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 2011 Feat. Digital Monkery
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A video game getting honored at the Tribeca Film Festival sounds normal now, but in 2011 it felt like a line in the sand. We rewind to March 2011 and use it as a lens for how gaming culture was changing fast, from the Nintendo DS and PS3 era habits to the rise of digital storefront releases and HD collections. Along the way, we swap personal picks and mini confessions, including why Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask became a true gateway game for families, how adventure game design split between Sierra cruelty and LucasArts fairness, and why collections like Dreamcast Collection still hit the nostalgia button.
The news stories are pure time capsule. We break down LA Noire’s Tribeca moment and what it said about cinematic storytelling, performance capture, and the “games are art” debate. Then we relive the 3DS launch frenzy through the wild tale of a fan trying to be first in line at Best Buy, plus what midnight launches used to feel like when the hype was physical. We close the news with a story that still matters: an autographed copy of Final Fantasy Tactics auctioned for Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster relief, a reminder that the gaming community can mobilize for real good.
To round it out, we crack open April 2011 releases with a few picks we want to play or replay, including Portal 2 and some under the radar gems. We also dig into Cubic Ninja, the 3DS game that became infamous for a homebrew exploit and suddenly turned “just another cartridge” into hacker gold. If you love retro gaming, video game history, and the strange little stories that connect players, collectors, and culture, this one is built for you.
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Welcome And How Flashback Works
SPEAKER_00This is episode 31, and this week we're in March 2011. I'm RGT, and I'm not joined by George. I'm joined by someone different this week. You might know him if you're in our Discord or you listen to our main show underfish controller podcast. That's Tom, aka Digital Monkery. How are you doing, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Hello there.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for having me, Tom. I'm doing alright today, thank you. No, no, no, joining us. No, I'm really well. Like I say, I was gonna do a uh gonna do a solo this week. We're a bit short of uh presenters, and I sort of thought, hang on a minute, I know who we can have on here. The collector, the YouTuber yourself. So I thought, yep, get you on. Because you'd although this probably this era isn't, you know, one you'd you were too fond remembering of. There's still plenty of games here we've played in, you know, since then that we can chat about. Um, and like I say, if you're new to the show, welcome along. Thanks for listening and downloading and streaming, whatever you do. Um, on flashback, basically, we look at what we probably would have been playing in this month of this year. We have a look at three news stories, and then we go on to uh what we would have hoping to have been played um that year or that month exactly. Um, but yeah, so it's quite interesting. We always have a little movie pick at the end as well, with a little bit of housekeeping just to finish off. Um, but yeah, let's jump straight in.
March 2011 Game Picks Begin
SPEAKER_00Um, I mean, I'll do a few honourable mentions as things like uh kill zone three, uh bullet storm, games like that. Um I think I'm gonna go straight in with Professor Leighton and the Miracle Mask. Um great game. If you ever played any Professor Leighton games, um always reminds me because my wife is mad on these games. The only one she hadn't played is the Switch game. Um, but it was literally my mother-in-law that got her into them. Always had the DS's, always had Professor Leighton's, handed them back down through the family, and then my daughter ended up with the DS's, she played her games. But there was something about Professor Leighton that my wife just loved. Good introduction into game, and she'd sort of dabbled a bit in the past with PS2 and stuff, but this was that sort of solid game in the next series she always wanted to play. Um, and like we were saying off air, just with the DS, how many people that opened up to, you know, older generations, younger generations, there was just seemed to be games for everyone on there. Um, yeah, great games, great puzzle games. Um, have you played any of these, Tom? Professor Leighton's?
SPEAKER_03I've played a couple of Professor Leighton. Um I went on a plane for the first time earlier in that year and took one on the plane to oh nice. But with what you were saying about how like the DS opened things up for non-gamers, that was pretty much consistent for that generation for Nintendo anyway. Because obviously you had the Wii introducing so many people who wouldn't necessarily play games with things like Wii Sports and stuff, and then for the DS, you had stuff like brain training to introduce people to it as well.
SPEAKER_00Which yeah, yeah, I suppose so. There's so much on there, weren't there? From I know a lot of it we would class shovelware, but you know, from Pseduego to Crosswords to it, it you know, it's quite clever marketing to get give it an interest to anyone who weren't even a gamer, but to have that sort of games machine in your pocket. Project Grub, don't forget. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, but yeah, absolutely fantastic. Um, what about you for your first one you've noticed on there, and then you move in playing, or water to play, I shouldn't say.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say I I didn't play too many around this time because it was like the dark ages for me for gaming, and I tended to just go straight back to football manager at that point anyway. I think I I put close to 300 hours into football manager that year. So wow, unbelievable. My reading team was unbeatable. Um, but the the first one that caught my eye from what you've said on here is um silver lining.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, sure. I didn't know what that was, silver lining. I saw it on there, but I've never heard of it.
SPEAKER_03It was just the artwork caught me because it looked a bit um like it would have been point and click of some description. So I thought I'd have to give it give it a little bit of a look. And it's just based on the old King's Quest games, the uh Sierra point and clicks.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um I've got all of those ones, but never actually played any of the King's Quest games because I already got not the P you've got the big box PC ones, have you? No, no, I can't afford I can't afford big box like that. So what have you got? Like later later. They're just they're just all on Steam. Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah. But I haven't touched them yet because I've always stuck more towards LucasArts. Because the Sierra ones were always just so punishing with deaths and puzzles where you had to collect something early in the game and then need it later in the game. But if you hadn't collected it, you couldn't go back to get it.
SPEAKER_00Oh brutal.
SPEAKER_03So that's part of what inspired things like Monkey Island through Ron Gilbert did a a massive essay on it called Why Adventure Games Suck. And it's basically like a template for what you what you can do. Um as as I said to you off air, like the police quest games by Sierra, they were very strict on things like um doing your vehicle checks and stuff.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow, not that in depth.
SPEAKER_03So like you'd go out, go to a job, but if you hadn't checked your vehicle properly, like your wheel would fall off and stuff.
SPEAKER_00No, why?
SPEAKER_03Even then, they were that in depth from games. Sierra, um they had like a former police officer as an advisor for the police quest games, and they were just punishing. But one of the things that caught me with silver lining coming out was we also then a few days later had King's Quest III Redux come out. So you had weird. Yeah, you had one based on King's Quest come out, and then a few days later a King's Quest reboot, which was just you thought that was a bit more incredibly bizarre than that, wouldn't you?
SPEAKER_00Really? Yeah, it was bizarre. Oh, that's crazy, yeah. Um also noticed sort of movie tying like Rango. Um yeah, not something I've seen Rango. I never have watched Rango.
SPEAKER_03I've I've not seen it at all. I always thought the character model looked really interesting. I was like one that I'd go, oh yeah, I'll watch that, and now we're what 15 years later and I still haven't watched it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, same here. I remember like all the hype about it, and then that was just gone, and I don't really know anyone that saw Rango, but that was a weird one, really, but it's definitely one I need to need to watch. And like I say, obviously you've got this typical typical tie-in game. Um, also noticed Beyond Good and Evil HD. Um, I didn't realise there was an HD version at the time, but no.
