Are Consoles Becoming A Luxury Hobby Again - Fortnite Rivals Review

Fortnite has a new obsession, and it’s not just another skin. Rivals mode in Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 2 turns the match into a proper hunt, with mid-game showdowns, new tools for movement, and just enough chaos to make every win feel earned. We talk through what the Rivals mechanic does well, where it could get frustrating, and why it still feels like classic Fortnite even when the pressure ramps up fast. 

From there, we zoom out to the kind of gaming that fits real life. We chat about Plucky Squire’s brilliant storybook-to-3D design and why it’s perfect for a quiet morning session, then share a more painful first look at Satisfactory, where unclear guidance and punishing setbacks can drain the fun. It’s a simple question with a big knock-on effect for players: do you want a game that gives you freedom, or a game that respects your time with clearer direction and faster recovery from mistakes? 

News-wise, we dig into the PS5 price increases in the UK, including the PS5 Pro price jump, and what that means for anyone trying to buy into console gaming right now. We also cover the rumour mill around Disney possibly buying Epic Games and what that could mean for Fortnite and Unreal Engine. On the Xbox side, we run through highlights from the latest showcase and look ahead to the Xbox Game Showcase 2026 on 7 June with a Gears of War E-Day Direct straight after. Finally, we round out with Nintendo Switch 2 talk, including reported production cuts and a Europe-focused move towards replaceable batteries, driven by right-to-repair rules. 

If you enjoy thoughtful gaming chat with a bit of banter, subscribe, share the show with a mate, and leave us a review so more people can find us.

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Transcript

Welcome Back And Life Updates

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hi, and welcome to episode 179 of Gamers of the Lost Spark Podcast. I'm your host, Stuart Burgess, and joining me as always is the other Spark on the pod, Mr. Stephen Carter. Hello, mate.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

How are we doing this week, okay?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Yeah, good. Yeah. Long week. It's my last day, actually, on work today, and uh, and I'm just getting over a bit of a cold. So if I feel a bit sort of like bunged up or sound bunged up snuffily, I apologize. But uh, I'm just getting out the back of uh the whole well, the whole family's had quite a bad cold. So uh it's uh I'm on that annoying stage where when you talk, especially with headphones on, it just feels like your head is like a sealed carrier bag for one.

SPEAKER_03 0:58

Especially when like say it kids and it does rounds, it like gets people on by one done it. Oh I'm all right, I'm alright. And then next day you wake up, like, oh no, it's got me. Like it gets you eventually done it. It eventually gets you.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Well I remember talking, I remember talking to one of my good friends, I can't remember who it was now. I remember talking to someone a while back, and they were saying about they've got a young, young child like like yourself, and and they were like, Oh, you know, it must be wonderful having a 15-year-old because you know, at the moment, uh whatever the child's name was has just started nursery and they're bringing back all these colds, it's terrible. And I went, Oh no, it doesn't stop. The colds just get worse. I said, you know, when they go, I said, when they go to secondary school, you get malaria and you get things like that. You don't just get a common cold. But I said, you know, especially when you see some of the unisex toilets that they have in toilet in uh schools these days, yeah, it is just like and he's like, Oh god, I thought like I thought when they went to primary school and secondary school, they didn't bring back germs. I went, no, no, they still bring stuff back, and then I said then they go off to college and university and start bringing back a boyfriend or a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

So they're always bringing something back.

SPEAKER_03 2:03

It never changed, like the the stress just changes slightly, doesn't it? It never goes away, it just changed ever so slightly. But yeah, we've we've we've got Seb starting school in September as he turns four. So like he'll start with that. Wow, Oscar will start nursery in September full time when he's he's one in July, so when he's a little bit above one, so Oscar will start with all the germs from there, Seb will start with all the germs from school, and it's just like just I'm glad I work from home because it's like and it and it would just go round, round, round, round in the house. Yeah, I know, and and I'm glad I say I'm glad I work from home because in some respects, if I as I had to travel to the office, I'd be like, no, I'm not working today. At least I can at least drag myself to my desk when I'm not feeling great, at least I can still manage work and have to drive there and commute and what have you. So I'm a little bit more tolerable. Little bit, and so the little bit.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Well, the thing is you don't have to then stand. I mean, I suppose the advantage of me is that because I build cinemas for a living, like today, I've been downstairs in a basement on my own. Uh the we're sort of getting to the final stages, so I'm just installing the speaker, so the doors closed, you know, I've got my headphones on, I'm listening to some podcasts, and I'm just on my own. So it's great because I can feel rubbish in a room on my own, and then I don't have to stand there and talk to people whilst picking up a tissue and wiping my nose or coughing to one's eye.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Yeah, keep yourself to yourself, you can just keep out of the way and keep busy cartoon, I suppose. And that's and again, working from home, you don't have to converse to people in the office or anything. You're saying, I'm just I'm sitting in my room, I'm a dark room. I'll I'll answer the phone when I need to, but apart from that, just don't disturb me. Don't bother me, leave me alone.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yeah, I can see the phone ringing, I'm not gonna pick this one up.

Fortnite Rivals Mode First Impressions

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Um yeah, so uh so so what have you what have you been playing? Uh sorry, Anthony, what have you been playing?

SPEAKER_03 3:43

I was gonna say it'll come as no great shocks to you, given we have just received the latest update for it, very albeit very briefly, but the latest update of Fortnite. So I always get these mixed up. Like I I always feel that it should be season then chapter, but Fortnite works chapter and season, alright, and say that so it's like chapter X then Season X rather than the other way around. I always think it should be the other way around. So I yeah, I always when it's new chapter, is it new season? I always get confused. So it's the new season of the new of the letters.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

It's a new season, I want to say. Yeah, I think so. It's season season two, chapter two. Yeah, I can't remember. You're you're questioning I could question it myself now. I can't remember. This is what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

As soon as I think about it, is that I have no idea. Well, obviously, as we alluded to in the last one, it's the rivals season, not chapter, it's the rivals one.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking. So yeah, carry on talking.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

I'll keep going, I'll keep going. So, yeah, so on the rivals one.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Here we go, here we go. As of as of April the 26th, it's Fortnite uh sorry, Fortnite chapter seven, season two.

SPEAKER_03 4:44

Chapter seven, season two. So we're on the latest season of chapter seven. Okay, there we go. Um so yeah, so it's the rivals one. So you've got the foundation, which is the rock, versus the it's the I can't remember the other guy's name. Ice King, isn't it? Yeah, that's it. So you you basically choose a side, you pin your clothes to the mast, you choose which one you're gonna go with and you stick to it. The idea is obviously you go through it and you can initiate the rival battles mid-game, so then you have to hunt down your other your your opposing person, kill them, and it goes to a tally, and obviously as the season uh season progresses. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes, you're right, yeah, yeah. There's a tally in the the the winner gets or the people who are on that side get bonuses and such, but obviously with the update, there's updates to the map, there's updates to the battle pass, there's new characters, there's also the bits and bobs of weapons as well. And my brief dabbling with it's Joe Mostert, I actually do quite like it. I have enjoyed it from what I have played. I do quite like the rivals mechanic. I I suspect it might get frustrating if like you get into like the last ten and someone initiates it, because obviously it gives you a rough area of where you are, it doesn't give you a location as such, it gives you obviously the ring around where you are, so then it obviously it helps towards the end game of hunting people down, so it can go in your favour. But obviously, if you're trying to be a bit sneaky sticky, it can obviously affect that. But obviously, there's new gadgets, new weapons. I must admit, I do like the deployable zip line, the sky hook thing. I d I do I do like that because obviously, again, if you're trying to get away from the incoming storm, that helps. The storms are still not a perfect circle, which again I think that tweaks things and changes things a little bit. You know, there'd been different shapes. I think I had one that was a crown, I think. A crown shape one, there's a triangle one.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Yeah, so it it basically from if my if my I've gone down the rabbit hole. I always did I always get this. So when I get into a game, when I get into a game, I go down the I go end up going down the rabbit hole of watching YouTube videos about it. And and if I write in correct, if I write insane, the YouTube video I saw about you know a guide to you know the season was the it replic it represents the uh one of the characters. So the crown is for the ice king. I think you might get like a fish, which is which is fishing, yeah. And then and then you get the then they get the foundation, which I can't remember what the foundation one is, but yeah, you could but apparently you can see it on the map before it actually goes there, so you know you know where it's gonna end up eventually. But but no, I mean I've been having great fun with it, and I've also I've also I've also found that if you I was playing a game the other night and I went to go find a rival, and of course it says we can't find a rival. So I then I realised that okay, because I was outside of the area, I was technically in where the storm's gonna come. But all what I have found literally last night, night before I can't remember now, was you can literally go down to there's just two or three of you on the map, and you could still select a rival. So annoyingly, I had I got my Lord of the Rings dragon as my fly-in thing, and and I was I was somewhere like humble heels or something like that, and I clicked my rival, it showed me where the rival was, and and I literally flew in on my dragon with the foundation because I'd hired the foundation. I flew in on my dragon, this person stand in front of me, and within the rivals, you can select one of the weapons. One of the weapons you get in there are is I can't think what it's called now. I was gonna write it down, but I forgot, but it's almost like a pistol, a legendary pistol, and you can literally one-shot people if you get them square in the head. So I literally just like descended from the sky on my dragon with the foundation somewhere near me. I'm not sure it wasn't on my dragon, and I landed in I landed in front of this person. This person is trying to shoot me, and I just take out my pistol and I just like bang, and it's got victory royale. And of course, and I'm I'm like the one time I've bought myself uh an Elgado capture card to record some so we can overlay to this pod, which is hopefully what you're watching now if I've got time to do it. Um but I course I forgot that you can press and hold the capture button on the Xbox and get the last 10 seconds, I think it is. But so, but no, I've had some I've after we last potted, yeah, I jumped straight into it. I I wasn't a hundred percent sure of rivals at the beginning, and I'm like, I'm not sure about this. And then I started sort of like like I normally do playing in the morning and plane sometimes when I get back from work, and and I now I just literally will just I will land I will land near the foundation's head office, I can't think what's called now, I will land there, and there's a little caravan park or trailer park off to the one side. So I land there, stock up, and then you get you also get your daily achievements if you do like if you sl do th I think it's three rivals, win one, and then buy something from the rivals board. So I go to the rivals board, buy my buy my uh 2,000 or 200,000 XP boost, I think it is, and then and then get a rival, and then literally I just will play I cane rivals for the first five, ten minutes, and I will find someone, I will kill them, usually, uh will then go to the next rivals board, click on rivals, and I just keep on doing that for the first ten minutes. And uh I'm really happy because I think I'm not sure. Oh, actually, honestly, I kind of brought it up. The moment I have 144 kills in rivals, so I'm really, really proud of myself because for the for the illimited amount of time I get to play, I'm like absolutely fair.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Yeah, yeah. What are you on, Steve? I th I think I was on like four or five, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

