joint talk about this because we're both like our PSPs. It's
PSP Flexes With God Of War
SPEAKER_03God of War Chains of Olympus RGT, Satir, in its untouched glory, ready to be devoured by every man, woman, and child? PSP game, bring in all the joy and almost all of the visual prowess of the PlayStation 2 game to you in a handheld form. Did you you kind of had a PSP concurrent with the 3000 series when it was out? Was God a war something that tipped its way into the basket for you during those early days, or is it something that came to you later in gaming?
SPEAKER_00Um it came to me later. I own a copy, but I still as yet is is to play it. I haven't played it yet. Um I saw my PSP list to play because I've heard good things, and a couple of the review videos I have seen on the game, I've sort of thought, oof, that is probably one of the best PSP looking, you know, looking wise. I've seen games. I mean, that does look you know, at first glance you could almost go, oh that's PS2, and you hold on. No, hang on, that's that's a PSP game, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's a little bit more locked off than the PS2, and I think that's to enable them to give you that visual flair. But and it's close, it's close, but it's not the same. Um, but it's good enough. Yeah, definitely. This and the sequel, the sequel improved on things massively, but this and the sequel on PSP are bangers, and if you're gonna have two UMDs kicking around and you carry bag, it better be those two. Um, because you're gonna have yourself a lot of fun and and the PSP actually is gonna sing songs that you never thought it could sing with this game, so yeah, must recommend just a continuation of that great gameplay. Um do you know what? It works in pick-up and play format as well. It does. Yeah, so an ode to that, and also you know, tips into sort of longer gameplay sessions as well, where you could just pour through it more like a traditional at-home experience. Very, very good way of bringing Gen 6 portable. I think we've talked about this before. Rockstar did a really good effort. I mean, Midnight Club 3 double edition took a little bit of a kick in in the reviews in the era because I went and had a look recently on PSP specifically, and I was a bit shocked to see, but then you see evidence of it running, and you're like, Well, yeah, it looks pretty good actually. Uh add to that the fact that we got um the Warriors straight port to PSP RGT pretty much, and you know PSP, how'd you feeling like a king around 2008? It was in its sweet song right now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, definitely. And I think you know, even though we're into Gen 7 then, um there was no harm in walking around with a PSP for singing, you know, that was that was about the best you could get graphically and for bigger boys' games in the pocket. You know, the DS was about, but it wasn't playing games like this that wasn't no.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll put it to you that the PSP arrived almost as a Trojan horse of the PS3's future designer setting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. True, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Uh much like the PSVR showed up as a Trojan horse about possibly where they were looking at taking PS5 and all of a sudden it rocks up all white plastic. Um, very much similar situation here. And the PSP and the PS3 are much more mutually compatible than anything previously and post. So they're very much into each other in terms of the ability to download software onto the PSP. If you're a non-hacked boy like me and you've got some games up in the ether and your PSP won't go online anymore because it runs a very old version of Wi-Fi. Oh, yes. Um, you can still get the PS3 to talk to PSP. So I can download car packs with Gran Turismo and a myriad of other things that I've done along the way. So yeah. Side ramble there, but PSP really in its a good place at this moment, RGT.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03Um what's your next game, sir?
Super Smash Bros Brawl Curiosity
SPEAKER_00Um actually as a as a game series of me and a friend have been really talking about maybe getting into, and it's after we were at OLL and watched a few of the heats of this game, um, but obviously the later version on Switch, but Super Smash Bros. And this is Super Smash Bros. Brawl on Wii um March 9th, 2008. Um now I know a lot of people talk well of this one, and I mean this was in a lot of books and you know the the 1001 video games to play before you die and a lot of the top lists, and I think it was in I think it was in the top 10 best selling Wii games, and um and this is the sort of the first time uh not being an N64 owner, I never really sort of took a much of a look or knew much about Super Smash Bros. Um that was more when everyone was getting a Wii and people were you know we went from everyone started with the Wii with the Wii Sports, but the people then who faded off Wii Sports who weren't really gamers just had a Wii with Wii Sports. But you know, a few of us who were gamers started looking into the libraries a bit, and I remember a friend picked up Super Smash Bros. I remember watching it. Wow, I didn't even know Nintendo done these sort of fighting games that seemed really out of character for them to have you brawling on a screen, and then you thought that's quite clever because you've got the characters of the roster, you can unlock characters and the scenes you play in. Um, so that's always really interesting me. And like I say, after we were at OLL and seeing the guys playing on air, which was astonishing how well they play. Um, that's really got me thinking about getting into it. And I again, I know I said this about Jones of Olympus, I do have a copy of this, I think I have the Wii U one as well. Um so yeah, Super Smash Bros. If you know, listeners or viewer, viewers.
SPEAKER_03What you're saying here, we got a champion in the making here. Are you gonna go and become no chance world champion for no chance?
SPEAKER_00No, I'm just gonna say if any any listeners out there like Super Smash Bros, or if they put especially the Brawl version, let us know. And you know, questions at unfinished controllerpodcast.com or leave leave a little note on uh on your podcast provider to contact us, we'll read it out next week. But yeah, let us know if you're you're in the Super Smash Bros, because it's definitely got me intrigued of late as something I think I could really get into that. But yeah, anything else on there for you, George?
Condemned Memories And Baseball Talk
SPEAKER_03Uh I mean there's a few games, one like a little bit of a lost memory. I don't know what's going on, so I'm looking here at Condemn 2 Bloodshot, and I'm thinking, I think I played this. I obviously had the first one, early doors on the 360, and I'm sure I've got this, but I tell you what, I've drawn an absolute blank on it.
SPEAKER_00That's an iconic. I mean, I know that cover as well, with the eye looking through that little keyhole.
SPEAKER_03And I think I probably went and bought this because I was hot off Condemned One. I mean, it's scared. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Condemned One was really good. I mean, it was scary, it got to me because it was one of those moments where it screen would go black and it would turn on the mannequins had moved, and you were like, oh, this is a oh yes, I've seen clips of that.
SPEAKER_00I was never a horror player and still really aren't to that much nowadays, but I've seen sort of top horror lists, and that came up with the mannequins where they'd all oof god, that's horrible.