SPEAKER_03Um it was the anniversary of Beyond Good and Evil quite recently, wasn't it? I think so, yeah. Some like 25th anniversary or something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think so, yeah. And I think this was um Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network done at so you could play at the time, which is a great way to play, and very well remembered and well thought of game Beyond Good and Evil. Um, another one I've got, haven't played, yeah, happy to admit. But um anything else on there for you, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Um, there's the Dreamcast collection. Obviously, with both of us being retro gamers, get getting a collection like that to play on what was the modern console, yeah. And getting things like Crazy Taxi, Sonic DX, and stuff like that on there, yeah. Just in one collection and uh Sega Bass Fishing. Yeah, although probably wouldn't have been the same without the fishing controller.
SPEAKER_00No, I don't think it'd I mean you'd probably still have fun, but for me, I do like my uh my fishing controller and that's sitting there doing oh just I mean, even when I used to have the game shed and we'd have friends around, we'd play Sega Bass Fish and Tattening turns with the rod. Even people that didn't like fishing loved playing that. That was just so much fun. Um but yeah, great games, yeah. Dreamcast collection, that's awesome to have on on a system, especially on the Xbox. Um, I don't know if that's gone up. That used to be fairly cheap. I don't know what it is nowadays, but I wouldn't like to think I tend to do that and think there's games in my collection that are fairly cheap, and then I'm not really that interested in prices. But sometimes you'll think, Oh, I need a manual for that or I need something for that. I'll just look up what it is now, and you sometimes get a bit of a shock as to what your value you're actually sitting on, yeah, and you just think, when did that happen? But you just you seem to log in the price you paid, not the price that you know has gone up with inflation. But um
DS And Retro Collections Talk
SPEAKER_00another game I was gonna talk about was Motorstorm Apocalypse. Um now I think this is the last game they done. Um obviously the original Motorstorm being a pack-in for the PS3, um, and we had Arctic Arctic Edge, I think, was which was on PS2 and PSP. Great on there as well, really good. Um, but Motorstorm Apocalypse is more like a story version rather than just doing your races and trying to win and move on to the next race. This um this had a story to a bit like Infamous, where it had the comic book cutscenes, and you're obviously in an apocalypse and you're making your way across racing from area to area. Um yeah, really good game. A lot of people talk about it, really. Probably should use that as a hidden gem over on the UCP, shouldn't I?
SPEAKER_03Um Motorstorm is one of the launch games for PS3, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yes, yeah, yeah, the original Motorstorm. Then they done I've played that one. Yeah, that was good, great game. I mean, I remember buying me HD TV and the PS3. That's the first time I'd had anything HD and then putting that in, I just was like, Wow, that's unbelievable coming from a PS2, it looks phenomenal.
SPEAKER_03Um I think I was on my third or fourth PS3 by this point.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because the uh the disc disc route just kept dying on me. No way, and I don't end up with games stuck in there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I never had that. I I bought uh I bought an OG PS3. Um the my mate worked at a company, it was lucky enough to be one of the first to get him in in the UK, yeah. So I got one on release, um one of the Fat Boys 60 gig, back to cam compatible, all that, and I had that for a few years, loved it, and then I was for some reason I was playing the game and I wanted to leave it paused. I don't know why I left it paused, and I had I'd put stupidly a couple of DVDs either side, and they both fell in and it blocked the fans off. Oh damn it. And I literally went out, done a bit of shopping as a day off from work, come back. Oh, it's gone off, done it on beep bip bip, yellow light. Oh no, no, went up the computer shop. He's like, Have you blocked the fans off at all? Uh yeah, I might have done. He's like, Yeah, you cooked it. He said, I can give it a go or try and reflow it, but he couldn't get it working again. I still kept it just as a just to remind me of my stupidity, but yeah, but yeah, typical. But anyway, we we go off piste a bit, but um yeah, anything else on there for you? I didn't know it was uh Legos Lego Star Wars III. I thought that might have been a bit of a Star Wars Game of yourself. Uh not Star Wars Lego Game of yourself. I thought you might have been all over.
SPEAKER_03I do love my Lego games, but that one I've detested. Um really I bought it really early on, and it was the first one to have dynamic split screen on it. So you'd be flying on one of the battles, you'd be top of the screen, and then all of a sudden it would just flip around and you'd be bottom, and it just it it messed with my head, and I really hated it. So uh I played a couple of hours on that and then it just went away.
SPEAKER_00No way. Have you ever played Two Player since?
SPEAKER_03I've I've not gone back to it, and I don't think I've played any Lego games on Two Player since. Oh it it burnt me that badly.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, oh no, yeah, because I knew you were a Lego gamer, but I didn't realise you didn't like that that split screen they done on there. Oof. Um another one that's sorry. No, no, you carry on, go on.
SPEAKER_03Another one that was out around that time was we had the separate episodes of the Backs of the Future game, the Telltale one. Um which like it's a completely original story that came after the um movies rather than being a game of the movies. Yeah, yeah. Um so it starts off with you going to like Prohibition Hill Valley and having to stop your granddad from getting locked up, but then that makes a dystopian 1986 and then you have to build on it. But uh it was done as monthly episodes, yeah, and that's that's a good one. Great game. The uh the the actor who does Marty is so good, and it it sounds like Michael J. Fox. Oh, it does.
SPEAKER_00When I first played that game, I had to look it up. So I thought he sounds like a young Michael J. Fox, really does.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, absolutely brilliant. Amazing just how he got the voice, just proper chef's kiss on it.
SPEAKER_00And you think as well with Telltale, it's it's quite brave as well, because the the trilogy of Back the Future is is really loved, you know, massive follow and community, everything. So to go down a different story route is is great, but great for fans as well to play a different Back the Future.
SPEAKER_03But I also think that was one of the best decisions they made because if you try to make the game of the films, all of a sudden people are going, We've missed this out, oh, they wouldn't have done this, or this puzzle doesn't make sense in terms of the story, but making it a completely new story just helps to guide things through and makes things just a little bit smoother for them as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, very true, yeah, very true. Um I noticed on here Dragon Age 2. Um I haven't played myself, but my brother-in-law sunk many an hour into uh Dragon Age 2, yeah, um, hundreds of hours actually. He was especially at the time, he was into his PS3 and that, and um he loved a big medieval RPG, you know, your sky rims and bits and pieces. Um, but yeah, Dragon Age he loved. I mean, he was well over 300 hours in it, and he was always said to me, Oh, you've got to play that, gotta play that.
SPEAKER_03Um 300 hours is quite hard to find at the moment, but it's very easy when you're in your mid-20s and you're playing football manager.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. Um, I've just completed a game lately at big JRPG, and I put 65 hours in and thought that was hell of an achievement. So three hours is uh that's gonna be tricky.
SPEAKER_03Compared to your uh Stardew Valley and Harvest Stella time, though, surely.
SPEAKER_00Oh Harvestella was yeah, Harvestella was 120 hours, I think. Stard Stardew, I've put I've put two or three hundred in. My wife's probably six, seven hundred hours. Our friend who's a listener to the show, Hello Joe, she's um she's rapidly approaching a thousand hours. You're joking, a thousand hours on she's got the PS4 version on PS5, and she is two trophies off the platinum, which is a tough platinum stardew. She's got the arcade machine ones to do, and she's platinum.