I mean, it's four, it's not five, it's four.

SPEAKER_03 10:42

I'm gonna say it I'm gonna say it. I I'm I'll say it's it's fairly limited, but I uh the the I think it's the two games I have played, I'm 100%. I won both games that I've played. So I'm kind of almost like, I don't want to ruin the hot streak. I'm on 100%. Like that's that's enough for me, but no, it's I haven't I hadn't had chance really this week. But yeah, I must admit, like the the brief dabbling that I've done, I I did enjoy it, and it and like say it's that almost like those modes where people can invade your game online, where they can obviously like it's something like that that it's like I'm trying to do this, and someone says, Oh, I'm hunting you down. It's like yeah, but I don't really want you to do that because it's spoiling what I'm trying to do. But again, I understand why they've done it because obviously they have to keep doing things to keep it fresh, you know, they have to you know give people different reasons to play and things, and obviously, if you want to just play how it used to be, there's the OG mode, so obviously you can go backwards and play old maps and old styles, but yeah, it it it's it's I think it's enough of an interesting hook and dynamic to not ruin the fundamental thing because obviously you get but you used to get bounties anyway, so realistically, it's not really different from the bounties that you used to get anyway. It's more prevalent, I get that, but again, everyone's trying to find you and kill you anyway. So, again, it's not really like someone's gonna come across you and not try and kill you, it's just they might know the rough area where you're gonna be. So, you know, I I I quite like it, I think it's quite good, and and you've got the buy-in of obviously your team to make them progress and obviously get the you know the bonuses and things as the season as the season goes on. So, again, it sort of hooks people in and ties them to that to well, I've got to do this and I've got to do my rivals and blah blah blah, because then it tires and I can get my new unlocks and things. So, in some ways, beyond you know, obviously we we spoke, I think last week or the last pod, sorry. Obviously, like the battle pass things are changing, of the V Books things are changing, they've got to find other ways to obviously hook people in. And by having an allegiance, I guess that kind of does that in some ways.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Yeah, I mean it's it's I I mean I was just looking at the so you so if you've not played it, you sort of as as Steve said, you you go in and pick which one you want to be, and you can't change it, you want that, and it's quite split even at the moment. Yeah, I was surprised how close it was actually. Yeah, and then you have sort of like for want of a better way, word of putting it, you have like a I suppose I'm gonna show my age now. You you know, when people raise money for charities and like telethons and that back in the day, you had that thermometer as it rises, and basically on on this sort of th uh horizontal thermometer, you've got key bits where you unlock something. And actually, what was quite cool was I think it was the because I'm Team Foundation, I think it was, and I think it was Team Ice King. Like the second one was a pizza, and I'm like, hey, what's the pizza about? Actually, the the the pizza's really cool because you eat like three bits of pizza and your your uh your your shield is back up to full power, so that's been quite good, but um uh what has really really sort of like so I'm happy at 144 and and I'm like I'm like you know what you know top 500, you know, apparently get some actual merch. So your little character that you can create your sidekick within the game, apparently the top 500 people are gonna get a real life 3D printed version of that. And I'm like, alright, okay, I'll have a go at this, see if I can get there. I'm not because uh would you like to guess? Would you like to guess after two weeks? I think it is, two weeks since it kicked since it launched, two weeks tomorrow, I think it is. So two weeks tomorrow as we record, would you like to guess the the number one person in the world and how many kills they have?

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Because it's as in rival rivals kills.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

As a rival kills, so my my compared to my 144, the top person in the world is a Joa Kruf, Kruf, J-O-A-O-C-R-R-F-R-Y. He's Team Ice King, or I say him, they are Team Ice King. Would you like to guess how many kills they've got?

SPEAKER_03 14:47

I'm trying to think because you shared a screen after a few days, didn't you? I'm trying to think what that number was, and even then it was something insane.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, you're not a creator, because I've not I've noticed on here that you can look at creators, so they're not a creator, they look like they are a general player, say a standard player. The the creator, the actual creator, the top creators has got five hundred. Actually, no, not no. It's got about two hundred less than this person, or more sorry, yeah. So the top creators got 200 less than the person at the top of the global rankings. But how how how many do you think that is? It's less than 10 grand, I'll give you that.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

I'm gonna say 5,000. I'm gonna I'm gonna go about 5k. Seven and a half?

SPEAKER_00 15:35

Nine thousand six hundred and sixty-eight.

SPEAKER_03 15:38

Jesus, like how like how how many is that per game? How many, how many per game per days? Does that work out like that that must be like nine?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Let's do a live calculation, shall we? Well let's get my calculator down. So if we have nine thousand what nine thou nine thousand six hundred and sixty-eight, let's say for argument's sake, divided by fourteen days. That's six hundred nine kills a day. So if you divide that, if you divide that by let's say, I know, well if you said twelve hours fifteen kills, that's sixty that's forty-six games a day at fifteen kills a game.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

I can't even kill fifteen people in a game. I can't even kill people like uh I could probably kill fifteen people in total in maybe three or four games, let alone one game. Like, I think I've like when I've had like when I've reached double digits, I'm like, wow, like I've I've really, really done well there. But like to kill that many people every single game, like where's like where's the fun in that? You like you've peaked there, aren't you? You've really peaked up.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Well, I think I think when it I think the problem is it's that it's that classic case. It's like every sport, it's like football. Once you go ahead, you've got to stay ahead, and sometimes you know you've got to score another goal to get ahead. So I would imagine they're sitting there looking at I mean if you look at the actual charts and they've got 9,668, the next person's got nine thousand five hundred and thirty-eight, the next person's got nine thousand four hundred and ninety-two, you then you have to go down to uh yeah. I mean, you go down to top twenty and still got six thousand three hundred.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

These must be streamers, so they have to be streamers are unemployed. I was gonna say eat like eSports, but yeah, definitely unemployed as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

But uh I mean hats off if you're if you're doing that many games a day and you're making a living out of Twitch streaming that, then hats hats off.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

I'm only saying out of jealousy, I'm saying it purely out of jealousy.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

But no, I mean I I've been really enjoying it. I mean, I I hate to say it, but I think I'm at level 45 already.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

That's good going. That is good going.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Yeah. But what I I've sort of like, because I generally will get a couple of games, two or three games in the morning, depending, because obviously a game game could last you about 20 minutes if you get all the way to the end, or you're really trying. So I might I might do anything from two to six games a day, sort of two, three in the morning, two, three in the afternoon, depending on when I get back. But so what I've been doing is I've been looking at the quest, doing my weekly quest, landing where I need to land and whatever. But I've literally sort of been landing down by the foundation's base because I know the area, I've been hitting the rivals until a point that you know I need to like start moving across the other side of the map or something like that, and then then I start to get into the okay, right, let's go for a victory now. But I played one the other night to sort of close out the Fortnite stuff-ish, which was just as well as my dragon one, this one was brilliant because I always try and get high ground in any game I play, whether it's you know, whether it's Fortnite, whether it's Battlefield, whether it's COD or where it's Halo, I always try and get high ground. And and and all of a sudden I realised that I was one, I was one of the last two, and I just could not see this person. Then all of a sudden, I saw on the mound of hill out at one of the hills outside, I think it's where the studio's uh development bit is. I saw them up there, sort of jumping around. And and I had a rocket launcher, so I set off a couple of rockets up that way, so they knew they were being watched, and then I then run literally to Flankham, and I literally ran around Flankham, and then I must have crawled all the way up the hill, really, really slowly, and I got all the way to the top of the hill, and then all of a sudden I got to the brow of the hill, and as I peeked over the brow of the hill, I could see their head looking at where I where I was, where I came from, and I just took that pistol out, got right up behind them, and just one-shotted them in the head. And again, it was just one of those ones where it's like, damn, I wish I'd recorded that because that was bloody awesome. But then I and then I did a you after your two of two. I just quit. That's it. I'm done now. Like, dip, dip, did the emoji dance, pressed, closed the Xbox, went off to work.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