SPEAKER_03Uh but to be fair, after that, it's a pretty visceral kind of mainly um melee combat game from my memory. Um Condemned 2, I think, continued it. Now, like I say, I think I had it, and it must have all been morphed into memories of one, but uh I like those games. I God knows what they'll look like now. I I thought at the time they looked pretty good and and they played pretty well. Um there was some intriguing um mechanics in there. I do believe you had to sort of scan with a UV light or something like that from memory as well. It was uh yeah, I again it I can't imagine that RGT condemned one and two are much money at all these days. Uh this is where you tell me like 40 quid a game or something, but I'll definitely recommend people pick those up. I'd like to think that you could pick them up for a couple of dollars each, and definitely if you got your eyes open in the charity shops, I would implore you to to get it all into that. Um one other thing, RGT, you know, those baseball games in full effect right now over on uh we've got the Major League Baseball 2K 8 series in full effect and MLB08 the show. Um yeah, I mean MLB the show at this point, it's picking up momentum, it's not quite the game I want it to be. I've got some of these earlier incarnations, and they're they're pretty raw straight baseball Sims, if I'm honest with you. But Major League Baseball by the 2K series was probably taking the lead in terms of the career life aspect of it. MLB the show is still not even really there now. They definitely present it in a more kind of straight-laced way. Um but I love MLB the show and I I don't ever really want it to change. There was some news the other day about it coming to mobile as a free-to-play made by the actual team who make MLB, and it did make my blood run cold a little bit, but hey, you know, we'll we'll we'll we'll see where that goes. Yeah, cross that beach when you come to the yeah um I suppose as we talked about it earlier, and it seems a shame for me to, as we talk about the PSP, you know, doing well, um Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII landed on the system at this time and obviously had a remake on on modern systems, but is a beautiful game to look at on PSP. Um be talking all about the graphics today, but um no, that's uh it's a good story. I recommend you go check that out. I shouldn't imagine that's much. I don't know. Would you for RGT? Did you have pricing for Condemned?
SPEAKER_00Condemned, um the original one is more than Condemned 2. The original is about sort of 10 10 pounds, but Condemned 2 you can pick up actually cheapest on PS3. It's about four to five, I suppose six to eight on the 360.
SPEAKER_03So uh yes.
SPEAKER_00So they're still not not terrible money for what they are nowadays, you know.
SPEAKER_03Uh no, they always reminded me as well of the Darkness one and two, they had a similar aesthetic, a similar kind of when it's on Earth anyway, a similar uh look to the graphics, textures, etc. Um they do get a little bit kind of mixed up in my brain, but uh yeah. What what's your next game off of this list, RGT?
SPEAKER_00Um it's
House Of The Dead On Wii
SPEAKER_00another Wii game, actually. I'm gonna go with uh House of the Dead, um two and three return. Um yes. Yeah, played a lot of this on the Wii. Um and then obviously we went over to Director's Cut later on on the PS3 move, but these were good, they had the arcade plus original mode plus bonus stuff. Um and at the time, it was the only place you could really sort of play a modern sort of light gun shooter game at home, and these were just great fun, you know. We were at that time where arcade was possible at home, and the house of the dead games are you know they're legendary really for what they are when you play them. We had we had many hours playing these. Same again. If you've got a Wii now, you can pick this up for sort of six to eight quid, so it's not bad at all. Um, but yeah, just hours of fun to have from these shooters, and yes, there was a lot of shovel wear on the Wii, um, but there was also a lot of variety as well. From you know, yes, it was your motion-based physics, which on some games you thought, oh just let me have a controller, which some did, but the it was made for this sort of stuff, you know. As soon as you got that Wii mote and you could put it in a in a little gun case for a gun, then you have to have House of the Dead, you know, you had to have hunting games, so yeah, House of the Dead two and three, brilliant games, um, and definitely worth picking up if you've got a Wii Wii nowadays. Um, anything else for you, George, on there?
Box Art Ghosts Like Dark Sector
SPEAKER_03Yeah, obviously in the green room before we came through to record RGT, we were looking I was perusing this script. Um you I saw Dark Sector and it triggered something in me. I don't know if I've played it, but this game I feel was one of those games I say every week that was everywhere. Like I feel like this got previewed the hell out of double page spreads, talk about this. Front covers of magazines, but a game now that's been relegated to without this show, RGT, the backwaters are nowhere. And there's a couple of games on it. Viking Battle for Asgard as well is another game that I feel like was everywhere. Back of magazines, in the middle, previews. Where is it now? No one's even talking about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I've I've picked this up recently, and that was because them two artworks, Dark Sector and Viking Battle for Asgard. I the Dark Sector one, the font and the way that is written, I thought I know that from somewhere.
SPEAKER_03I feel like it's a Mandela effect. I feel like in the timeline, that's one of the biggest games ever with the guy on the front.
SPEAKER_00I kept thinking, am I thinking of Alan Wake or am I thinking I don't know. But then the Vigan one, yes, that was everywhere, and that wasn't till I was in CEX a few months ago and I was flicking through PS3 games and went, Oh god, this Vigen game, I remember this. Yeah, I remember this being everywhere. So I I picked it up and I as yet to play it, but I just thought, how weird is it that just suddenly gets triggered? Because some of these games get pushed and pushed and pushed by the publishers, they come out gone, and that's only when you just see the artwork that triggers in your brain about it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, post this, mate. I'm hopping on I'm hopping on eBay or whatever online sales site I find it on. I'm grabbing myself a copy of Dart Sector. It's hate, it's it's championed to be a modern superhero story. Um it I implore everyone who's listening to this uh because we're we're working up to video. Um, if you want to see our faces, you can look at UCP videos on the YouTube and you'll see exactly what we look like. But we're keeping this as a more kind of intimate experience to begin with. But look up Dart Sector on Google Images and just the guy reeks of like Gen 7 jank, just his character model, his hair, very generic, the way his face is like oh my goodness gracious me. Um so that's my honourable mention in here, RGT. A lot of this artwork, obscure the aftermath, uh, which I think is a PSP game, like that was everywhere. Those hands and that body against that thing, that was in every magazine, it was on every bus stop.
SPEAKER_00That's one of them where if you take the lettering off, you take the name off, you'd still just see the hands, you'd go, Well, that's obscure, that's an obscure game. You just knew from the hands that that was one of them.
SPEAKER_03Um I'm done, RGT, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was just trying to see if there's any more honourable mentions for me. Uh we had Sega Superstars, tennis, never really got into that myself, but I know a few people did play out. We had Hotshots Golf. Obviously, that it was uh everybody's golf that we had over here, which is very addictive, very funny.
SPEAKER_03I love a bit of Hotshots Golf, mate. It's so harmless that it's actually quite nice, and when you get into that sort of Japanese chilby kind of bits of clothing and clubs and whatnot, it's actually it's fun.
SPEAKER_00And then we also had another PSP game, we had Flat Out Head On, which was I believe a PSP exclusive. So um was it? I think so, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I'm sure the Flat Out series was on everything, but Flat Out Head On was a PSP exclusive, yeah. Well that makes sense, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00I'm sure head-on was a um I'm sure that was a PSP exclusive, I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, probably it's the only way they could get it running on there because Flat Out was quite the game in the early 360 era.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it was. Was that is that the guys that went on to do Wreckfest?