SPEAKER_03A thousand hours and still not got the platinum. Nope. That is insane.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03I thought my uh Assassin's Creed Valhalla was bad.
SPEAKER_00I mean, if you look at her her setup and her business in the stardew, she puts Aldi and Liddle to shame. It's literally, you know, she yeah, she's turning over millions, you know, and you're like, my god, fair play, fair play.
SPEAKER_03Is it pretty much at the stage now where almost everything is just automated?
SPEAKER_00Um, she's got a yeah, proper business going there, definitely, with with like vintage wines and vintage foods and these special fruits that she uses and gets the highest revenue, and she's got all the animals, big animal farm, and yeah,
Remasters And Series Confessions
SPEAKER_00unbelievable. Yeah, unbelievable. That is crazy.
SPEAKER_03We've completely gone off on a tangent there, though, haven't we? We have, haven't we?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, also N I saw Shift 2 um was released as well. Um, yeah, need for speed. I mean, they tried going a bit different need for speed at this point with um getting a bit more serious racer and bits and pieces. Now, I remember playing shift and shift two, I remember quite enjoying it, but I don't remember it being a game that is really lodged in there that you've gone, oh yeah, what a classic, you know. Yeah, and I think there was I'm sure there was problems at the time between the need for speed name. I think there was issues with certain games coming out, and I think whether two devs had rights to it, but they so obviously one team would just was doing the more serious stuff like shift, and others were doing stuff like the run, and I I don't know, but yeah, that was um I remember it being decent, but uh I don't remember a game that's that memorable. Um anything else on there for you, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Uh obviously we've got Nintendo Dogs and Cats came out during that time period. Um I didn't play Nintendo Nintendo Dogs and Cats. I remember playing the first Nintendo Dogs, and it I was put off by the fact that I had to actually talk to the dog rather than just being able to do it with the button press. Yeah, yeah. And it's like, well, I I I can't play this playing on the bus. Actually, not with what I've called my dog.
SPEAKER_00Sit fire Yeah, start shouting that out, there'll be someone waiting for you when the bus stops.
SPEAKER_03Ex exactly, that just but introducing cats. I don't know whether they behave differently. Did they do this kind of like wandering off and just walking over your keyboard and stuff, or how did that work?
SPEAKER_00I have no idea. I know like saying my daughter played these to death, but obviously the dog ones, I don't believe she played the cats, but yeah, I know she definitely played the dog ones. But again, like we said before, that's that's Nintendo being at their best and being clever because you've got games from right young generations that appeal to older people, right up to your professor Leighton's with more puzzle-based stuff and Sedukos, you know. Oh, it's just a great idea, isn't it? You know, and yeah, why have to have a Seduko book and a pen on the bus when you can have a DS in your pocket and as many Seduko puzzles as you want? You know, it's exactly great marketing, but yeah, brilliant time. Um so noticed on the Tomb Raider Trilogy, um, another one of those HD sort of reboots that we got over on PS3. I can't remember if it came on 360 as well. I can't remember to be honest, but um they had sort of the some were called classics, some were called HD remasters, and I've got quite a few of them now, not all of them, but I've got a few of them sort of Tom Clancy's and bits like that. Um and you sort of look back now and think, oh yes, but PS3 was sort of backwards compatible, but then you could tell they'd they'd taken that tech out, you know. So your later 500 gigs and your super slims would play PS1 and PS3, but they didn't play the PS2, so I suppose a way of cashing in on that, reboot them triple packs, resell them again. We bought them. We bought them, but uh you know, I thought I think I've got God of War Tomb Raider, Splinter Cell, Metal Gears Solid. I think there's a few there I've got. Um they're quite a good idea, really, to have them and play those older games in a more sort of modern way and HD way and great collections, really. I mean, some are expensive now, some are this Tomb Raider. I think is pretty reasonable, but some of them are getting getting pricey. But sort of a era of the time, really, it was sort of when the the big remasters started happening. Now we're just flooded with them. But um, yeah, but in interesting little set of games there. Um, anything else for you on there, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Uh we've got Pokemon Black and White came out as well.
SPEAKER_00What would I like? Well, they did. I mean, I've never been a Pokemon player really, so uh up to that point.
SPEAKER_03If you played any Pokemon game, you'd pretty much play every Pokemon game, but it was so many extra little bits that were added. Um, I I remember I played this one up to a point where you have to travel over this big suspension bridge to get somewhere else. But rather than it just being the normal kind of layout for the map and stuff, and you just walking across the bridge, it took you to like um like a 3D model of the bridge. So you were literally like behind your character walking across it.
SPEAKER_00Um that made a difference between sort of the the older top down Pokemon games.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I couldn't tell you what happens after that part of the game because I saved it and then never turned it back on. But I mean, I I I I did buy that one like the day it came out, and I think it was the first Pokemon game that I bought that I didn't complete. Wow. This is turned into confessions of a game, as it says. Not not because it wasn't a good game, it's just I was I was At that point, I was really good at buying new games, playing them for four or five hours, and then buying something else.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was that time of um we were we had so many games on on Gen 6, and when Gen 7 came out and all new systems, you'd go in your second hand shops, and we just had so many games to choose from from handhelds to home consoles, and yeah, it was a good time. We were quite spoiled, but it just meant we didn't finish many.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I I finished none for quite a long time.
SPEAKER_00Also, one on here for uh Ginge, one of our loyal subscribers over on the Unaffished Controller Podcast. That's Rayman 3D. Um, big Rayman fan is Ginge. Um working his way through platinum, a lot of the ones that can be platinum, so yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was a launch title for the 3DS. Yeah. Because I remember getting that when I got my 3DS on launch day. Oh, nice. Yeah, but that looked good on there as well. Um, I remember it looked good. I've just I've never got on with Rayman. I've always had Rayman games so tough.
SPEAKER_00Um I'm with you on that. They they are tough, but you can tell even you know, Ginge is a bloody good gamer, and he works his way through a dozen, and then they're almost sort of you know a challenge to him. Let's get let's get this, let's get this played. Um, I think they're gorgeous looking games, um, stunning looking, but they're almost like that they give you a false sense, they're almost like that slow methodical platformer, but you make a little error and you you've you've you'll know about it, mainly through death. So uh yeah. Turn it off. Yeah, had enough of that. I've played 10 minutes, right? I'm gonna go down the shop, buy another game. Yeah. Um any more on there for you?
SPEAKER_03Another one for someone else in the Discord. Got Yakuza 4. We've got our Yakuza Master um Rose Space Monk. Yes, yes. Have you played much of the Yakuza series?
SPEAKER_00I've dabbled with Yakuza and never got on with them, and they just do not click with me. I just don't quite get them. Everyone I know plays them adores them. And I keep trying, and I just keep I did actually buy the the newest one, the pirate one in Hawaii. But the graphics are so glitched on the game. That's just like yeah, it's like everything is super saturated and super bright, and you have to actually change you can't even on the game settings, you can't, you have to like mess about with your TV and that. And if you Google it, that's actually quite a common problem. That's not really bright on the screen, yeah. And like to the point where when you're in daylight, you can't hardly see anything when you're sort of looking at stuff, you can hardly see nothing, and that put me right off when I had to keep messing about it. And after a while, I was like, Oh, no, maybe not for me. Then I've tried, but you've talked me out of a purchase, then, yeah. Um, but um, I know they're much love series. I mean, obviously, George, obviously, fellow presenter, he's he's he loves his accuser, and obviously Roe Space Monk, like you say, another fellow sub over at UCP. He's um he's been working his way through trying to get all the achievements on all of them, 1000 GM, and I think he's I think he's done a majority of them now. I think I don't know where he's up to, but I know he's done a lot of them.