It does get the it's it's silly to say it though, but it does get the old uh the blood pumping when you get into that sort of like tense moment there, doesn't it? Of like when it's like a one-on-one-on-one shootout to the to the end, it's like, oh, like you kind of feel the pressure, and you're like, I've got to find a way, gotta, I can't, I can't can't lose it now, can't lose it now, can't lose it now. And then it's it when you when you do get it, it's very satisfying when you when you do get that win.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Well, as I say, for me, especially just lately, you know, I've I've been really busy with business, uh, with work and that. I've uh I have I've never got enough time, but I've just taken on another business today as we record this. I've sort of taken over a business-to-business publication for with a friend or for a friend. He's sort of stepping away from it, doing a bit of travelling. He's asked me to take it over. And uh because I'm old and have bad knees, I've got to stop sort of building cinemas and I'm sort of going into promoting them and things like that. So, but so I only really get you know a little bit of time unless I get to the weekends, like with Easter weekend, as we are probably as this come out, we're in, but as we record this, we're getting up to. So actually, Fortnite for me just fits in really nicely to something that I can just you know bash out, play a couple of games, go off to work, or you know, come back from work and then play a couple of games, can cook dinner and spend the evening with the girls. So for me, it's just I I I find it's it's perfect. Then Anthony said about a mode the other night, didn't he, which I think I must go in and try. Tycoon Raft 2.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

Yeah, he mentioned it. Yeah, so isn't this and this is the great thing, into that you've got all the like you say, the creator modes and all these other different things, and so there's obviously all the various offshoots. So even somebody who is anti I don't want to say anti Fortnite, but obviously not as much into Fortnite as we are like Chesson, you know, you could maybe coerce him into say, Well, should we just you know, mess about and do something else? You know, let's go do another. So at least you know, they're in, but not necessarily playing the battle royale mode then.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Although out of all the sparks, Anthony's I think he's the only one who's never played Fortnite, because uh Because I think Manny's been on there, he's got a couple of rivals. I think James has got a couple of rivals on there. I saw so come on, Anthony. Step up and play some football. Get down with the kids, man. Get down with the kids.

Plucky Squire And Satisfactory Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 22:13

So other bits and pieces I've been playing. I sort of picked up Plucky Squire again after Christmas, which I've been quite enjoying. That's a that's quite a cool little game. That's uh you you saw you play as the Plucky Squire, and the whole game is set around a book, so the pages turn and you're travelling through the book, and there's narration, and you're you're going to try try and beat the boss. But every now and again you have to escape the book and you go into the 3D world. And I remember Anthony playing it and he was raving about it. He said you sort of do get a bit not bored, but you do get used to jumping out the book and coming to the 3D world. But it's it's got some nice mechanics to it whereby you you realize you've got to move something or do something, so you jump out of the book, you go back to a page that you were went near before, where there might be a letter you need to pick up or a word you need to pick up, and or something you need to pick up, and you pick it up and you take it away with you. You turn the pages of the book again, you take that word into the page of the book that you're in, and that enables you to open a door, or it might be a key, or something like that. I've yet to finish it. I think I'm quite close to the end, but I jumped into that at the weekend and had a bit of a play with that. And that was really good. I quite enjoy it. Again, it's you don't really have to think about it. It's not like Crimson Desert and things like that at the moment, which are a lot of people playing, which are not really up my street, but it's quite a nice sort of sit down in the morning with a cup of coffee before the day starts, and just you know, play a little bit of a you know, play along to a story and sort of jump in and out, and just it's pretty chill to be honest.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

Yeah, it I'm just just watching a uh a video about it, and it very much seems like uh a crossover almost between you know is it Paper Mario? There was Paper Mario that came out on the DS and the GameCube, and then I'm trying to remember the name. Is it Un Unraveled? Was it the one of the Vita launch titles? Yeah, that was a bit tough.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Where you sort of like yeah, you're a woollen, woollen animal, and you use the wall of your animal to sling it out to go to the canyons and sort of paper craft and it and again this is the sort of beauty of things like Game Pass, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 24:22

That you can just pick up these little games that like you say that you a little bit like Fortnite, really, I guess, pick up and play, just have a dabble, you know, and you you might not necessarily see it through, but well, I've played it, I've enjoyed it. If I don't complete it, I don't complete it. But you've you've experienced it, then you know you've had a little go, uh which otherwise you probably would never have never have touched it.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

No, I sort of had it on my wish list. I think I bought it when it came down in price, and I think that was when they usually do their Christmas sales. So you know, but yeah, I mean it's it's certainly a good game. The the other game that I was waiting to play for ages, and again I put it into my wish list, and it came up which was uh satisfactory. And and I'm sorry to say, but for me it was very unsatisfactory. It was like it was described to me as a first person sort of POV builder, so like a you know, like a sim sort of like you do here, you go here, you build this, you build that. And I sort of went into it and you land on a planet, and then there's you have to then go and mine for iron and then copper, and then I can't think of the other one now. Oh, like a sandstone, and then you get your stuff and you go back to this base, and then you unlock it and you unlock it and you unlock it, and it just kept on unlocking things, and it kept on getting me to do things, which I was was getting confused about because I was like, Well, hold on a second, but I've I've now depleted because when you first go to like an iron mound, there's a mound, and you mine it, and you get lots of iron, and then then when you go back there later on, you have to really sort of mine at it to get it back. And um I'd sort of mined everywhere I could mine, and I'm like, Well, I've still got no automation, I've I can't seem to you know automate the digging of these holes and get to these maps I've seen on you know, reviews and things like that. And then I thought, well, okay, let's go a bit further. So, because it was almost like you have to rig up to electricity, and I'm like, well, where do I get electricity from? Because this is a you know a planet, there's not like an electricity pylon anywhere. So I thought, okay, let's wander a bit further. So I wandered a bit further and I got a load of material, loads and loads of materials. I thought, excellent. So then I walked all the way back to my base, it's no fast travel, and and it was like, go from A to B and I could die, or go from oh sorry, go from A to C and I could die, or go from A to B to C and I'll be safe. But that's twice as long. So of course I went from A to C and died, lost all of my packs in the middle of this area, and now I can't go back to the packs and get unless I every time I go back to pick up my death packages, I die again. So uh at that point I just was like ah sod this and I just put it down, and it's annoying because it's what I was really looking forward to playing, and and I've I will potentially you know watch a couple of YouTube videos or and learn it because I think once you get your head around it, it's quite good. But it did sort of like I I found the hand holding was a little bit too vague for me, but but hey, I mean it must be good because I think IGN gave it like nine out of ten or something like that, so uh it must be a good game, but for me it was just a little bit unsatisfactory.

SPEAKER_03 27:37

I'm just just again, I'm just watching uh the trailer as you're talking about it. It seems to look very sort of like No Man's Sky-esque. Yeah. You know, that sort of thing, you know, you're just wandering around crafting, building things, you know, collecting materials, that sort of thing, which again I I like the sound of that. I I I kind of like that I can just wander about, do my own thing, da da da. But then to a certain point, it's just a bit of you know, I'd a little bit of I I almost feel like a little bit of what's the point. Do you know what I mean? Is like I need a bit sometimes a bit more of a well, a reason for doing things rather than just sort of mindlessly, you know. I I'm not that sometimes not that created either, do you know what I mean? So it's like, well, just build your own thing. It's like, well, yeah, I'd like a little bit of guidance on what to build and how to build it, because otherwise I'm just like it'll be the most boring and bland base or monument, whatever it is you're trying to build. But I mean it does seem like just just watching this video, that there's a lot of options, a lot of crafting to do. So I guess if that's your jam, if that's your thing, then you're probably gonna lose yourself for quite a lot of hours doing this by the looks of it.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Well, I think for me, I I was looking for something a little bit like City Skylines or even like Steam World. I mean, uh not last Christmas, the Christmas before, I got into SteamWorld Dig 2, and then I actually then went back and played Steam Well Dig as well. And I quite like those thoughts of like you you you build this little bit here and then it expands, and then you build a little bit more and it expands, or you like Steam Well Dig, you dig down here, and then you which ways you go left or right and you uncover and find all these things. So I was sort of trying to find something which was like I don't know, it was a bit of a game where I didn't really again. I suppose it's uh apart from sort of like Fortnite and Halo and a few things like that. I've I play, it was a bit of a like uh switch it on on a Saturday morning whilst I've haven't had a coffee and just do an hour or so and maybe build a factory and build a you know, okay, I could get this bit here and I because I think it was Steam World, but used to there you used to mine, and it was you used to go, you used to go right, okay. Tomorrow when I've got a few hours, I'm gonna go down there and build that, and that'll let me mine that, and that'll let me unlock that area. And and that's what I was sort of looking for, but I just I just didn't get it in the end. So uh at the moment I have parked it. Uh I must be honest, I did ask for a refund, but Microsoft wouldn't give it to me because I think I'd played it for about three hours. So uh it's sitting there, it's in my library. I will get around to it and I will update the listeners to how I get on with it. But at the moment it just annoyed me because I couldn't get my loot back. Yeah. Which is completely my fault.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