SPEAKER_03I can't comment for that. I just know that that game again was everywhere and was kind of like filling a gap in the 360 library. Yeah, yeah, it was I remember playing Probably objectively, probably not the best, but it did what it needed to do.
SPEAKER_00I think they took it more to that sort of yeah, some it was more that sort of backyard racing with damage physics. It was I think it was quite well done. Um I don't think it was you know the great.
SPEAKER_03I feel like those games have a bit of a niche though, these combat races. They're kind of uh they're never gonna sell as much as Gran Turismo.
SPEAKER_00No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03No matter which way you butter it up, no matter if it was the best playing version of it ever.
SPEAKER_00Sadly, yeah, I say sadly, games like that are never gonna Yeah, and a lot of tried different things, like split second and blur and flat out obviously.
SPEAKER_03They they're okay, they're really great fun to play. Yeah, but in terms of the sales numbers, I mean they tick every box on the XL spreadsheet, don't they? Fun, crazy, good graphics, environmentals, crashing. How can you not like this? Yeah, and I agree, but in terms of sales numbers, it's garbage. No, great fun game, good concept. In terms of remuneration, poor, super poor, sadly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, very good.
SPEAKER_03You know, that's arcade games for you. I think they kind of have this they do okay at home in the home market, especially back in the day, but now people want a little bit more meat on the bone. Arcades are good for like a five, ten, twenty-minute blast, aren't they? Maximum. You're kind of about six to the back teeth of them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, they're like sickly sweet penny chews.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they have their longevity, which is short bursts, you know. So, um, but yeah, that was um probably what we would have been hoping to play from February, March 2008. Um,
March 2008 News Desk
SPEAKER_00but I think it's time we got onto the news. We've scoured the very darkest back pages of the game and man's and even delve deep into the interweb to bring you what was the latest stories in March 2008. First up from Games Radar. Sony
Sony Shrugs At GTA DLC
SPEAKER_00says meh to GTA 4 episodic content. Um, doesn't reckon a huge percentage of GTA owners will bother with 360 DLC. Sony has said, yeah, whatever. Look at our look at our PS3 exclusives as a repositor to Xbox 360's exclusive episodic GTA 4 content, which it doesn't reckon many people will buy initially anyway. They go on to say there's a lot of game to Grand Theft Auto, and there's a lot there's going to be a lot of game to Grand Theft Auto 4 to the point where I think most people will have the Grand Theft Auto experience on the PS3 day and date. Same core game shipping on the 360. Scott Steinberg, VP of product marketing of SCEA, told Game Daily. Xbox 360's episodic content may release in the autumn, he said, but referring to vanilla GTA 4, he added there's a whole lot of product releasing for PS3 in April 2. I personally don't think there's going to be a huge percentage of folks who jump into downloadable content for another price when they're still playing through the core product, Steinberg continued. He went on to say that when GTA 4 on PS3 is combined with console exclusives, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Gran Turismo, it clearly sets Sony's machine at the top. I think that goes from tipping point to shoving point for consumers who are on the fence, wondering what platform should I buy. It's the elite of the elite products that actually enable hardware to be sold with software, and we have um three of them. GTA 4 is out on both PS3 and Xbox 360 on April the 29th. Make your decision now. Um yeah, I put this in here because this seemed right when the war was kicking off with PS3 and Xbox 360 to the point where they almost seem quite angry. They almost seemed like, no, we're we've got you know, ours is the prem, you know, is premium. This is the premium product, this is why you'll play it on here, you know. We've also got Metal Gear Solid, and we've also got Grand Turismo, you know, it almost seemed as though the the sad thing is they also almost seemed a bit annoyed about it. Oh they're annoyed, yeah.
SPEAKER_03They're furious at the marketplace at this moment. They had it all with PS2, they presented the consumer with the product that the consumer said they wanted, and the consumer is kind of bought a 360 already. They were furious. Um, what they didn't realise is coming to the market one year later, um, when everyone had kind of got really tired of the PS2 at that point, and the maybe you could argue the original Xbox, coming a year later, we've talked about this on the main show and possibly on flashback, that transient crowd moved from PS2 to 360, and a lot of gamers will tell you that their memories are maybe PS1, PS2, 360, great memory, short burst, red ring, PS3, or kind of stayed in the Xbox ecosystem from then forward, or then flipped to PS4. And I think those transient PlayStation 2 players came home in the PS4 generation, which rewarded Sony massively by really establishing the the one-to-win, which was the PS4, Xbox One era. Rewind that back to here, and suddenly I don't like his vitriol, but I believe 2008 probably was the tipping point for that to happen. It was I don't really feel this might be controversial to say, but I don't really feel like the PS3 Sony were doing things, absolutely they were, but what I saw as an outsider looking in as the saviour of the PS3 was that little click or crowd that were sort of gathering around the IGN Beyond podcast. They were the ones that saved the PS3, they were the ones who kind of flipped the script and showed people. Sony kind of listened, got on board, their engagement at that moment was huge. You know, they were involved and they were wanting to find out like why aren't you? And we need games. This was at the moment, though, where they weren't really engaging, they were just sticking to their rigid business plan and going, right, we got this, we got this, we got this, and blah, why aren't you buying it? I think it's also really colour blind of the guy to, and obviously, this is the main point of the news article, for him to turn his nose up at the DLC. Now, he's turning his nose up because he's putting a marketing spin on the we don't think you'll be into that. What? Because you didn't sign an exclusivity deal. That's exactly why you're not into it. And when it did make its way to your console, you hyped the living hell out of it, and it's the best version of GTA 4 to own on that console. So him saying he's not into it really reeks, as you say, of like a very bitter marketing war. Um, one that they could have just stepped back from with a little bit of class and said less and earned more uh kudos. But that takes emotional intelligence, RGT, and sometimes I don't think marketing people have that because it would involve admitting the competitor you did get some things right, and that is a bit of a red flag, especially in 2008.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I think like you say, this was at the tipping point, and you've got to remember from Sony, they had come from the PS2 just thinking we've completely dominated there, best selling console of all time. We're just gonna we can we can come in a year late because uh our fan base will cruise this. Suddenly they're on catch-up, and they're like, Well, hold on, we're we're not used to this. We've been leading uh oh dear, well hold on, what have they done now? What are they doing now? You know, they're doing Xbox Live, they're doing this, they're doing achievements. Well, hold on, we we're getting left behind here, and that was a catch-up, and like you say, 2008, the Xbox had been out what two and a half years by this point, I would imagine. Um, and and you know, uh PS3 had been out for 18 months, so it was then on that sort of tipping point of coming, you know, getting back, you know, getting the feet under the table a bit more, but obviously certain things game companies were going more to the 360 because of the player base at the time, because of the the game as they had, and it was hurting Sony, and you can say it see it from this. It was just like, well, you you know, he's talking about the DLC for for Grand Theft Auto 4, and and he has to quickly snap back with, well, we've got Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Turismo, we've got many things you can play, you know. He's he's getting annoyed and he's trying to have digs and deflect, but at the end of the day, yes, you've slipped up here. You slipped up big time.