SPEAKER_03He's he's done pretty much all of them, I think.
SPEAKER_00He I don't think I've seen him confirm for the pirate one. No, no, I don't think he has, but I mean, I think he's even got a big Yakuza tattoo as well, isn't he? I think.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think it's the uh the start of a sleeve going on there.
SPEAKER_00I think so. I definitely think so. But yeah, like I say, much loved games, Yakuza. Um anything else on there?
SPEAKER_03Um there's another one on here that I didn't know existed, which is Ghostbusters Sanctum of Slime. Um as you know, I love my games based on movies, so I'm a big fan of Ghostbusters, but um that one's a twin stick shooter. What was that on then? Uh I don't know what it was on off the top of my head, but I I remember seeing when I was doing a little bit of research on it on these last night that uh it's a Ghostbusters twin stick shooter, which sounds like it could be quite an interesting one to look into.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I suppose that'd be more that sort of uh isometric sort of view, I suppose, almost sort of the original Helldivers 1 sort of look down at them, I suppose. Yeah, um yeah, I'm just looking up now. It's Windows, PS3, Xbox 360. Um I'm imagining by the artwork there that was would it have been a download game only, maybe possibly.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I remember there being a Ghostbusters game on the PS3 that was like over the shoulder, and then I got up to a weird bit that was all um going through a mystic realm type thing, and I thought, yeah, that's going off now.
SPEAKER_00I think you no, I think it was only digital. I think it was only digital, I think. So in that case, uh if if it's not on a PS3 store and don't download soon, I would imagine that will be gone. Yeah, um, which is a shame to think of. Um, yeah, yeah, which is quite interesting. A few honorable mentions before we move on. Um, Tactics Ogre was out, um, Marvel versus Capcom 3. I know quite a few people enjoy that. Hardcore Uprising. Um, we had we had the King's Quest, like you said, uh Tom. Kill Zone 3. We had Bullet Storm. Um, it's a yeah, there was quite a lot of games to choose from. Pro Velotion Pro Velotion, Pro Evolution Soccer. Uh 2011 was out, Warhammer 40,000, Dawn of War II. So, yeah, there was a lot of stuff out and about at this time, and we had that big mixmatch of mismatch, I suppose, of you had your your DS, you had your um PS3, your Xbox 360, plus your old gen as well, where there was still loads of games there, so there was loads to choose from, but yeah, good month. Been interesting, you know, what we would have been playing.
SPEAKER_03Um it was an interesting month just without any proper massive heavy hitters.
SPEAKER_00There was, yeah, there was probably a lot of games there we've gotten the collections, but not a lot of games there that we remember or played. So it's it was one of them where you think, Oh, no that, I know that, I know that. Did I play it? Don't think I have, you know. So, yeah, you're right. There was none none of them real big lasting games there, but a lot of them. Um, but yeah, I think we better get on to the news.
LA Noire Hits Tribeca
SPEAKER_00Uh, we've scoured the very darkest back pages of the game and mags and even delve deep into the interweb to bring you what was the latest stories in March 2011. First up from Game Rant. Um, LA Noir becomes the first game honoured at the Tribeca Film Festival. Rockstar Games and Team Bondi invited to play an exclusive movie industry event. Um, yeah, Rockstar Games and Team Bondi are getting the red carpet treatment today. The duo announced that his upcoming 40s era crime title LA Noir has become the first video game to be accepted as an official selection at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Cue Latiresome Games as art debate in three, two. Um LA Noir will receive its own live interactive screening on the 25th of April, wherein Rockstar will lead audiences through one of the game's cases. The event will close with a QA session with Rockstar Reps, moderated by Jeff Gilmore, Troybecker Enterprises Chief Creative Officer. We're thrilled that L.A. Noir is being recognized by the Troybeca Film Festival in this way. It's a real honour and another step forward for interactive entertainment, said Rockstar Games co-founder Sam Hauser in today's announcement. What Rockstar and Team Bondi have accomplished with L.A. Noir is nothing less than groundbreaking. It is an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity and immersion. We are poised on the edge of a new frontier, added Gilmore. The Tribeca Film Festival started in 2002 as an in initiative, sorry, by Robert De Niro and his high uh high profile film buddies to celebrate New York's film industry and to raise funds for the city's post-9-11 recovery. This year's festival runs from the 20th to May, 20th of April to May the 1st. Um yeah, this really fascinated me, this story, because um I'm a big fan of L.A. Noir, loved the game, bought it on release, played through it, um, and they are correct, that game was a massively game, and how you facial expressions and how Rockstar, how Rockstar put that on a Gen 7 machine to this day still looks incredible. The graphics, you know. I played a game the other week, which was an early game on the PS3, which was called Turn and Point. That literally was like an early PC game crossed with a PS2 game, and if you put that side by side of LA Noir, you would no way think that was the same generation of gaming, absolutely unbelievable. Um, but I never realised that they were uh accepted in you know and getting awards like this at film festivals and stuff, and really shows how that crossover then started, you know, this this interactivity between movies and and games really had started, um, and fantastic. But LA Noir was an absolutely fantastic game. Have you played it yourself, Tom?
SPEAKER_03It's one that I've not ever played. Um, it's one that I was always aware of. I knew it was coming out, I knew there was a lot of hype around it, but I just never actually got as far as buying it. Um and I've not played it since I'm pretty sure I've got at least two copies sitting in my collection, but it I've never played it. The the main thing I remember about it, like first thing that comes to my head, is South Park taking the Mickey out of it and like pressing each other on how to um how to interrogate someone.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but it's it is it's an incredible game. Um it's got all it ticks all the boxes, I think. It's that I think you'd really like it because it's got that detective side, almost point and click, search the area, find the find the evidence. You've got to piece that together, so that's more like that's got that almost point and click adventure game side to it. Then it's got that side of what they do with GTA. So you've got the open world, you've they've set the scene, you've got your you've got your cars, you've got the music on the cars, the radio is of the time, then you've got the fantastic acting and the graphics, then on top of that, you've got the you know, where you have to see and read their facial expressions, which is tricky at times, and some of them you have to go through two or three times to get it right, but you have to pick the questions to get the reaction to lead you into the next the next group of questions, yeah. Fascinating, you know, you you're sort of doing the the black dahlia murders, um and it is just it is a fantastic game, and it's it's that frustrating side of Rockstar because along with Bully or Canis Came and Edit, as we knew, they make these wonderful games and then they're one off. Yeah, you know, and this this is such a story as well, because you start off with the main character, forgive me, I can't I can't remember his name, the main character, but they they show a picture of him on here. Um, I think it's Cole, I think his name's Cole, but anyway. Um, you even start off with him in the army and he comes out and then he goes into and you start off as a cop on the beat, and then you have to get promoted and go through to become the detective to then get to the case. Um, yeah, I definitely recommend playing it. It's it's it's a superb game. It's a great version on the Switch as well, really good on the Switch. Just don't play on the Switch Lite. There's a bit I had that problem because I wanted to replay it when I first got a Switch Lite. I didn't have a main switch then, and a lot of that is done through so when you're close to a bit of evidence, it'll send a rumble off. Ah, it doesn't have rumble in a switch light, yeah. So you can't so you look and you think, well, is it there or not? Is it you're sort of in the dark a bit, it's defined and stuff. Um, but yeah, great version of the switch as well. So definitely worth picking up. Probably still a fairly cheap game there, LA Noir. But I think it's great to see this, like I say, this crossover with a lot of film festival. Yeah, I mean, I think we'd done one the other week. Um, can't remember what game it was. He was got sort of had won an award. I think it was weren't a max pain, I don't think, I can't remember, but I think companies like Rockstar had really pushed into real decent actors and you know, given it that movie-esque sort of uh interactivity, which they obviously then started getting them announced in award ceremonies like this.