Yeah, but it's one of them, isn't it? I guess it's one of those where it's like it's it's like if a game like hasn't saved and you have to go back too far. It's like, well, I've lost five or like five or six hours here. Like, no, I I I I had that with the Oblivion remaster recently. I got a bug when I was on the Shivering Isles and my last save was about five hours previous. I'm like, I'm not doing that, I'm not doing that. No, no, as much as I love Oblivion and as great as the remaster was, I just like no, I'm not doing it. No, you've lost me. You've lost me.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

No, I'm cutting my nose off to spite my face. Yes, I am. Funnily enough, I was having a conversation with my daughter about six months ago about game saving. And you know, the typical parent of going, you don't realise how good you got it, darling. Uh, where like, you know, going back to the NES days where your save was on the cartridge, um, and then if you sold your cartridge and then you decided you wanted to play it again, unless you got the same cartridge back, which was you're not going to get the same cartridge back, you lost your save, or you just or you couldn't save, there was just no save. So I said, you know, to to start up. I mean, she's had a friend over today and they've been playing Fall Guys. So I said, to be able to go back to Fall Guys and go exactly to the bean that you had like six months ago with the progression you had six months ago. I said, darling, you just you don't know the pain that we went through as children, where you know you could play for seven hours and dial the last boss, and you had to go all the way back to the beginning to start at seven and zero again to get all the way back to the last boss again. Yeah. So now I'm just sounding like a crumpy old man snapshot at clouds.

SPEAKER_03 31:51

It is that it's true though, isn't it? We just uh we don't have any staying power, any stopping power anymore, do we? We just want everything instantly. I don't want to work for it, I just want it all now. Give me everything now.

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Well, it's even going back to the like we were talking about with Project Helix and like my um ROG Ally X. It's almost like I've been spoilt with my Xbox and Quick Resume, and you know, to certain extent, I've been spoiled by my PS5, where oh, I've got five minutes to play Ratchet and Clank, or I've got five minutes to play Forza Horizon, and I literally you switch it on, and with in seconds you're there, you know, especially if it's something like Forza, you can literally pause it, go away. I mean, I think you can even power cycle your console, and then when you come back to it six months later and you start, it's exactly where you left your car looking as clean and shiny as it was six months ago.

SPEAKER_03 32:41

Yeah, which is spoiled. It is crazy, it is good when you think about it. When you when you actually when you bite it down to brass tacks, it's like that's pretty cool, isn't it? That's that is really, really cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Well, the thing with the like the rock is like I switched it on the other day. Where was I going? I was going somewhere the other day. I'll see. So I had an accident in the car, the car's been away for four months. I have no idea why it's been four months, but I went to pick it up and uh went and picked it up, got it back. There was something slightly wrong with it, so I had to take it back in again. I said, Look, I'll wait. So I thought I think it was Saturday night, and so I thought, right, let's get the ROG out. So I got the ROG out, switched it on, downloaded a couple of games, but again, I switched it on and it must have taken about 45 minutes to do the software updates for the Xbox and for Windows, and then for some reason it had deleted all my games, so I had to reinstall all the games again, and it took me a good 45 minutes to basically get it to the point that I was gonna take it to you know play if I didn't do any work whilst I was waiting for my car. Annoyingly, I did it, got it all bundled, packed it in, went there, took it in, handed over the keys to the car, said, I'll sit here. Ten minutes later, the guy came out, went, your car's ready. And it's like so I never actually got to play it.

SPEAKER_03 33:55

I was like, what? I spent all this time getting waiting for this moment. You kidding me?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Yeah, so so for me, that's what you know, is like what I love about the PS5, I love about the Switch, it's what I love about the Xbox is the instant resume, the quick start, and uh all I hope is that you know, with the next generation of consoles we've got coming out from all the parties uh next year or year ons, that we just don't lose the console console side of it, the quick resumes, the you know, the pick it up and be able to play when you've got five minutes to play, because if it's not if the next Xbox is gonna be like the Ally X and you know you switch it on and you've got updates to do for even five minutes, it's gonna be like you know what, I can't be bothered, I'm not even gonna bother switching it on.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

Yeah, and and that was the whole fundamental of the consoles back when, wasn't it? Is that you didn't need these updates, you didn't need to do that. You plugged it in. And if your game was broken, well, it was just broken, wasn't it? Do you know what I mean? It was just if there was a bug, there was a bug. You know, which I get, you know, from a user point of view, that's not great now. But like you say, anything, the console, a game, even a controller, you know, anything you twitch, oh, it's got an update. How does my controller need an update? It's a con it's a controller. Like what is it updating? What is it updating? But yeah, anything, isn't it? You know what I mean? And we're getting to the point now where games can't function without the internet capabilities and the updates and da-da-da. And it's just like you do lose people at that point, you know. You you are gonna lose people. So you say that I just want I just want to plug it in and play. I just want that's it. That's all I want.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Yeah, 100%. So, right, so now we've stopped shouting at clouds. Now that these no the sun's just gone down out the window here. We're now we're gonna stop being one old man and one slightly younger man shouting at clouds, and we're gonna get on to some news.

Ratings Request And Surfshark Sponsor

SPEAKER_00 35:40

But before we get on to the news, please kind of ask anybody who's watching or listening to this podcast to please rate, review, or comment on the podcast wherever you're listening, watching, or uh playing with the podcast. Uh, also, we have a sponsor for this week, Steve. What's happened there?

SPEAKER_03 35:55

Like we've we've we're only three three shows into the rebrand of the re the reboot, and we've we've got a sponsorship. What's that about?

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Well, I might I might have sort of nicked a sponsor from the other podcast that I do. So they won't mind. I'll take it. They won't mind. You can go to Surfshark and get a fast VPN bundle for just £1.28 a month with three months extra free. And as I say, the link is in the description. I use uh VPN all the time, not for anything dodgy, may I add, but uh, but especially um again, going back to parenthood, anybody who's listened to this who's not a parent is is not going to get any of these jokes. But uh, but I always say to my to my daughter, I said, right, three three things in life, Molly, you must remember. You know, don't talk to boys, you know, be safe when you go out. And if you're in a public area on a public Wi-Fi, use a VPN.

SPEAKER_03 36:44

Three key philosophies that'll see you right.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

Yeah, that's three philosophies that sees her right. And and and even to the point now, like we were in Starbucks at the weekend because we were going out looking for doing some shopping, and and I said, Oh, I'm gonna log on to the Wi-Fi and uh just check something, football scores or something like that. And Molly just looked at me, she went, You want a VPN? I went, Yes Molly, I want a VPN. My phone is always on a VPN, but but obviously, yeah, don't forget the good also the good advantage about a VPN is recently when I went to uh Barcelona on business for a week, it enabled me to get BCI Player, you know, it enabled me to get my British Netflix account and all that lot whilst I was out there. Plus, also, you know, I don't think I've ever done it, but no, I did do it, I lie. I had to I used Surfshark VPN once to get program a documentary that was on Disney Plus in America but wasn't on Disney Plus in the UK. So I switched on Surfshark VPN on my Apple TV, sent it to America, went off to Disney, it said, Oh, it looks like you're on the travels. Would you like to watch the UK or would you like to watch America? Watch America, please. And then it gave me that documentary I can watch whilst sitting in the UK.

SPEAKER_03 37:56

And also all the added benefits of the security of other VPN. You know, what what can possibly want one for? I must admit it's something I've I have thought about doing, but it's something that just as a a bit like when it comes to IT, that sort of thing, like a little bit laxidaisical. It's like, well, I probably should do that. Like you say, when like even like you you log into a new Wi-Fi, do you know what I mean? If you go into like say Starbucks, Spoons, wherever, you just jump on it. Do you know what I mean? You just jump on it and you don't even think about who's tracking and tracing or who could be logged into that as well, do you? So no, especially in this day and age, it is important when especially like your phone is your life that contains everything, you know, like every last bit of information is on there.

SPEAKER_00 38:38

Yeah. So no, I mean I I I use mine all the time, not all the time, as in like I know some people have it switched on all the time, but but uh yeah, so if you want to support the podcast and you fancy about I mean they do have some other stuff like I can't think it was called now, like incognito that removes like your history from the internet and things like that. So uh, but yeah, if you are thinking about getting a VPN or you just want to support the podcast and and help us make more of these wonderful programs where we shout at clouds, pop uh pop over to Surfshark. Link is in the description of the audio podcast and the video. And Steve, we will get on to the news.