SPEAKER_03I think I think generally the PS3 is probably a little bit of a microcosm of what happens to most businesses when they do well. When businesses start, or branches of businesses like Xbox or PlayStation for Sony and Microsoft start, they employ scrappy fighters, people that can build a wall, that can get something out tomorrow, and they just cobble it together. Xbox is a great example, load of laptop parts thrown in a box, running on DirectX, bam, that that'll do. You know, that and maybe not so with the the PlayStation it was developed, and and these things are RD and all that sort of stuff, but to launch a console, you've got to have people that are scrappy on the ground, gorilla people. Once a console and a brand's established, washing it into the wider industry, your brand then employs people that have known nothing but success. So when the business then hits the rocks, your people aren't those scrappy fighters that launched the brand that know how to think on their feet and dodge and sharp. They're people that have been brought in because they know about evolutions for the next stage of the business. But when the business falters and hits the rocks, it's a bit like the Division III, two, one and premiere players. A premiership player, you'd think, if you don't know anything about football and I don't, you'd expect a premiership player to walk into a third division team and just be the best thing since sliced bread, walk on water, dodge around everybody. But he'd be probably taken off within the first 20 minutes with a broken ankle or something crazy. Yeah, and a third division player would go up to the premiership and you'd be like, All right, well, we'll show him, we'll send a defender up. He's tough, he's hard, he knows that brutal footy, he'll show him. And he'd just get danced round, like he's like stood there like a bollard. And I think it's the same in business as well. It's not that they're bad people, but your third division person gets scrappy, knows how to get the job done. But your premiership player would be like, What the hell's going on? And businesses have the same thing, and I think the PS2 kind of blindsided Sony, really. Bloody hell, PlayStation One was great, but they like this even more, and we're we're running away with it, PS3. They'll lap that up, we've got all these people in thinking about what's after that. Boom, with it the rocks, what we're doing. Uh well, we didn't plan for this. How do you launch a media project tomorrow? Oh well, I don't know. I mean, I you don't work here anymore.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So pulled it back, obviously. Now some would say these mini folders, are they even ever really anything, RGT? But they're they're certainly a sign of something. My bit of news, are you ready for this? Get on then. Yeah, I'll know. Get on. I'll see ya. I see ya.
A 2008 Prediction On Consoles
SPEAKER_03Um, Xbox Man. This plays into a wider conversation, doesn't it? And would think this was planned. Xbox Man predicts death of consoles in the next five to ten years. I don't know what website this is on. Uh, Eurogamer. Yeah, Eurogamer. O'Daly Gibson, former deputy editor, uh, decided to put a finger to keyboard with this. Sandy Duncan, former boss of Xbox Europe, has said he believes consoles will disappear very soon as everything gets virtualized. Speaking to that video game blog, Duncan said the industry is fundamentally driven by technology. I think dedicated game services, i.e. consoles and handhelds, will die out in the next five to ten years. Duncan was with Microsoft for 15 years before leaving to co-found um no, he co-founded it, Yo-Yo Games, having established the Xbox business in Europe. He knows a few things about launching new hardware and observed there are huge risks involved. He predicted that as companies attempt to reduce these, there will be a definite convergence of other devices such as set-top boxes. There's hardly any technology difference between some hard disk video recorders and an Xbox 360, for example, Duncan stated. In fact, in five to ten years, I don't think you'll have any box under your TV at all. Most of this stuff will be virtualised as web services by your content provider. Well, you know, I'll tell you what, oh it's Sandy, which is his first name. And he's got one of those two first name, first name chaps, and then they refer to him later on as Duncan. Uh his name's actually Sandy. I would probably call him Mr. Duncan. Um, but for the sake of this, we're gonna assume for informality RGT, we'll call him Sandy. Sandy could see the future, but not quite, but he definitely could see it through Xbox's eyes, couldn't he? Now yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's why I put this in because I just thought, hang on, is he working back there for the last five years? Because uh everything's an Xbox.
SPEAKER_03You know, in the previous sort of news article, we talked about sort of Sony learning hard lessons, but um and you know, I use that as an example of them kind of preparing for the future, but then kind of tripping up, finding themselves in a position which they weren't expecting. Microsoft have been conspiracy theory, planning this for some time. Um, you'd think everything's an Xbox is pretty much exactly what I read there. And what year is this, RGT?
SPEAKER_04I don't even believe it's 2008.
SPEAKER_00March 2008, yeah. So yes uh 18 years ago.
SPEAKER_03I mean, is it smart thinking, or was this just the word on the street for people who are into clouds and bits and bobs? Did they say you know they could see it heading this way, and he's just basically verbed it verbalised it?
SPEAKER_00Problem is, I think he's thinking that you know the way the tech was rising, we'd gone from you know standard CRTs to HD in this generation, and he's thinking the leaps are just gonna be so much bigger. Um, but what he hasn't taken into consideration is the circuit boards and all the tech to go with it to make that gets bigger as well. I mean, he probably could have never envisioned that we've now got a small fridge and a PS5 which looks like the Sydney Opera House sitting next to your TV.
SPEAKER_03Um this is true, so yeah, we've not been able to equally so, you don't need any of that, and you could be playing games on an iPad from both of the major developers in the city. You could play on the cloud, two of the major developers, yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you've got stable enough internet, you could play on the cloud. So technically on that front, he was seeing where that was coming from. Um as for consoles to disappear, I mean, and especially when he says handhelds, I mean, with the switch and that, you're they're as popular as ever, and people with retro handhelds and bits and pieces. I know that's probably a different thing, but handhelds are probably as popular as ever at the moment, especially with PCs and stuff. But then is a thousand percent, but then is that sort of correct in what he's saying? People are going from big powerful PCs down to these handheld ones instead. So is it is it shrinking? So yeah, I I found this fascinating when reading it to see that glimpse in time of what they thought we would be nowadays.