SPEAKER_03So if you had to pick another game to kind of have presented at a film festival because of its like cinematic qualities and stuff, what what would you pick?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, that's put me on the spot. Um I mean, ideally I would have said LA Noir, obviously, but because of how they they stage you. Um I don't know off the top of my head. I mean, I l I think games that not so much in movie ways, but games that really draw you in um and really have that great presence. I think games like Breath of the Wild, I don't necessarily think for a film festival because it's just a really good version of an open world game. I think for a for a one-to-bit of a film festival, it has to be something like an Ello Noir, it has to be one that's got that movie-esque. I mean, you could probably go down the lines of maybe one of the later Spider-Man games for how it's so close to an actual movie experience with the actors and the crossovers and the links to the movies and stuff. So I'd probably go down that sort of route, maybe a maybe an insomniac Spider-Man or something like that. How about you?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um the the the first ones that came to my mind were some of the David Cage games. So, like The Heavy Rain or a Detroit.
SPEAKER_00Great shout, great shout.
SPEAKER_03Detroit is probably the one I would pick.
SPEAKER_00Even I mean, Beyond Two Souls, I know I was gonna go there because it's one of my favourite games, but you know, with with with the acting abilities that they've got in there of um Elliot Page and um um completely forgot his name. Willem Defoe. That's the one. Um yeah, I mean, you can even see at crossover then where actors were coming into the games to do it, you know. But that's a great show, yeah. Yeah, because David Cage always did what to make games more movie-esque, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, because like for Detroit, you've even got that sequence where you are like on the scrappy who've discarded androids and stuff where you're having to kind of crawl through, and it it looks like almost Terminator 2-esque when you're crawling out of the pit. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was talking to someone the other day who hadn't played that, and they said, Should I play Detroit? And I was like, You need to play Detroit, just because of how different an experience that is, and I still probably one of the best trailers I've ever seen for a game, I think. With that, how they show you how he had to make a decision and he's standing on that rooftop, and you've got to save the the child, and how you say that hooked me. I was like pre-order, pre-order as soon as I saw that. But you are right, that's a great show. Yeah, David Cage games. Uh yeah, definitely. But yeah, that was interesting to see. Um, great reward for for Rockstar for what they were doing with with certain games at the time, and um great bit of feedback from them. Um,
The 3DS Launch Line Story
SPEAKER_00what we got next then, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Uh, we've also got another one from Game Rant. Meet the first person in line for the North American 3DS launch. He's been there since Monday. Um, so the 3DS launch line has officially been started several days after the first in line arrived. A New Yorker who apparently doesn't have anything else to do has become the first person to wait outside Best Buy for the Sunday launch of the 3DS. It had to be someone. There's one problem. He got there so early the NYPD made him leave for loitering. The dedicated gamer who goes by the name Triforce started waiting outside the Best Buy in New York City's Union Square, where the official Nintendo-sponsored launch event will take place, on Monday. After standing around for an entire day, instead of being commended by the retailer for his dedication, he was greeted by police. Best Buy had called the cops, accusing him of loitering. Despite his attempt at clarifying why he was there, Triforce was asked to leave the premises. That didn't stop him though. After the police left, he snuck back to the store and said he would just duck out of view whenever other employees started getting suspicious. And he's still waiting there, but now, after nearly three days, he has the store's support. There was a misunderstanding, so it's not like Best Buy's being rude, explained Triforce. They said they were having other launch parties, so they don't want to be rude to those fans. However, when the clock struck midnight last night, Best Buy said Triforce could officially start the line. He's still got a long way to go. The store won't begin begin selling 3DS until March the 27th, but now he can respectably be named first in line.
SPEAKER_00I had to put this in because it was the headline didn't really capture me when I was looking and researching, and I thought, what's this about? The guy getting done for loitering for getting a 3DS. And then read it and thought, he's obviously a fan if he's called Triforce. I mean, the image me and Tom have got here is in is in a Nintendo NES woolly hat, and uh yeah, and that guy wants that 3DS. Do you know what I mean? I wonder if he's still got that 3DS to this day, because you know, first in line, I mean, fair play to him. I mean, he must have been so excited for this. He is willing to wait a week to pick to pick this 3DS up. Bless his heart. I mean, I know there was quite a bit of hype around the 3DS just because of the 3D it used, but I never realised people were gonna be waiting that long. Never realised that at all. I mean, did you um did you get a 3DS at launch, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Or I did. Um, it actually came out two days earlier over here than it did in the US. Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_00I didn't realise that.
SPEAKER_03And it it came out on payday. So um that was back when I was working as a night manager. So I finished my shift at seven in the morning, drove to uh Tesco and Deerham and said to them, Can I have a 3DS please? And they said, What's that? So I ended up lingering around for an hour until someone who worked in the electronics department came in, and then they were able to give me a 3DS and Rayman 3D. No way.
SPEAKER_00How did you find a 3DS?
SPEAKER_03Did you like the 3D aspect of it? Uh I don't have any real memories of it at all. It's it's it's one of those things that seems to be completely blanked out from my mind.
SPEAKER_00I um I still jumped back on mine. I got my wife got me the 3ds XL when when that came out. I got the dark blue metallic one. And I um what did I play for? I can't remember what I played first on there, and I tried the 3D and thought, whoa, that's actually decent 3D. I really enjoyed that. And then then I went back again when I got my switch. I got uh I I'd done this the weird way, but when I got my switch, I got Luigi's Mansion 3 on the switch light. I played that for and completed it while I was off for Christmas. Loved it. And then I went back to two on the 3ds, yeah, and then to go to one on the cube. So I've done it backwards, but yeah, the three 3D on on um uh Luigi's Mansion 2, superb. I love it, I think it's brilliant. Yeah, really depth. I know a lot of people were getting sick and ill at the time, and I nearly did put that story in this time, but I thought, no, I won't I'll do this one. That's a bit more bit more upbeat. But there was yeah, there was a lot of problem with people being sick and headaches and stuff from the the 3D. But me personally, I I didn't suffer with it, but great little system.
SPEAKER_03I I don't remember suffering from it.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean my my nephew, um my sister bought him like a the original one, obviously a lot smaller, weren't it? 3ds, and then she's got him that lovely turquoise one with the white buttons, and that was his main console. And that that was his main console. That's all he had, and he played game after game after game every day. He loved that thing, and he he um before he sold it, we were looking through on there and we found all these old pictures from when he was young with him and my daughter and that and I'd pull them faces on there, and you just think, you know, this was their console, that's what they used, you know.