PS5 Price Rises And Fallout

SPEAKER_00 39:14

And the first news story is a is a Sony news story, so it's not Xbox, it's a Sony news story. And Steve, you've got some good news for us.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

Yeah, yeah, great, yeah. So yeah, so we are spreading the uh we are spreading the love a little bit this month, but yeah, the first one is is some Sony news, but it's not necessarily Sony news that we want to hear because it's following a similar vein and pattern to everything else in life, is that the the PS5, the PS5 Pro and the portal are all going to see price increases. So the the base PS5 in the UK is going up around £90.90. I've got the prices here, so yeah, so base PS5 will go from £47.99 to £569.99. The digital edition will go from £429 to £519.99. The Pro will go up to £789.99, which was £699.99. The portal will go from £199 to £209. No, $219.99, sorry. So there's some pretty sizable increases in that lot. The Pro, the portal, sorry, is not so much, you know, it's $20 quid. Still $20 quid's not ideal, but it's you know, it's a little hit, you know, it might not put too many people off getting that. Although just the psychological ticking over 200 might do, but especially that that that pro going to $789.99. Like, if we're thinking like the next batch of consoles, if that's where the PS5 Pro is at, where would the PS6 be at? Do you know what I mean? If because everything's getting more expensive, and this has been driven by the shortage of parts and components because of AI demands and people hoovering all them up. So this is why part of that's gone up, you know, cost-wise. So is so is demand, global or unprecedented demand, isn't it? Is usually the words that we see. But yeah, $789.99, that's a that's eye-watering to me. Do you know what I mean? I mean, I know the I know the ROG is that sort of price, but you know, for a you know, even just the base one, you know, going from $479.99 to $569.99 for a console that is now six years old.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

Yeah. Uh six. Yeah, so 2020, wasn't it? Because funnily enough, we were talking about it all when we sort of like stopped doing the pod twenty uh uh six years ago. I mean, the one that I mean again, I'm I'm showing my age, but it was always it was always as I was you know growing up, and it was like, whatever you buy it from in America, so if it came out in America first, which used to happen to a lot of things, if it came out in America first, and let's say it was £599, then it would be £599 in the UK. It was a pretty much a given. Whether it's tariffs or that, I don't know, but but when you look at especially the PS5 Pro, you know, the PS5 Pro over here is £700. Let's say round it up. So the PS5 Pro over here is £790. In America, it's a cent shy of £900. $900 for a PS5 Pro. I mean, that's that's I mean, even the base PS is what's that uh £570 and uh that's $650. So yeah, I mean it's it it it is getting to the point. I mean, I was listening to a pod this week and they were saying like people were saying, you know, do I uh should I buy a PS5 Pro now? Yes, now you do. Um should I should I buy a PS5 Pro for GTA? Because you know, arguably, you know, unless something happens with Xbox, it's gonna be the graphically stronger console to play on. Uh yes, buy it now because you know come September, uh, September, October, November, when a lot of those games will be landing, uh we'll be happy and we'll be fortunate if it is still you know 790 pounds or 900, especially with you know what's going on at the moment with you know fuel prices going up every day. So it's just because I mean we've gone through generations and generations where your games console went down in price the older it got, yeah and and obviously they've all just put them up previously, only literally within the last six months.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. It's and and I know obviously that the world is a crazy place right now, but again, a console that's six years old to get a price increase, it is is that the first time it's ever happened? You know, I want to say it probably is the first time it's happened because, like you say, you get the you know, you get the digital edition, you get the pro edition, you get this, so your base model just drops and drops and drops. You know, that that's just standard practice, really. And I and I get you know, I get that obviously if things cost money, you know, it costs more money than fair play, but are they Still making and selling that many base PS5s to justify sticking it up that much, you know, is it's surely that's just gonna put people off. You know, surely at that point, if you think it's gonna be too much of an increase that people are gonna sort of like bolt at that figure, well should just wind the standard version down. Say, look, you can still get them, but once that you know stock is depleted, that's that's it. You know, it's either the digital version or the PSY Pro version, which you can get, granted they're all expensive. But at some point, you know, like say, if if this is one of potentially several price increases in however many you know months or what have you, the the pro is going to be even close to a thousand pounds, you know, to get that. And and that is probably gonna be the benchmark for the next console by that logic, which is terrifying, you know.

SPEAKER_00 44:49

Well, and even at even at this price, even at this price, it makes console gaming elitist. You know, it makes that you know my my daughter, you know, my daughter, if she turned round to me for Christmas and said, Where is it? Where's it gone? She turned around to me and said at you know, at Christmas or for her birthday, you know, Dad, I'd love to have a PS5, you know, I'll be like, It's £570, darling. I love you. I can remember my cousin, who's I think he's 40 or 41 now. I can remember when he wanted a PS3, I think it was. And you know, his mum said to him, if you want it, you save for it. You do some odd jobs, you save for it, and then you buy it. 570 pounds is a bloody lot of odd jobs to do for your mum and dad. I mean, I'm gonna wash your car, Dad. How much are you gonna give me? A ton? No, no, son. I'll give you 20 quid.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Yeah. No, it is, and like you say it is and it's one of these things, and you know, game in in in essence is a luxury, and having these nice things, it is a luxury, but it's like you say, it's beyond luxury. You know, like you say, it's elitist. It's you know, and and this is the thing, is I guess is the the crossover between console and PC. You know, get again, you'd obviously upgrade a PC and things, but you are getting to that territory. You know, you you you get in a console that granted you're getting the convenience, you could probably buy a decent spec PC for that. That's probably I mean, uh maybe not, but probably better than that, you know what I mean? You know, you may maybe there are thereabouts, and granted you don't have the the the PS or the Xbox element or what have you, do you know what I mean? It is a PC, but again, it's getting into that territory where consoles were here, PCs were up there. Well, like the they're getting, you know, the parity is a lot less now. So it's like, well, you know, like if that was if that came out now at that price, I'd I couldn't afford it. Well, I'd struggle to buy one letter and having one or the other. You know, having both an Xbox and a PlayStation, again, is a privilege. I couldn't afford that to have both. I'd be like, I'd have to properly, properly weigh the pros and cons up of which do I really, really, really, really want, because I can just about afford one of them. I can't afford two, so where am I going?

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Well, if it wasn't honestly, I think for me, if it wasn't for the fact that obviously we do the podcast again now and you know I might need it for some Sony exclusives, it'd make me think about selling my PS5 because you know, I don't really use it, and I could probably get I reckon I could probably get what I paid for it, you know, because okay, it's the original Fat Boy day one edition, but uh I reckon I could probably get near to what I paid for it, you know, back six years ago, compared to you know what you'll probably be able to pick them up for now. And obviously you can guarantee that your places like uh CS, CX and that are gonna start putting the prices up because you know, you know, because they're gonna it's gonna drive that. It's a bit like the car market we had a few years ago, like four years ago when we sold our last car. You know, we made a killing out the secondhand value on our car, you know, the equity in it because it was the chip shortage, everybody was, you know, buying secondhand cars because you couldn't buy a new car or they were coming through really, really slowly. So, I mean, it's annoying. Hopefully, if you are listening to this podcast, you have a you have your PS5 or you have your Xbox Series, whatever. Obviously, by the time you listen to this podcast, the prices should have gone up. But there are a few links in the descriptions of these podcasts to Amazon and places like that. So do have a hunt around. Hopefully, hopefully, it might be a little bit like the Game Pass vouchers recently, where although the price went up from was it $15.99 to $22.99, for a good month or two after, you can still go on Amazon and buy and stack them for at the $15.99 price. So hopefully, if you are listening to this podcast, click on the link in the description, head over to Amazon, and you might be able to find one at the old price, old stock, but uh but don't hang around, especially if you want one for GTA.

SPEAKER_03 48:48

Yeah, definitely. Sound consumer advice.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

Excellent. We like to give some consumer advice. And so, right, the next story is on with me, which is let me just bring it down from my other screen.

Rumour Watch Disney Buys Epic

SPEAKER_00 49:00

So uh I saw this, I saw this on where is this? I saw this on Games Rant and it is basically rumour a Disney considering buying epic games. So Disney may be move uh Disney may be moving towards the purchase of Epic Games cavords to one industry insider who has been following the media conglomerate business trajectory. A potential buyout of Epic Games by Disney would not just cause a change in ownership of games like Fortnite, but of a popular computer graphics engine series used not only in games but television movies, and actually, I think it's used in Tesla as well. Epic games may be best known for Fortnite, we've already discussed that. Sorry, Anthony, we brought it up again. Um but it's also been developing games since the early 90s, having found success with Gears of War, which a lot of people forget. Original Tournament, Infinity Blade, and then the Fortnite launch in 2017. And there have been or there are some potential crossovers between the brands. I mean, apparently Disney has been investing a lot of money into Epic about creating a Disney sort of island within Fortnite or a a big game within Fortnite. It's a it's a funny one. I mean, Epic Games is a subsidiary owned by pretty much totally owned by Tim Sweeney. I think I heard the other day he owns he owns 51% of the shares, so he has the controlling stake or something like that, or he owns 51% of it. But yeah, I mean it's an interesting one. I mean, I don't whether it would actually happen, I'm not sure. Whether you would want it to happen, I'm not sure. But it just shows you, you know, with uh there are obviously when Microsoft bought Activision, you know, and again, there's another one I cannot remember what's going through at the moment. Oh, that's it, Netflix, uh not Netflix, Warner Brothers and uh Paramount, where you know, surely this would come under Monopoly Emergence as we have it in the UK. But uh yeah, I mean it's a funny one because Disney owns so much now. If they were to try and buy Epic, it would it would be pretty epic, excuse the pun.