SPEAKER_03Um I I think his comment about launching new hardware and there being risks involved. There are risks, you get it wrong, and you s you saddle to a system that you need to support for seven years that people hate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right? No amount of fixing, that's gonna change that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So doing it cloud-wise, you're not really offering anything up, are you? You're not showing them a physical box, you're just gonna say there's this many terabytes behind a back wall, and you get on with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_03I don't know, mate. I mean in 2008 I felt very safe and comfortable in my hobby. I knew what it was. I put a disc in machine, picked up a joypad and played it, right? In 2026, as we are now looking back to this time, I don't feel so comfortable anymore. My physical game library diminishes in front of my very eyes as my fat lazy body hits X on the PlayStation store like a rabid dog.
SPEAKER_00Um I was actually having this conversation with someone last night. Um, I was actually talking to the captain, and um I was saying that I think I know this is a retro show, but just in relation to this, um I think the PS5 is a very well-optimised console. I think if you can have a home console, it's what you have. I think the dual sense is one of the best controllers, if not the best controller ever made. Yet I've never felt so detached from modern gaming in my life.
SPEAKER_03Thousand percent. Um it's almost dead to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I just feel that way. There's no I have no passion for that. I've got a Series X, I'm lucky enough to have a PS5, and I'm lucky enough to have a Switch 2. Um, but it just I feel so detached from it, and that's why I'm always going back to Gen 7 and Retro and finding these games and playing because it feels there's more soul to it. It feels so empty.
SPEAKER_03Do you think in like 10 years' time you're gonna go back to PS4 or 5 be like this is banging console, hidden gem after hidden gem after hidden gem?
SPEAKER_00I don't know because when when the PS3 was my main console, I didn't feel like this. So I don't know how I'll feel about it in a few years' time, but it's really weird because you've got some of the best hardware sitting there, and there's there doesn't feel no passion there to play it. It's really weird. It's a very strange year of time, and you know, maybe he was right. Maybe that is the console's dying out and and we're on the change. But yeah, we'll see.
SPEAKER_03We're the last of the um dinosaurs RGT with our heads up, munching on leaves, looking down at a little squirrel, laughing at it, but that's the future.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is, yeah. That is. We're we're a dying breed, I'm afraid.
SPEAKER_03Time to get down with the squirrels and play game dev story on your mobile.
SPEAKER_00Yep, exactly. Yeah, get down with nutkins.
EA Nearly Bought Take Two
SPEAKER_00Um, well, and finally, from gamesindustry.biz, take two board has made a mistake. An asby Patcher. Analyst does not believe Take Two will be worth more following the release of Grand Theft Auto 4. Take two's continued rebuttal of EA's offer to buy the company for USD. Yeah. 20 26 per share is a mistake. That's why I put this in. That's why I put this in. This is you look where they are nowadays, the two companies. Um, yeah, so EA's offer to buy the company for USD 26 per share is a mistake, according to a Wedbush Morgan. The analyst firm suggesting that the company will not be worth more following the release of Grand Theft 04 next month. Well Bush believes that Tape 2 could have got a higher price for EA had it worked cooperatively instead of dismissing the offer as inadequate, and the board has virtually no chance of finding a better offer. In our view, tape two's board has made a mistake, said Michael Patcher, analyst at Wedbrush Morgan. We believe that the company was positioned to extract a higher offer from EA by offering friendly transactions, and its board chose to continue to adversarial prosture. We do not mean to suggest that EA's offer was intended as a friendly one, but note that it started out as such, and EA turned hostile only after its first two friendly offers um summarily rejected. Uh, we think that Take Two's position that the company will have greater value after release of Grand Theft 004 is naive at best and disingenuous at worst. It is inconceivable to us that there are any Take Two shareholders currently or prospective who are not aware of the upcoming release of the game, and we do not believe that the game's reviews of first week sales will ultimately impact the company's valuation in a meaningful way. Patcher called Take Two's uh bluff with respect to the company, suggesting it has received interest from other third parties and that it will now be willing to sit down with other companies to discuss possible business partnerships. The EA offer has been public for 31 days, and we believe the company is uh not in discussions with any other party, offered Patcher. This deal, in our opinion, makes more sense for EA than for any other company, primary primarily because of uh synergies from our consolidation of the two companies sports businesses. No other company is in a position to realise those synergies which we believe are substantial, he added. Now, this I was laughing when I was reading this because I just thought them saying that they were fools not to take the EA offer because they won't get a better offer, and that's not the GTA 4 game is not going to improve the price of Take 2, blah blah blah. My god, I know we went a lot of it came from GTA 5, but look where Take 2 are now. Look at the billions they have earned.
SPEAKER_03I mean No, I think that their their worth went up as soon as GTA 4 landed, and to be honest with you, GTA 4's reviews, it's still the highest review GTA of all time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it is, yeah.
SPEAKER_03GTA 6 is the only thing that can threaten that crown now. Uh I think it's probably got a good chance. But GTA 4 was there were some strong reviews. There's some 10 out of 10s there. I think that might be a little strong.
SPEAKER_00Not far off, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_03Not far off. It is the best GTA, in my humble opinion. Um but one could argue those reviews were interesting locations where they took place. That's all I'll say. Yeah. Luckily, luckily the game was worth it, I think. You know, I think it was worth it. I think that the game is it's right up there. It's definitely in the nines out of tens, but I think a 10 out of 10 for any game is strong. But hey, let's get behind it. Um, it was definitely critically well received. I think user reviews were high, uh, probably not quite as high as critical. Uh, last time I looked, but I think the opinion on GTA 4 over time has definitely gone even higher up than I would have thought possible. There's things in GTA 4 that aren't in GTA 5, even on modern consoles, and you know, GTA 4, we've talked about it, had a little bit of a spirit about it, and I think that really set the stall for Rockstar's HD ideas of direction of where they were going to go, because GTA 4 really is what fuelled then Red Dead, which then fuelled GTA 5, which then fuelled Red Dead 2, and that's now fuelled GTA 6. It's um yeah, it was uh as you say, uh where they are now is probably a million miles away from where they were, but don't forget, this was the company that had just released banger after banger after banger in Gen 6, uh and the wider take two as well, certainly wasn't sitting around, it's not exactly you know the the wider take two is not the most uh beautiful collection, but certainly Rockstar's the crown in the middle of it, and yeah, it had some worth. And EA EA, I do believe EA were trying to push at a time to take out someone they saw that would be eclipsing them very soon. It was a tactical move to buy out, take two, kill the controlling interest, absorb the talent, probably kill the brand. If they'd got hold of that in that convention, GTA 4 would have been safe, it would have landed clean. But GTA 5 would have been hit with an EA logo, boom, it would have been, and it had also been you can't just steal a car now, you need to use in-game currency to buy that car, to buy lock picks or something, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that'll have all been added in. And I mean, this article, this this Michael Patcher almost seems as though he had a bit of an interest or money interest in EA buying them. He sounds a bit bitter that they haven't bought them, and he also seems as though he might have made this claim before the reviews for GTA 4 came out and then added to it afterwards. And well, I've seen the reviews, but I don't think I make any difference to their worth. Oh, but yeah, yes, it did. Yeah, well sorry, Michael, it did, mate.