SPEAKER_03Was the 3DS the one that had that game where you could take photos and it would like put your head with a propeller on the top, and then you could play like an augmented reality shooter shooting little helicopters into your head.
SPEAKER_00It does ring a bell though. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was the 3DS that introduced that one. Yeah, I think you might be right. But no doubt they would have done it. But they'd they'd even tried to start. I mean, this was when YouTube was in its infancy, but they'd even tried to start making their own little YouTube videos on there and being presenters. It's absolutely hilarious. But yeah, brilliant. But yeah, fair play to old uh Triforce. You're a legend, mate, waiting that long. I hope you got one as well, because it doesn't actually confirm. He was probably still there when they wrote this. He might still be there now. Yeah, they still wait for the stock to come in.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I know you're not a stranger to a midnight launch. What's the longest you've waited?
SPEAKER_00Uh not nothing like that. I mean, literally, no. And I mean, I was lucky where I live. Um, when you had midnight launches, you you could get there and you wouldn't wait too long. I mean, an hour maybe, not much more than that. I know my mate when PS4 launched, um, I pre-ordered mine, but he went and bought his at the launch. Yeah. Um, and he went to a local town, but that was midnight, and he got PS4, some games, and then for his daughter for Christmas, they were doing brilliant sales on 500 gig PS3s. So he bought a PS3 as well and some games, came out with these under each arm, and there was quite a few hoodies waiting around the precinct for people who were buying. So he was yeah, he was ready to get down and start fighting because he thought, yeah. So whether they actually did get off anyone, you thought that's the problem with the midnight launches, depending on where you are, can be a bit problematic if people are hanging around to try and pinch something. But I know he waited, I think he waited a couple of hours for that. But yeah, I've never had to wait too long. Probably the longest lot to say was an hour, hour and a half, and that was for Vice City midnight launch, but um, not too many. What about you? Have you done many midnight launches? I have never done a midnight launch, no at all.
SPEAKER_03No, no, it's unfortunately I wasn't too far away from places that did them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we were. I mean, we were probably 45 minutes away, I suppose, from from the nearest one that does, and that's when you could get them in a Tesco's in bits and pieces, yeah. Um, but unfortunately, that's an era of gamingness long gone, and something I do miss because the excitement building up for them weeks and then going waiting, and when you hand over your money and get that in your hand, you're like, Yeah, you know, yeah. Actually, uh the voice city, I mean, I'm in getting anxious thinking, what happens if my card don't work? What happens if your card broke what happens if have I I'm sure I've checked I've got money in there, I must have money in there, you know. And that's just like, oh no, oh no, but yeah, luckily enough it was fine, went through and quickly bombed home to just try the first bit of the game. But them sort of exciting times are gone a bit now, and which I find very sad, you know.
SPEAKER_03Even like the little sense of community there would have been, I'm I'm assuming, queuing up. Oh, yes, that's that's that's gone now.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, you just chat to strangers in the queue, and they'd be like, Oh man, I can't wait to play this game setting out, it's gonna be so cool. Grandfit 43 was a grand break, and you're just chatting away to people, and at the end, you're like, Oh, I hope you enjoy the game. See you soon, you know. Yeah, brilliant. You don't say download it digitally now off your PS5, it's not the same anymore, no, not the same, but yeah, so uh well on Triforce, and I really do hope you've got your 3DS.
SPEAKER_03I should look him up and see whether he still exists online anywhere.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, still we're still playing it. It's his only console. Bless him.
Final Fantasy Tactics Charity Auction
SPEAKER_00Um, finally, also from Game Rant. I've had a clean, clean run of Game Rant this week and had some great stories on for this month. Um, this one touched me a bit. I thought this was a nice way to end this this month's stories, but um autographed copy of Final Fantasy Tactics being auctioned to support Japanese disaster relief. Rare PS1 game adds to increasing initiative for gamers to help disaster victims. The copy in question is autographed by Hido Minimba, art director, and Akinio de Shida, character designer Yeshida, who also drew a quick sketch of Ramza, the title's lead character, next to his name. Uh, Vestal has posted the rare game on eBay as part of an awesome initiative on the site called Play for Japan. It encourages gamers and industry insiders alike to put up items on the auction site and donate the proceeds to charities focused on recent Japan earthquake and tsunami. The rarity of this item would be hard to overstate. Yeshida and Minimba rarely appear at trade events or sign autographs. This item would truly be the crown jewel of any Final Fantasy Tactics fan's collection, wrote Vestel in his eBay description. Specifically, the proceeds will go to Global Giving, a group focused on providing emergency services to people all over the world affected by the disaster. It is labelled an official eBay giving auction, which means bidders can be assured that the winnings will go to the charity listed. The seller never receives any funds. Um, a recent auction of DS signed by Nintendo All Stars, also advertised as a charity listing for Japan, sold for over over $4,000. As of Tuesday night, the tactics um auction had reached about $400. Um, like I say, I put this in because I just thought, you know, people outside of gaming who don't understand gaming sometimes gives it quite a bad rap. Do you know what I mean? Violence, it's not giving people the right or you know, showing people the right images and blah blah blah blah blah. Um but it's times like this you realise actually with such a big community, there's a lot of good that can come from from gaming. Um, and especially one that was so close to home as as the the tsunami in 2011. So to see them thinking, well, hang on, you know, like they say, they didn't really appear at social events or bits and pieces. So for them to get this sign up and just you know, get it on eBay and get some money raised, I just think's fantastic. And although there is that toxic side of gaming, there's also a very big community that of fans that will really want to help and jump in when needed, which is proved here. Um it's nice when you see this sort of thing, Tom, and it when you see people jumping in and you know, offering up items, signing and trying to do what they can. Yeah, yeah, it's lovely to see. Yeah, you know, and it's it's it proves, like I say, again, how strong the community is when they can come together and do good like this.
SPEAKER_03And especially when it's people who don't normally do things like the conventions and stuff, will go, do you know what? This is going to be a proper, unique item specifically for this purpose.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know, and it's you could probably say there was that might have been the only one that'd signed, if not very few, I would imagine they'd signed the Final Fantasy Tactics. So someone out there's sitting on that, it's got a lovely item in their collection. Not only that, they've probably paid the big bucks for that, and it's gone on to you know raise much needed money for you know for the people who had suffered so much for that tsunami. So I think that's a great thing, and um as something, although in-game and like I say, gets a bad rap at times, um, but other forms of media you don't seem to see too much of that either. I mean, people will do fundraisers, but actually getting a piece of physical hardware, signing it, and literally selling it to collectors are fans of the system, but are also raising money. So it's all like all contained within within that sort of whole medium. I think I just think it's brilliant. Um, and I had I didn't even know about this until I saw it in this article. I thought, well, I'll add it in because that's a that's a great little end to the news, and and just uh after all the bad news that's been around gaming at the minute with with the digitals and prices and bits and pieces, it's just nice to think back, thinking, well, it can do some good gaming. That's not all, it's not all bad at the moment.