SPEAKER_03 51:14

Yeah, and and then obviously there have been crossovers between the two. You know, we've seen Disney franchises go on to Fortnite. You know, that there's been the collaborations and things in the battle pass there previously. You know, I I can't I don't think we discussed it on the last show. I think we'd we shared it between ourselves and the group is that obviously there's been quite a lot of layoffs from Epic recently. You know, whether thousands. Thousands. Yeah, thousands. Yeah, thousand members of staff were unfortunate losing their jobs, which uh you know, for as much as we're lording fortnight, I think it's big, big giant and this big beast, there's that clearly, you know, they're having to shave some costs, and whether that has maybe thought, you know, maybe spurred Disney said, you know, if they're if they're struggling, you know, if they could do with a bit of a support or you know, a bit of a injection or a bit of a a boost, then that you know they might be interested in having a conversation. But like you say, it goes beyond the brands, you know, Epic have Unreal Engine, you know, which is used on production for TV shows, movies, you know, including The Mandalorian, obviously Disney IP, do you know what I mean? So they could take a lot of that in-house. Now what that would mean for the wider industry of, you know, graphic design, you know, for movies, TV, video games, who's to say? You'd think they wouldn't meddle in it and it would still remain as a you know an open source for people to, you know, use the technology. But yeah, it it's a it's an interesting one, isn't it? You know, it's one of them that if if it doesn't change anything, does it really damage anything? Maybe not. Do you know what I mean? It depends on what they do once they've bought it. You know, are there any restrictions in place? Are they gonna take it in-house or will they let existing staff go? You know, again, it's a transition of what will happen to those staff. You know, will the again, will there be layoffs, will the existing staff take over the the roles that are there already? You know, so whilst it might on paper seem like, oh yeah, it'll be great because Disney will buy it and there'll be a load of money, well will it be? Do you know what I mean? It's there's a lot of unsort of hurt not unheard, but obviously things that you don't necessarily think about that might happen that could negatively impact it as opposed to positively impacting it.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Well, I I think you know you've only got to see when when two massive companies come together, there's one, there's always gonna be layoffs. I mean, there was the story as well that came out recently with uh because Disney were gonna invest or pump, I think it was a billion dollars into Sora, into OpenAI, into their image generation software, but then literally out of nowhere, OpenAI shut Sora down. So obviously the billion dollar deal, what was happening with Disney is now gone. And and there are a few rumors around floating around about it, but yeah, I mean it's I think it's it is very much a rumour, it's very much hearsay. As I say, I know they'd be working together on this this whether it's a mode or whatever, because I was listening to one per podcast today, which was like saying, you know, how how many active users are in Fortnite every day compared to roadblocks, and like roadblocks is just like I think it was something like 150,000 people at any one time are playing Fortnite, but there's this one game at the moment in the Roblox where it was at this point that they were took doing the podcast, it was 470,000 people playing. Now, obviously that's a very different type of game, but you can't help but think that that's the type of I can't help but think that that's the type of thing that Epic are going for in that you know when you log into play Fortnite and you scroll down, you see those other modes and you see those content creator modes, those user-generated modes. So you can't help but think that's what they're going for. But uh we'll see, we'll see what happens, whether it would actually ever go through, whether it'll be allowed to go through. But hey, being that Disney is still an American company, I'm sure it will get put through somehow with the current administration. Definitely, they'll find a way, they'll find a way, yeah.

Xbox Preview Showcase Game Highlights

SPEAKER_00 55:12

So, next story is with you, and it's about the Xbox part of the preview showcase that we had. Was it last week? I can't remember now, where we had uh we had about a half-hour pre part the preview showcase from Xbox showing some cool little games coming to the platform.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

Yeah, that's it. And as I suppose these things, obviously these things happen anyway, regardless of obviously the things that are happening with Microsoft and Xbox, but I guess it's a chance for them to sort of reinstill the fact that games are very much the focus of what's going on, despite obviously the backtracking of the the uh the philosophy of Xbox and the shake of in management. So, yeah, so we've had a few a few little things that have been shown to us, like you say, 30 minutes is quite a fair bit crammed into a short, short space of time, really. So we'll so we'll try and flip through these sort of bit by bit and as quick as we can to get them all in. So there was brand new a brand new game Hunter the Reckoning, so that that's something that was new to us when it was shown. So uh an action RPG with uh contemporary monster hunters, so you know, so again, sort of like a bit of a unique hook on this one derived from um tabletop RPG, so it's an adaptation of the board game, so that's been so that's been worked into uh into a video game. So yeah, so there was that one that was first off, that's coming uh summer 2027, so a little bit of a sneak preview before that comes out next year. Wathering waves, that is coming to Xbox, which is something that I'd not not seen before, but it's free-to-play open world RPG, but that has been on PS5 and PC already, but that's finally coming to Xbox, so that is coming this July, so that's not too far away, so that's something in the immediate future. The Xpanse Osiris Reborn, that's got a release window and a beta, so that's coming out in spring 2027. But ahead of that, obviously, there'll be the beta, which will give you a bit of a sneak preview. Um, so it's a bit of a Mass Effect style take on it. TV sci-fi show novel series, but I've again I've not heard of it, so I've not I've not checked it out.

SPEAKER_00 57:15

Well the only the only expanse that yeah, the only expanse that I knew was the one that Halle Berry was in. So I'm not sure if it was uh if it was that one, but that that did that did sort of uh float by boat as they say. Uh that's right up my street with that type of game. That one really did was like, oh okay. And then because of the early beta, sorry, the early closed beta, I I I forgot to do it, it just reminded me to go on and apply for it to see if I get into it early. But that's definitely got my name on it, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

Yeah, and anything sort of like Mass Effecty, you know, that sort of thing is is definitely like you say gotta get my interest because I Mass Effects was such a great game, you know. So anything that can replicate that that quality, then definitely. But yeah, we we we I'd I'm looking at you know the list there's quite an extensive list of games that we've got in here. You know, you've got again it's that there's something for everybody, you know. Stalker 2 is getting an expansion pass. You know, you've got a Bluey game coming out for the kids.

SPEAKER_01 58:12

Yeah, yeah. So I played the I I played I played the last Bluey game and I wasn't with my daughter.

SPEAKER_03 58:18

Every the parents love Bluey, you know, it's uh it's as much for the adults as it is for the kids, isn't it? Let's be fair. There's stuff in there for the adults as much as the kids. So yeah, I I must admit like there was a couple of Paw Patrol ones on Game Pass recently, and I uh I checked them out because Seb loves Paw Patrol. So I played a little bit with him, but I checked them out as well just to have a little almost get do you know, get me uh quests in on get me quests in.

SPEAKER_00 58:40

Get a few achievements in, yeah. Get a few achievements in, get some quests in. 100% mate. And then obviously you've got you've got Hades 2 finally hits Xbox in April as well, which is uh I I played the original Hades on the Switch, and yeah, I enjoyed it, it wasn't really my type of game, but I think I went through and completed it once. But I know a few people have gone through and completed it many, many times. Stalker 2, Stalker 2 I played for a while, and I just found it quite annoying. I suppose it was a little bit like trying to go back and play Starfield again, where I was just dying really quickly and I couldn't figure out why I was dying, and and then I was just like, Do you know what? I just haven't got the time to invest into this. But uh, but no, I mean I scrolled in the list now, and there was uh Super Meat Boy 3D, looks really good. That one does 16 years after Super Meat Boy first made its entrance. This one just looks nuts. I cannot wait to play that game. And then, yeah, you've got Stranger in Heaven, Sirius Sam, you've got uh Grave uh Seasons, which is a cozy farm sim go serial killer in Grave Seasons. So, yeah, I mean there's a lot on there. There's is there was there anything really sort of apart from Bluey that uh really stuck out in your mind?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

Yeah, I mean the um is it the the the eternal life of Goldman, that that sort of like little side scroller, that that piqued my interest. Because I'm not I'm not massively into the side scrollers, but again, that just something about it, just it just had a bit of a charming look about it, so that that piqued my interest. So that'll be something that I you know I'll be dabbling in and checking out. And then there was the the alien alien death storm, which obviously is by rebellion, who made Atomfall, which came out last year. Yeah, I mean I was first person shooter with you know a you know, well, as it suggests an alien death storm, you know, it's it's it's a sort of almost end-of-world apocalypse sort of thing, but it's a a death storm of aliens, so it looks like an FPS survival sort of sort of vibe, a bit creepy, a bit airy on another planet. You know, FPS is a pretty much my you know my thing, really. I guess, you know, one of the main sort of sort of types of game I play, but that that looked really nice, actually. I thought that looked pretty good for early on, and obviously, as we know, you know, Rebellion do some decent games, and I really enjoyed Atomfall. You know, I know it's a split opinion, but I actually really liked Atomfall, but it's nice to see something slightly different, so albeit a little bit early, we didn't see much, but that's something to look forward to uh to coming to next year as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:10