SPEAKER_03You often find people seed stories on purpose to help sway different market persuasions, but to me, I mean, this was this was dead. EA were acting in a hostile way. No wonder Take Two didn't take them seriously. Oh yeah, we we see this coming a mile off. We've got our big game coming out. You want to kill it, Stone Dead, you want to buy us out, and you know, shareholders agree the RGT, they want the money.
SPEAKER_00Oh, god, yeah, yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so you know, if someone offers you X per Z, X, Y, Z per share, and you're in a bit of a tight situation, you'd think it'd make sense to take it, right?
SPEAKER_00But they somehow managed to dodge that, and I think it shows good sense, really, from take two, smart, yeah, it does, and also because I I never realised until researching this episode, and I know I say this every week, but I I discover a lot of new stuff by research in these episodes that EA had even tried to buy take two, and EA were like the Xbox of a few years ago of the era, they were trying to buy every studio up there, they were, and then they nosed them. Yes, it did. Um, and that was weird because PS2 era, EA they branched off and had that EA big as well, where they'd make the more sort of budget, you know, games like Shocks and the snowboarding games, they were all good fun, and they even though you know this was before the EA we know nowadays with you know things like Sims and God knows what else they've ruined. Um, but they were still doing some good stuff, and but in the end, I think it was like you say, it killed them in the end, just trying to buy so many studios up, and it is weird, somewhere in a parallel universe, EA has the grand theft auto.
SPEAKER_03I know, and that's that that boggles my mind, and to think of a concept and a time of a place where GTA 5, as much as I don't like it, it's still a really great product, it's a great it's a great journey, it's certainly a an experience. Imagine if they'd been involved in it, you know, or would they have just let them go off in their little subdivision and do their thing? I doubt it. It's EA. It's EA, I doubt it. They'd have to toe the line in some way. Yeah, it's I think we're living in a world where we got lucky.
SPEAKER_00I think so. I know a lot of people got annoyed with take two with GTA 5 and the shark cards and the money and the blah blah blah and the people spending phones, but that's up to them, yeah. That is optional. Um, they did turn GTA 5 into the biggest gross and entertainment piece of media ever produced in history.
SPEAKER_03Um, whether you I think we're about to get rewarded for that. Well, although we'll have to pay a hundred bucks to get in. I think we're about to get rewarded for that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, like you like George says, that's totally up to you whether you spend shark cards or not, or you buy shark cards, or you buy into the GTA.
SPEAKER_03Buy more, buy more. I want Red Dead 3 to look photorealistic. I want to be in the game, I want to be a cowboy. So you go and buy six million dollars worth of shark cards each immediately.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, George wants in uh Red Dead 3, he wants to actually be the carpenter who's building the clock tower in yeah, yeah, just little MPC. Savages pack lunge. Yeah, um, but no, you're probably right, you know, billions they've made off that billions. Um, so it's gonna be interesting to see what that where that goes to. But yeah, I would imagine EI looking back now thinking maybe we should have done a little bit better offer nearly 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_03100% RGT. 100%.
SPEAKER_00No one could have seen where uh take two rock star and the grand fifth order universe would be nowadays.
SPEAKER_03Um well have faith in letting people have creative freedom, I suppose. Have faith in letting people extend deadlines, let people take longer, let people delay a product, let people go crazy and put you know temperature-affected horse testicles in the game. Do you know what? I never really noticed it while I'm playing, but I appreciate the fact that it's in there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, you know, and at the end of the day, there's I know these publishers and these money men, you know, look what happened to Cyberpunk when that first launched, they want the money early, but there's a lot to be said for actually finishing a game, delaying it, and just putting out a really good product. Um you know, they've done that with GTA 5, and look, I know it's the online side, but look where it went. I mean, it's just people are still playing it now, you know.
SPEAKER_03And there's Oh, yeah, probably more than ever. As GTA 5 left the charts the whole time that the UCP's been on air, I don't think it ever has. No, it's had it's insane. It's been on three generations of consoles, and it's been in the charts every single week, week in, week out, this show has been on air. Yeah, released not flashback, but UCP.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, released in 2013. You know, and that's and that's yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03I don't know how people are still buying it, dude.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 13 years old, and people are still buying that game. Um brand new. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's still being I mean, I wonder how many millions of copies have sold of that.
SPEAKER_03I don't know. I don't know if it's probably you got games like Tetris and Minecraft that are always probably going to be untouchable, but gotta be fairly well up there, I would imagine. Oh, yeah, I think you know, one of the GTA series or the GTA series has got to be GTA 5's probably got to be in the top ten now. Got to be, yeah. That's a game sales, not money raised all by Minecraft, probably anyway. We're off topic. Some great news choices there, so yeah.
SPEAKER_00Like I say, um, hope you enjoyed those news stories. Um, you know, from um Sony a Sony man getting slightly annoyed with uh 360 getting a jump on the episodic content of GTA 4 to X Xbox Man, old Sandy there, predicting that five to ten years we won't have consoles anymore. Um no, he was partly wrong but partly right as well with his predictions.
SPEAKER_03You owe nothing and be happy with it.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Um and takes us up to our last bit we were just talking to with um apparently that was a miss um a mistake by Take 2 not taking EA's um measly offer there by uh Michael Patcher, but I think Michael might have looked back on that now and realised he made a bit of a mistake there.
Stingray’s Boot New Releases Picks
SPEAKER_00Um but now I think it's time for what we affectionately call Stingray's boot. What's nestled between some counterfeit nappies and a dodgy copy of Battle for Endor in some of the new releases for March straight April 2008 spring stop wow the old ray is just blue bird. Well that's Wayne that's got out first this time. Um and he looks like a little tiny zombie from House of the Dead. Um it's quite good makeup, but when you get close to him, he's used ketchup. So he's just licking his lips quite a lot, so it's not real blood, but it's just a bit of ketchup. Now Sting he's getting right in between all this 360 PS3 wars. He's right in with the wars. So he's got one arm is a PS3, one arm is an Xbox 360, and in the middle he's got EA t-shirt on. He's balancing there right between the news, all we've been talking about. I mean Yeah, come on, Ray. I mean, are you PS3? Are you 360? I don't think he really knows. I mean, I would you know he's he's pushing the EA as well. We're sitting on the fence. He's a bit like us on the show, we sit on the fence. But how are you seeing the Ray this week?