SPEAKER_03Well, just think in a few years' time the equivalent for this would be that you would get a special download of a game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, with a virtual signature, a virtual signature and an exclusive skin. Yeah, but only after 10 years because then we're taking it back. Yeah. Uh we we lost the license. Yeah, yeah, be typical, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_03Um I was looking this up earlier and I can't even find a photo of a copy of this game signed. So that's that's admittedly, I didn't search extensively or for hours or anything, but I cannot find even a photo of a copy of this game signed.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I reckon that's sitting in a private collection somewhere, and someone's paid big bucks for that, I expect. Yeah, someone's got that somewhere and uh bit of acrylic and and stuffed away, but fair play. If they paid you big bucks for it, enjoy it. Do you know what I mean? And and great.
SPEAKER_03That's it can now go on eBay ready to pay for half of a PS6.
SPEAKER_00Third, come on, third. Um, but I hope you enjoyed um that news that me and Tom give you there. Like I say, we went from you know LA Noir getting uh represented at a film festival in New York, right through to good old Triforce, who was um he was really what in that 3DS and was prepared to go through anything to get first in line, um, right through to a lovely story at the end of an autographed Final Fantasy Tactics, selling for decent money to add to the you know disaster victims and and help for all the people that are involved in the uh Japanese tsunami. So I hope you like those stories. Each three a little bit different, but of the era. Um but I think it's uh now time for what we affectionately
April 2011 New Releases Picks
SPEAKER_00call Stingray's boot. What's nestled between some counterfeit nappies and the dodgy copies of Battle for Endor is some of the new releases for April 2011. Spring stop whattle wall. Right, April 2011. What's got your fancy hearing? Go on, we'll have a couple of picks again. Why not? I'll have a couple of picks.
SPEAKER_03First one that's caught my eye is uh called The Dishwasher Vampire Smile. No. Which until yesterday I'd never heard of it, but it just I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but the art the cover art has really intrigued me.
SPEAKER_00It did what it looks like to me, it looks like a gorilla's video.
SPEAKER_03But also it looks like there's hints of um Slay the Princess in the art style. Yeah, yeah, it's a good show. Yeah. Um, which if you've not heard of it, it's a fantastic story. Basically, it's like an interactive story, um, and it's an amazing game, and I would never have heard of it if it wasn't for Seb. So Seb is an absolute legend for introducing me to that game. Oh, he knows he's indie, can he? He does, but um Vampire Smile is from what I've read like a side-scrolling platformer. And that's literally all it is, but with black and white, really interesting art style, and it just it it clicked something in my head there.
SPEAKER_00What um did you see what platforms that was on, or was it a PC?
SPEAKER_03I did not. I did not. Give me a moment, I'll look it up while you uh while you have a look for something else, mate.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think I'm gonna start with because the notorious game that absolutely bombed in price when people realised what the game could do. I don't know if you've actually heard of this one, Tom, but Cubic Ninja.
SPEAKER_03No, I've not heard of that at all. Uh by the way, Vampire Smile was on Xbox Live Arcade and Windows, and it's a side-scrolling beat-em-up.
SPEAKER_00Mmm.
SPEAKER_03But it just it sounds very interesting. But anyway, sorry, back to Cubic Ninja.
SPEAKER_00Cubic Ninja. Um now an average sort of platformy, sort of strange game on the 3DS that no one really cared about until a little exploit happened with the game. Um it basically doing a certain thing on the game completely uh broke open the unbreakable apparently uh Nintendo 2DS and 3DS models to homebrew applications.
SPEAKER_02Really?
SPEAKER_00Completely unwilling uh unwittingly knowing by the creators of the game Cubic Ninja, um which I think was AQ Interactive and Ubisoft. Um actually there's I can't remember how you do it. There's there's uh they called the exploit the ninja hacks, and it replaces users to place a boot file on the device's SD card and then use the level sharing feature of cubic ninja to scan a malformed QR code. The code in question is a buffer overflow which triggers the download and execution of a launcher program, which can then be used to run applications. Basically, their their system in there of sharing, if you actually put a lot of buff code on, it messed the 3DS up and literally opened it up into the homebrew screen where you could then open the applications and and use it, and then because the prices of this went through the roof, because all the homebrew guys and the hackers were buying up cubic ninja all over the place, so that they could stick all the stick all the um use it as an emulator and god knows what else. So, yeah, so cubic ninja just for that strange unknown history of I mean Nintendo must have been fuming at them. You've literally cracked our system, yeah, and you've done it by accident. So, yeah, I think cubic ninja is my my first pick. Um, have you never heard of that before, Tom? Never heard of it. No, yeah, that was just crazy. Some guy who had got the game, um, youtuber, and I think I don't know how he done it, but I think he went to scan the wrong QR code and it sent uh and and it just sent the DS a bit, oh god, don't know what's going on. She turned off, turned it on again, that was just completely opened up. Brilliant. And I was like, what have I done here? And then because that just went viral, you see, after then. But yeah, so cubic ninja, what about you for your second game then, Tom?
SPEAKER_03Uh my second one is one that I haven't played, but I want to play, and that is Portal 2.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, same here. It's on our it's it is on our actual list for our um Gen 7 playthrough, RGT back to Past. If you haven't heard of that over on Unafficial Controller Podcast Discord, where we're working our way through just random, we vote on them, but random gen generation seven games, and portal two is on there because I'm with you. I really want to play this game.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and just the idea of it being first person shooter where you're not actively killing anything, yeah. But you've got to choose you choose your points and do it very tactically.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's almost like a puzzle, literally portals to open up to get to somewhere else to very clever, very clever, yeah. Um, unusual game as well. But yeah, it's definitely something oddlocked by that's a great show. Um, I think for my second pick, and oh god, so many I want to choose from here. Um, I am probably going to go for oh, I did see here. Where's it gone? I cannot find it. I cannot find it. I think I might have to go with a classic. I think is it Bunny the Zombie Slayer you're after? Definitely not. Um, I think I think I'm gonna have to go for Yahs Revenge. I would imagine this was the Xbox 360 version.
SPEAKER_03I was just looking at that, and it is the Xbox 360 version, yeah. And it was a reboot where it was done with uh anime style art.
SPEAKER_00Oh no, why? Because I've yeah, I've got the I've got the original in the 2600, and if you ever see anyone playing Yard's Revenge, you just think that's a glitchy mess. Play the game, it is so good. That game is so good. Just for the replay alone, it is that's what the Atari 2600 is about when you had creative people making games like that. So much fun, absolutely brilliant. Um but yeah, Yard's Revenge for me is my my final one. What about you for your final game off that list, then Tom?
SPEAKER_03Off this list, see that that that there's one that if I was a proper gamer, I'd be saying, right, which would be The Witcher 2. Yep. But I'm gonna say the Fancy Pants Adventures, Fancy Pants Adventures, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Incredible.
SPEAKER_03Um have you ever played any of the Fancy Pants Adventures games?
SPEAKER_00No, it looks to me from the cover out like something like Drawn to Life. It looks like that on the 3DS and the Wii. Yeah. Whether it's that sort of similar style, I don't know, but it seems like it.
SPEAKER_03Um it it's it started out as like flash games and stuff, but it's um like a momentum-based platformer.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so it's just it's it's a curious one for me more than anything else, and not one that I necessarily would have found elsewhere.