Yeah, and as to say, it's you know, I can't I've tried to see it look at it now. You know, I can't think if they're all coming to Game Pass. I don't think they are, but uh but you know, especially when some of these come on to Game Pass, you know, things like you know, Grave Seasons, you know, things like Sirius Sam, things like Super Meat Boy, you know, uh what's it Forever Ago, you know, Frog Squad and things like that. I think when it when it again, a story to sound like a bit like an Xbox fanboy, because it's the same with PS was that it just sometimes makes you look at it and go, Do you know what? What do I fancy playing today? You know, I'm I haven't I haven't got time to jump into Fortnite or I've completed the season pass, or you know, I'm waiting for Gears of War to come out or something like that, and it's like, what can I just pick up and play, see what it's like, and because you know it's uh in quotations free or part of your service, you know, you don't mind having to jump in and play and see what it's like.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like you say, not all of these are going to come, but you'd like to think that in some capacity that maybe eventually, if it's not sort of day one at launch, like eventually there will creep out. But there's plenty in there that are coming, like you say, front squads come in, you know, Bluey. Is that one coming? Was Bluey coming to Game Pass? I can't remember. But like you say, you get you know Stork is already on there, so you've got plenty in the world.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:27

The last one, the last one was, yeah. I think the last Bluey was. I I I wouldn't have paid for it, I just went in it to get a hundred achievements. Or a thousand achievements. So

Xbox Showcase Date And Gears Direct

SPEAKER_00 1:02:36

exactly. But yeah, but yeah, keeping on the uh showcase uh vein with Xbox, uh they have actually announced that they are going to be doing the 2026 showcase on the 7th of June, followed by a Gears E-Day direct immediately after. So anybody who's watched a showcase from Xbox in the last few years knows they generally do the show, which I think if I'm right is usually about 90 minutes long about the games that are coming out this year and into next year and maybe the year after, and then they do a deep dive afterwards into one of the games that they want to talk about. So a lot of people thought it might be Fable, but obviously they've already done the deep dive into Fable. So reading from Xbox Wire, it's time for another look at the future of gaming. The Xbox Game Showcase 2026 will hear on air on Sunday, the 7th of June at 10am Pacific or 1 p.m. Eastern, or the usual very convenient time of 6 p.m. UK time, and it will be followed immediately by a deep dive into the return of one of Xbox's legendary franchises, Gears of Wars with Gears of War E Day Direct. We'll begin with our annual Xbox showcase, including first looks at the huge news of upcoming titles from our first party studios across the Xbox family, as well as our third party partners around the globe from the biggest franchises to soon soon to be indie darlings. Um I did see they are also to help us celebrate the 25th anniversary. We're excited to bring back the Xbox fanfest showcase. This year's experience would include a look back at the last 25 years along alongside a forward view of what's next, and then there's a chance to enter it. I'm not sure where it is, whether they're going to do yearly fan, uh sorry, location fan fest, like I think they did a few years ago, or whether they're gonna do it in one country based. But uh yeah, I mean I I'm really looking forward to I always look forward to, I think we all, as all the Sparks, look forward to that Sunday, you know, 6 p.m. You're you've had it, you've got a full belly of Yorkshire puddings and uh you know roast beef and gravy after you know having your Sunday lunch and and then you sit down and watch that, and then yeah, and then E Day after that is gonna be nuts. I cannot wait.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:56

Yeah, and and obviously there's there's gonna you'd like to think there's gonna be a few little bits and bobs that we haven't seen in there as well, that you know, something new. Obviously, we're expecting some big things like you say, so maybe some news on Fable, you know, some other bits that we know is coming, but as it stands, obviously we we don't know when when they're coming, you know. So hopefully as part of this, like Fable will get a release day, you know, even a window, you know, gears will get a window, you know, some other things that that we know that you know, or even might not come, you know, that because it's always nice when these things happen, if it's like, oh, it's out now. You know what I mean? They like some of the you know, some of the smaller titles usually just drop something, it's available right now, you know. But I I'm just I'm not the biggest gears of war fan, you know. I wasn't I've not always been a massive fan of the series as as everybody else, but again, you know, it it's one of the jewels in the crown for Xbox and Microsoft, so to see what they can do with it and you know, put it on the new software, beef it up, you know, see see what they can do and what they can deliver, you know, and that that dive of you know an extended preview and and run through will be will be nice to see. So yeah, like you say, it's just a nice little It's a nice little watch, isn't it, for ninety minutes or so. Just to again, it's their chance to say, you know, in light of everything that's happened reinstill the confidence for everybody to say this is what's happening. This is what's coming. The games are still happening, don't worry. You know, we've we've we've got this, you know, that we've we've got it. Trust us, and we'll treat you to this, you know, plethora of games that are coming out, and like say, some hopefully some stuff that we even don't know about yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:27

Yeah, well, I I'm I'm hoping to see a bit more of Blade, because sort of Blade first sort of came arcade, I think it's doing it. That first sort of showed its head on 2023, I would say. So it's three years since we've seen that. My my feelings are because we're getting Halo Combat Evolved remaster, we're gonna get that. We're obviously gonna get Fable, and then I think I think Gears will be the holiday game. So I think you'll see that around that Call of Duty spot, maybe into December or maybe before, but obviously we're everybody's gonna be sort of trying to circumnavigate GTA, and then obviously, if Project Helix does land next year, so let's say hopefully I will get enough points by then. But hopefully for Christmas next year, Christmas 2027, we'll get the Xbox Helix out, which I think is a great name, Xbox, if you're listening to this, which I know you're not, but Xbox Helix for me is just like the the merging of console and PC gaming into one. But uh, I think I think you're you're seeing the actual next proper Halo or maybe a Halo prequel or a Halo reboot, maybe redo it all again. I think you'll see that on the next Xbox. But uh, but no, I love it. I mean it comes around too soon. It's one of those things every year that as the Sparks, we're always talking about it. I think what we're we'll have to do is see if we can get James and Anthony on for a special Parks, a Sparks pre-show, so and do our predictions on what we think we might see, and then maybe do one. We tried to do a follow-on years ago, and the problem is follow-ons or watch alongs, they don't work unless you're in the same building on the same internet connection. Because I remember, I remember we did it, we did it years ago, and I I think it was like I think it was like I was there, I can't remember if you were there, Anthony was there, James was there, Manny was there, I think We Man was there, and we're all watching, but because all of our broadbands were slightly different, all you heard was like Anthony going, Oh my god, I can't believe it.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

And then you did this, what I'm I'm behind by a few seconds. What what have they done?

SPEAKER_00 1:08:40

So I think you're I think if you Yeah, I think unless you're in the uh unless you're in the same building, it's hard to do. But maybe we'll try and do a a showcase prediction or something like that. That'll be quite cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:51

Yeah, that'll definitely, and then obviously, like you say, do a retrospective and look back and see what's coming and obviously digest what what did and didn't happen, which is always part of the fun, isn't it? Just seeing seeing what you know, as much as anything what did happen, well what didn't happen, you know, as anything big missing, because that sound, you know, sometimes says as much anything as when it actually is is being showcased as well.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:11

Well, they've got so many studios now as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:13

So yeah, yeah, cramming it all in.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:16

So, right, we've done PC. Sorry, no, well actually, we did a bit of PC. Uh we've done PS5, we've done we've done PlayStation, we've done Xbox, and now because of my lovely background behind me with uh with

Switch 2 Production Cut Concerns

SPEAKER_00 1:09:29

Mr. Mario peeking over my shoulder here in the Mushroom Kingdom, we're gonna do a little bit of Switch news. So the the first the first of two Switch stories is with you, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:39

Yeah, we're gonna do a full house. So yeah, so we've got two bits which kind of tie into each other, I think, in some respects. But yeah, the first one is I seem to get the bearer of bad news on these uh console announcements. So yeah. You're the console Grim Reaper. Yeah, yeah, the Grim Reaper. But yeah, so it's Switch 2 production is being cut by around 33% following week holiday sales, which is what has been claimed, like I said, following a week period over Christmas for Nintendo, which for Nintendo is unusual, you know, and for consoles in general, you know, holidays Christmas, it's the busiest period of the year when sales go through the roof, and especially for Nintendo. Generally speaking, their consoles sell well, sell exceptionally well, sell you know millions of units. But I know the Switch was blighted by obviously a last-minute price increase, you know, for tariffs and things, you know, they weren't sure at one point if they'd be able to launch and win in America, you know, on the pricing and availability, and da-da-da, was there going to be shortages? So, you know, the the release of the Switch 2 was a little bit blighted by that. But it's saying that the that Nintendo expects to make four million Switch 2 units this quarter, which is down 33% on six million it previously planned to. So four million is still a lot, you know, it's still a lot, but obviously I again I can understand why they might be reining it in and dialing it back a little bit if there's uncertainty of the market, you know, turbulence in parts, production costs, that sort of thing. It kind of makes sense to do that, but again, it kind of maybe not necessarily a warning shot, but is it an early indicator of maybe consoles slowing down, console you know, sales slowing down? Because I say Nintendo, usually it's just the sell and the sell and the sell and the sell and the sell, you know, whereas whereas this is well, it's gonna slow down. PlayStation are put, you know, somebody's putting their prices up, but Nintendo's going the other way of well, we'll sort of rein it in rather than whacking potentially customers with a with a higher price point. So I think they're erring on the side of side of caution with this one.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:38

Well, I think the the thing is that Nintendo were so Nintendo did such a fantastic job with the Switch, the OG Switch, that it it was such a revolutionary console. I mean, I can remember what was it this was it the NX or something like that when they it was like the the code name, like the Project Helix is the code name for it. I think the thing was no one really expected what the Switch was gonna be, and and I think it was so successful that it was people like us, people like Anthony and James, who obviously went out and bought the Switch to as soon as it sort of landed. But I think there's a a lot of because obviously apart I don't think there's many games, but a lot of the games aren't switched to exclusive apart from a few, so a lot of people are still keeping their old console to play on.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:30