SPEAKER_03Wow. Wow. Getting out of the car this week. Two full grown men that I don't think I recognise, but they're dressed in sharp business suits, pinstripe shirts, ties, they've got braces on, white collars, slick hair. If I didn't know better, I'd think they're Patrick Bateman in impersonators, but this week stinging Wayne, I believe uh Scott Steinberg from Sony Computer Entertainment America, and Michael Pacter from Wedbushmorgan. Oh wow briefcase I know it's 2008, but they've got massive mobiles, they are proper a role-playing the the business dude. The yuppie, yeah, uh and I glance and I feel like the the Nissan's been down the body shop and he slapped a fat arch kit on it and a Porsche badge.
SPEAKER_00Oh sort of hot glued on, is it glue gunned on?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, in fact he's been he's been the scrapyard and got the P off a Peugeot, the O off of Peugeot, the R off a raindro. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, I think so. Could be for anything to be fair, yeah. And the rest of the collection of like broken bits of chrome and badge and cherry bomb exhaust. Yeah, I mean, I didn't see that. I mean, you're in my hallucination now, so yeah, that's there.
SPEAKER_00And also, whenever he drives past, as soon as he changed gear, Wayne has to under the window and go pst. That's the same sort of waste gate.
SPEAKER_03I can't you took my vision, you took it low rent. I don't want to look at their suits again now in case of just Burton's jobbies, but I looked Burton jobbies and now look at the back window, and instead of seeing like a sun visor thing that you had on the 9-11 now, I just see I just see Trace Rays washing up drying rack glued glued to the back screen. Moving on, anyway, pop the boot rate, let's have a look at what you got. Oh bloody up blood holy moly. A bit spoiler, huh? I'm gonna fight you to death for one of these. Well, I'll save here because I know that this is you boxed in, so I'm gonna take GTA 4. That's my first dip. That's my first dip. Because I'm having two dips, we double dip now. I've decided.
SPEAKER_00If we're double dipping, then I'm my first one. I'm going Mario Can't We.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you saved that because it was like if the show should have any validity at all, if we don't pick that, we're in deep bother.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there'll be a few messages this week saying, excuse me, I think you'll find April 27th. Mario can't we?
SPEAKER_03Now, those who think they know me would think I'll be picking Persona 3 Fez.
SPEAKER_00Uh they thought you were going for that.
SPEAKER_03Those that really know me know me. I'm going for Landwirtschaft Simulator 2008. The first periscope up of what would become Farming Simulator. Uh, a series that's very dear to my heart. I was only buying it. Oh, hang on, you're putting brakes on me now.
SPEAKER_00No, I was just gonna say, firstly, I think all the listeners would like to know, knowing your history of farming simulator and your obsession to the extent where you felt a little strong. You're no, it definitely isn't the obsession of where you have actually built a cardboard international tractor in your living room and you wear overalls and wellies, and and you yes, you do, and you play farm and simulator. Um, and even have a playman's lunch on your lap for when you've halfway through your ploughing. Yeah. Um have you played this very first iteration?
SPEAKER_03We spoke before off air, I'm not sure that it was either this or the second one. I grabbed a copy, it must be the second. I don't know if this one had mods, I don't think it did. Was this yearly?
SPEAKER_00Was it released yearly?
SPEAKER_03I think it was every other year.
SPEAKER_00So I think I remember 2010, I think there was a maybe.
SPEAKER_03I grabbed one of them, and maybe around that time. I thought it might have been before, but it couldn't have been. Couldn't have been. Uh, I couldn't get it working on my Wertz laptop. They're a little bit strict to be fair.
SPEAKER_00I'll take it these. This was PC only of the time, then wasn't it?
SPEAKER_03Yes, it was, and I wanted a slice of this. I was like, I could get into this, and I thought, oh well, man, I'll be into this. And I took it round and I got the hero machine running it. Oh, it was struggling, and I went on to what was probably mod hub or whatever then. Um, yeah, I said mod hub, I did, yeah, good. Um, and um fraudience everywhere, so I got on there and got an English map, like something similar to what we knew, and some you know, old 80 extractors, and yeah, a little bit of fun on there. It was running at two frames per second, don't get me wrong. I mean, I'd love to see what that would have been like on a proper machine back in the day, but uh yeah, either which way, 2008. Let's get in on it. Landvert Shaft Simulator 2008. RGT, what's your second game after the Mario Kart?
SPEAKER_00Um I was sort of torn between SNK arcade classics on the Wii volume one because I thought, yeah, that'd be nice having the arcade SNK games on the Wii, but then I was also looking um at Trackmania Nations Forever. Now, when Trackmania first came out, I used to play out. I had a PC that was capable of playing it at the time, um and it was quite online, there was a lot of people racing all at once, and I got really into it. Of a friend of mine, and his dad played, um, and we were racing all the time to quite. I won quite a few events on it, really enjoyed it. Um and then it went off. I mean nowadays it's got a big scene of people getting, you know, not speed runs but real high scores and or low times on track mania, big following nowadays. Um but then is sort of the early days of track mania, I'd love to so I thought it was brilliant. So yeah, I'm gonna go with uh Trackmania, I think.
SPEAKER_03Um What's up, Scott? Scott Ray? What's up? So do you do know he's got like 30 copies of GTA 4?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, I'll be having a copy of that as well, but I was just trying to Oh you greedy little pig. Oh yeah, yeah, I was just gonna have a word of him once we finish the show. Um but a few honourable mentions like you say, uh Persona 3 Fez, we had SingStar, Autumn Party. There you go, George.
SPEAKER_03Um that NBA ball has chosen one sings to me from beyond what's that all about?
SPEAKER_00It looks like a 50 cent game, and then suddenly it's oh hang on, it's NBA.
SPEAKER_04It's like you're the Jedi of MBA. You're like the chosen one.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't got a Star Wars game. You're a chosen one. Yeah. Good at basketball, I am.
SPEAKER_04What's this? It's a basketball. Your father wanted you to have this when you're old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow ball.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if anyone uh yeah, just Google the art image of NBA Ballers Chosen One. That's that doesn't look like I mean you can tell it's basketball, but it looks like a teen rom com or something from the front colour.
SPEAKER_03I just thought I see a bloke jumping with a base uh basketball on the left hand side, but to me it could be a lightsaber for all I know. Uh Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, um Explorers of Time. Uh, you say Trap Mania.
SPEAKER_00We had Battle of the Bands on the Wii as well. That was all with the peripheries, was uh quite the thing at the time. Um summer sports, Wii again, all these games were big on Wii at the time, all coming through. We even had Rocky and Ballwinkle on Xbox 360. I would presume that is arcade life.