SPEAKER_00That's that's the main thing though, isn't it? Sometimes you find these sort of little hidden gems that are great to play and have a go and think, well, I never heard of that. Read up on it and think, hmm, for you know, you're you're you're having a go, but yeah, yeah, great choice. Um are we oh I'll tell you what we didn't do.
Stingray Fashion Check And Bits
SPEAKER_00What's that? We didn't say how stingrays looking today, did we? Well, I think I'm gonna have to I think I'm gonna have to jump in um and let you know how I think Stingray's looking. Well for me, he's he's got this sort of almost L.A. Noir look about him. Yeah He's got the detective's hat, he's got the jacket, but he's completely in black and white, so he's taken that whole film noir really seriously. Wayne, on the other hand, has got a tiny little tent because he's doing it for his hero Triforce, he's gonna go and sit outside Audi until they do the release of his new favourite biscuits that are coming out next week. So I thought I'd have to go down the story route with those and our news and keep it appropriate for that. What about you? How's Stingray looking to you?
SPEAKER_03So to me, Stingray wasn't particularly happy that you were originally going to do this one solo and without George. He doesn't like it. So he's decided to cosplay as George, but he's got the costume slightly wrong. Oh. So um to kind of masquerade George's hairline, he's worn a Friday the 13th style hockey mask. And he's got the green baseball cap, so that that side of it is all good.
SPEAKER_00Perfect.
SPEAKER_03But rather than going for George's usual attire of a baseball jersey, he's gone for the wrong American sport. So he's got some American football pads on.
SPEAKER_00Oh no.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but he's also then just to make sure that nobody knows any of the mistakes he's made, he's uh wearing a name badge that just says, Hi, my name is George.
SPEAKER_00A proper tribute, so we we know who he is then. Exactly. Absolutely. Well done, Ray. I appreciate that. Yeah, he didn't want you to miss out on having some time with George. No, he does worry about that. Bless him. He does. Um, but I suppose about
Movie Picks And Recommendations
SPEAKER_00time we've done a bit of a movie pick. Let's have a look around in here, Ray. What we got, what we got. Um, no, no, no. Oh, I know me and my missus laughed at this one. I'm gonna have this one. I am gonna have Nomeo and Juliet, which I didn't realise was this old. We always laughed at this. We know animation, bit funny, you know, but it's quite funny actually. But a great little watch for a Sunday afternoon. But I didn't realise this was 2011. I thought this was way more recent than that. Yeah. But yeah, great little animated movie. Yeah, good fun, that is. Um, what about you? What's your movie pick?
SPEAKER_03My daughter is obsessed with Nomeo and Julia at the moment.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Um, like we we we play a game with her that we call the movie game, and it's literally one person names an actor, and you have to name a film that they're in, and the next person has to name another actor from it, then someone else has to name another film that they're in. Actually, always comes up with Nomeo and Juliet, and I've never seen the bloody thing, and I've no idea who's in it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it is a great, great little animated movie, actually. It's good fun. Proper British version, but good fun.
SPEAKER_03But for my movie pick, um, I've had to get Stingray to get me a proper dodgy copy because it's not actually out in the UK till April 2011.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, just keep that for download, but he he knows how to do it. He knows how to do it.
SPEAKER_03He's got contacts. He's a man who knows how to get things. Definitely. And uh the movie he's got for me is Super. Are you familiar with Super? I am not. No. Um, it's got um the guy who's the nerdy one in the American office.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, it's got Liv Tyler as his love interest, who then leaves him for drug kingpin played by Kevin Bacon. But uh he then after his wife leaves him, he decides that he's gonna become a superhero and take him down. But the only issue is that he's got no superpowers whatsoever. But he's but he's got a massive wrench. So he literally like hunts people down on the streets and beats them with this massive wrench. I've never heard of that.
SPEAKER_00And then he decides right boy street.
SPEAKER_03Then you've got Elliot Page. Who works with him, who decides that she needs to be she and she was then. I'm confused myself. As they were then. Um decides that they need to be his psycho. And um it's very much in the style of um kick ass. Okay, so they were developed pretty much at the same time. And um it was directed by James Gunn, who actually was in regular communication with the guy who wrote Kick Ass and they were saying, Well people might say we've copied each other. It's like, no, we've we've developed it independently of each other. But super is well worth watching. It's it's one of those superhero movies where the superhero has no powers of any description.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna get that actually, that's a great recommendation. That sounds right with the street of me and uh me and Mrs. RGT. Yeah, great choice, great show. Um we'll do a bit of housekeeping before we go, as always, this time in the show. Um if you're new to the show
Community Links And Closing
SPEAKER_00and you've heard me mention UCP, that is the unofficial controller podcast, that is the mothership show of uh what this spawned out of. Um over 300 episodes on there. Um been going eight years. We cover modern game and a bit of retro on there. We basically covered a week's news, but we've been playing a similar layout to this. Um, but we've got a great community on there, so definitely check that out on all your podcast providers. We've got our website which is unofficial controller podcast.com. For anything um Unafficial Controller Podcast, anything flashback, have a check out on there. We've got things from our guest here, Digital Monkery, doing his challenge accepted. We've got all those listed on there, winners and what the tournaments were, write down to um game reviews, which Tom has done again. He's got a review up and running on there, so definitely go and check those out. A great website, very proud of it. It's always evolving, always stuff going on on there. Um if you want to contact the show, um if there's anything you want to know, any suggestions for the show, or if you were a guest who would like to come on and you've got your own podcast or YouTube, you can always let us know. I'm sure we can arrange some bits and pieces. That is questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. Um even if you just want a link to the Discord, just jump on there, we can send you a link through, which sp spills me on to the Discord, which is our community which has been running for quite a few years now, which Tom is a moderator of on there, so he uh is one of the control and arms on there, so be careful because he'll soon have you in trouble if there's any swezzies. But no, Tom runs that he does challenge accepted, he says, Let's get quizzical, amongst many other things he does. One of our great community members, so go and check it out. Very friendly place from anything from swapping games of people to joining in with RGT back in the past and come and have a playthrough on the games, which I am loving. Playing for a game in a community means so much more than sitting at home playing it on your own. You can chat away. And this month we are doing Heavenly Sword, we've just had a vote on that, and we've got a few other people who joined in, a bit new to the uh playthroughs with us, so jump on there, come and have fun. That's a great place to be. Um we've also got TikTok, um, we've got regular videos coming out there by Captain Scarlet, um who deals with all our media side. We've got Instagram, we're on X, and I will just say email again that is questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com for any of your inquiries or anything you want to know, just let us know. Um I think we're about there. I think. Tom, is there anything you want to add or anything you want to say before you go? Um thanks for having me. No, no, pleasure is all ours, mate. Thank you for coming on. Absolutely brilliant. Really enjoyed that. Like I say, thanks to Tom or DigitalMunkly. Check him out on YouTube, check him out on Instagram, check him out on UCP and all the bits and pieces he does for us. Um, yeah, and I think we're about there. Thanks for downloading, thanks for listening, thanks for following Flashback and the Unfish Controller Podcast. And just remember, flashback, the games you loved, the stories you forgot. Thanks again, Tom.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Tom.