SPEAKER_03Major League Baseball Fantasy 2KA All Stars made it onto the DS. When you can't get any other game running on there, I guess when baseball season rolls around, you'll buy anything, won't you? Uh there you go.
SPEAKER_00So, yeah, I think that's probably about what we would have been hoping to play, I think.
Movie Picks Crystal Skull And WALL E
SPEAKER_00Um some good lot I say, some good choices there with Chango for Marrow Can't We. Um What are you gonna choose through your film off Raiden?
SPEAKER_03Well Ray assures me and he hands me a copy. It looks like a photocopy, but I don't care. Because it's my one of my childhood heroes, Cindy Ana Jones, got a new movie out. Kingdom of the Crystal School. This is gonna be awesome.
SPEAKER_04This is gonna be like cinemas, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Why don't Ray It's gonna be like I'm 12 all over again. I I'm I'm hyped. I I'm gonna get that inspired by how good this movie is, I reckon. I'm gonna be out in the backyard with me rope and my hook swinging off trees.
SPEAKER_00As long as there's no snakes. I like snakes.
SPEAKER_03You're absolutely right. I wouldn't wrong flashback.
SPEAKER_00Steady.
SPEAKER_03What movie are you picking?
SPEAKER_00Um mine's not out for a couple of months either, but he shores me this is a uh cinematic original copy, and this is of Wally. Uh my daughter's favourite film, so I had to choose this uh many a times watching Wally, so yeah, I'm gonna have to go with Wally.
SPEAKER_03Careful. Why? Last time I got a Pixar movie early off of him, it was basically he had basically Wayne running around at the school play, got a load of the Amdram kids involved, and they were just, you know, did Toy Story.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's in this in Wayne in a little pedal bin, is it? Right?
SPEAKER_03He's gonna say no, but I do know for a fact I drove by the um Methodist ch uh chapel and out the back it won't a it won't a round bin. It was like a bread basket, but the sides had been covered up. And it had what looked like uh one of them old Tomey things taped to the top of it, so I reckon he probably had uh Wayne crawling round in that.
SPEAKER_00He didn't take him down the old uh council waste dump, did he, and had him rolling around like he was collecting the waste? Did you?
SPEAKER_03Well, he did ring me up he did ring me up Tuesday and he said, I'm trying to get Wayne somewhere small, but he won't fit. Would you mind coming down here and imagine him as a mouse? I said, Yeah, I'll do that for you. Stick yeah, yeah. So I imagined him as a mouse, he crawled inside, then I imagined him as Wayne again, and he was sorted, he was in it.
SPEAKER_00Wow, he's pulling a shift, isn't he, Paul Wayne?
SPEAKER_03I don't know if it ties him out what I see him as, but uh I mean you you don't even you don't even think about it really, you just do it no consequence.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well we'll we'll see what Ray's wally is like anyway when I watch it next week.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, it's just a highbrow concept you just need to consider about what you do to a sting and Wayne on a weekly basis.
SPEAKER_00Definitely.
Housekeeping And How To Support
SPEAKER_00Um let's go into a bit of housekeeping um as always this time of the show. Uh our website, unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com, go check that out. Um we've just updated it from the UCP Challenge accepted winners um this month, so that's all being updated. Um I have an apology.
SPEAKER_03Oh, what the hell?
SPEAKER_00Why I've been told off because I've been saying on the show, I've been saying gascom, not gazcon. So I have formally been told off, and yes, it's looking like you are right, gazcom. It looks like I will be getting a suspension from the show. So we'll find out more about it.
SPEAKER_03So he isn't a Russian gas company, he's a Russian criminal, Gaz Com.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, con with an N. Don't say com because I'll get in trouble again. So yes, so I do apologize. Um yes. No, I want this. I know you do. Well, you suspended me.
SPEAKER_03Um and well, it's a suspended suspension.
SPEAKER_00I bet it won't be.
SPEAKER_03It's suspended, it's a suspended, suspended suspension.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well you'll find out on next week's UCP. If I'm there, that's a suspended, suspended suspension. If I'm not, that's a suspension.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow. Yes. He'll be there.
SPEAKER_00Depends. Depends.
SPEAKER_03I'm not suspending him. If he's not there, it's because he chose to be a diva.
SPEAKER_00You don't know how mean he is off air. Um also our email questions are on a visual controller podcast.
SPEAKER_03Oh a devil. Absolute devil. Yeah, it's the diva.
SPEAKER_00Um Discord, come check out uh anything.
SPEAKER_04I've got that scrubbing from the record and meeting.
SPEAKER_00Diva Um Yeah. Uh Discord, yeah, come check it out. On controller podcast, Discord, there's links everywhere. Jump on there, come have a look, bit of flashback, uh, a bit of challenges, bit of Gen 7 playthroughs, just general good chat with general good guys and and gamers. Um check out our TikTok, our Insta, our X slash Twitter, if you like to call it that anymore. Um, what you like. Um I think we've covered anything. Thanks as always for listening. Thanks for downloading. Don't forget, share around everywhere. Come and give us a sub on YouTube, have a look at it on YouTube, come and look at the UCP on YouTube, and like I say, share around all your game of friends.
SPEAKER_03Um, stop the show, do a fella some favours. You know, we don't want anything for this. We ask, you know, people support us if they want to, but every week this will be free, you'll be here. RGT will be nose deep in the internet. Um, hopefully researching the show. If not, mm-hmm Yeah, VPN, user VPN. Um, you know, we're scratching together everything else, pulling behind the scenes. We're not slacking here. Um we're working hard. Could just do with your help getting the eyes on, is all um any way you can. Any way you can.
SPEAKER_00Like I say, if you haven't subbed to us, you know, on YouTube, give us a sub, give us a share, tell your gamer mates, come along, give us a little review even if you haven't done that. That all helps, it all helps the algorithms and helps us push flashback as we're over 20 shows now. Yeah, all three. So yeah, come and uh come and give us a little hand, that would be much appreciated. Um that note, thanks for downloading. Thanks for listening again. Hope you enjoyed March 2008 as much as we did. Um thank you, George, for joining me again, week in week out and putting up with me.
SPEAKER_03Um Well, the feelings mutual.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's been good. It's been very good this week. Um You're happy, are you? I'm very happy, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I want to just say thank you to everyone who keeps supporting this show and the main show and generally all the things that UCP is doing across every spectrum you can imagine. We're grateful, we see you, we appreciate you. Um we want to find more of you, like-minded people, so help us spread the word. Very, very grateful. Thank you very much for all that you've done. Um, back to you, RGT. Let's see us out.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you very much. Well, on
Final Thanks And Sign Off
SPEAKER_00that note, flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. I'll see you all next week, and I'll see you next week.
SPEAKER_03See you later, everyone.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, RGT, yes.