Yeah, yeah, well this is it, and it it it's it's it's interesting, like you say, it's it's the flexibility, it's you know the things that the Switch offers, and you know, you know, the s like you say the Switch was if you look at it, the Switch, like you say, it was nobody expected it to do what it did, you know, and almost it kind of you know blew people's predictions and expectations away. Granted, it's not the most powerful of machines, you know, it's not and and it's still fundamentally fuelled and powered by their own brands and games.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:59

But then Nintendo's never had the most powerful console ever since Nintendo have had a console, Sega have always been better, or PlayStation have always been better. So they've always just kept there. I mean, look at I'm gonna get it's like um the Pokemon game, Pocopia. Yeah, you know, that is such an Animal Crossing come, you know, Pokemon game that it is only I think it's the only is a game that only Nintendo could do on their console. Uh you know, they don't need PS5 or Series X style graphics, but yet they will sell bucket loads of it.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:33

Yeah, and and I think in some, you know, you know, the Switch 2 E or Z is an incremental improvement over the original Switch. Was it a massive one? You know, the screen, you know, the battery life, that sort of thing. You know, it wasn't a you know you'd have to again be sort of more the die-hard sort of person that wanted to jump on and upgrade it. You know, some people just be like, I'll stick with my you know, switch light or whatever, you know, the later variants of of the original switch. So again, that that might might come into it. But again, you know, it was the fastest selling console ever at launch for Nintendo, yeah, beating the Wii and the everything else. So again, it sold off like a house on fire, you know. And I I was shocked at one point that you could get your hands on so easily because part of the thing with Nintendo is that you wanted one because you couldn't get it, you know. It's like, oh, I'll get one, but I have to get it because I can't, you know, and not long after it launched, it was like, well, I can quite easily get one. So it's like, well, I don't feel the need to get one as much now, and I don't have the form or the elusive trail of one.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:31

So well, and as and as we've as we've said, and it's it's finances as well. You know, at the end of the day, it's uh you know, if little Billy's got a Switch OLED or a Switch Lite, I mean Molly's still got her switch light, which you know it's still playing the games they want to play, it's still playing the things they want to play with. So you know, and and you know, and I'm seeing it with some of my clients who some of my clients are you know very wealthy people, but they're even not swapping out their projector or not upgrading this or upgrading that because at the moment they just so much uncertainty that you know globally that they're going, look, you know, just keep the switch one for the minute and uh we'll get you we'll look at getting you a switch two maybe closer to Christmas, you know, depending on if the price comes down or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:16

Yeah, well as long as it doesn't go up. That's the main thing, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:15:20

As long as it doesn't go up. Maybe we maybe we should buy a load of switches now and uh sit on them until Christmas, just in case. Yeah, no, I don't I don't encourage anyone.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:29

We're not scalping. We're not scalpers.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:30

We're not scalping, that's the word, isn't it? So uh uh so on a complete flip on my last story and the last story of the pod, Nintendo Switch 2 has a new model coming out.

Switch 2 Repairable Batteries For Europe

SPEAKER_00 1:15:43

But hold your thoughts there for a second. So this report from IGN, Nintendo Switch 2 with a removal battery is in production, reports reveal, but only for Europe. So this is basically Nintendo is developing an updated Switch 2 model with a removal battery according to new reports. The revised Switch 2 console will come with fresh versions of its Joy-Con 2 controllers, which allow users to remove and replace the lithium-ion batteries. According to a Japanese newspaper, the new Nintendo Switch 2 model will first debut in Europe in accordance with the European Union's right to repair legalization that requires electronics, uh sorry, it requires electronics to allow for easy battery replacement. The legislation, the legislation was originally introduced back in 2023 by the EU, although companies have had until February 2027 to prepare for changes. The idea behind it gives consumers the ability to keep their old devices running for longer with the ability to replace old or degraded batteries rather than having to fork out for a new console or a premium repair.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:52

Which I I kind of get that. I kinda get it. Kind of. But you know, it is I I get the longevity of like you say that rather than oh, it's dead. You know what I mean? Oh, it's dead. You know, like the like phones I've got inbuilt batteries, whereas Android used to be able to take it out on top it, they don't have it anymore. You know, so I from that perspective, I get it. Why didn't they do it from the start?

SPEAKER_00 1:17:13

Uh money, isn't it? Oh, it's probably just cost. And the fact the fact is, it's I can always remember when people were kicking off about them removing the optical from the back of the Xbox. I can't remember if it was when it was uh the the refresh of last generation or whether they went into when they went into the Series X, but I remember Phil Spencer saying, you know, we have the analytics, we have the data to say that only 0.05% or 0.01% of people are using an optical to connect to their headphones or whatever like that. So if we put you know, if we put not only if we put a 20 cent or 20 pence optical connector on every Xbox and we sell 10 million of them, is that a lot of wasted money? But it's also a lot of wasted product that is gonna end up in a landfill somewhere. I mean, I I read an interesting report the other year, I think it was, which was probably I'm gonna probably butcher this, but it's so along the lines of every single bit of plastic ever created is still on the earth somewhere. Yeah, even if you burn it, it goes into the atmosphere. Even if it degrades and goes into sea, it's in the sea. So I think, you know, like I remember talking to look at like what I do, look at Sky. You know, Sky, if you leave Sky or you or you get a Sky box swapped over in the UK. So anybody who's not watching this in the UK, Sky is a satellite TV provider in the UK. You have to send your box back to Sky. And a lot of people will say, oh, it's just Sky wanting to redo them and sell them out. Actually, it's their net to zero. It's they've got to be seen to be taking those boxes back, getting them repaired, precious metal stripped out and recycled. And and and I think, you know, of all the rubbish things the EU do, I think this is a good one in respect of that, yeah, if you've got a set of Joy-Cons and you know they've died, and you want to be able to, you know, get them repaired because uh, you know, you can order the battery online and open up yourself, and iFixit will show you how to do it on a YouTube video, rather than just slinging them in the bin and spending you know, whatever 50, 60, 70 pounds on a new set of Joy-Cons. I can only think that's gonna be good. Yeah, it does make me wonder about the act, because it seems to look at the Joy-Cons, not the actual console, which is because obviously there is a battery in the actual console as well. So, yeah, so I mean, that's interesting. I mean, we're gonna get a new switch, that's the plus side. Um, this is not not gonna be an OLES screen.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:46

No, and you know, and again, I the the environmental piece and the you know, fixing things rather than just chucking it away and getting a new one, I get, because that's all all we do in this world is we we're very wasteful, we're not resourceful, we're not fixing things, we're just buying new one. So again, I get it, but it's like it's not a reason to buy another one. Do you know what I mean? Again, it's that that wouldn't that wouldn't be the thing that, oh do you know what, go on, then I'll get one now. You know, that that's not gonna be the thing, which is why I and I get, you know, I'll say cynically why they do it from the get-go. I get that they probably didn't have it in time for that, or it was already planned, so they couldn't do it. I get that it takes time to change a design to you know encompass that. If that took over the design, uh which I'm gonna is it gonna take over the the the original one? Is it gonna be alongside the the current model?

SPEAKER_00 1:20:28

You know, again I think we in the EU it will will take over it. So it will they'll they'll sell, you know, Amazon and all that will sell through the stock that they've got, and then that new stock with replaceable battery joy-cons of that will start to come through.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:42

Yeah, which like I say I I understand it, you know, I I completely get it, you know, to give people more of a chance, like say in light of things getting more expensive. Well, you compare it for £100 rather than spending £400 on a new one, well fine, you know, you're gonna spend the hundred pounds. So yeah, I I I do get it. You know, I do get it. And you know, I guess I guess in some respect, hats off to Nintendo for doing it. You know, like say if it's gonna replace the existing model, then yes, it will sell some, but it's not gonna be the thing that you know makes people buy it again, I guess. But again, they've got I they've got to be shown to be trying to be better, be cleaner, you know, be more environmentally conscious and environmentally friendly. So yeah, you know, it it's you know, it's it's a good thing that they're doing, you know, and like say, rather than just saying no, I'm gonna be switched to dead, you've got an opportunity to at least bring it back to life.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:28

Like I did four times with my Xbox 360. I think I got the red ring of death three or four times. Yeah, I got I think I got the red ring of death twice on the OG Xbox 360, and then I got it. I and I remember getting it on the second time, and I got excited because I'm like, oh, excellent. It means I can update to the elite, you know, the black one. So I updated the elite, and then I got the elite, and then about six months after I got the elite, I got it again, and I'm like, oh, for God's sake. And then at that point, I think Microsoft had turned around and said, we'll do a replace replace or refund policy. So then I got, I think I forgot my fourth Xbox 360, another black elite, which yeah, basically saw me right out until the Xbox One came around. So yeah, there was a some serious dead waste literally sitting around back in those days. So uh as long as we yeah, let's hope that doesn't happen again with the great graveyard of switches. Yeah, yeah. There's been there'd be a there'd be a little uh a little plot of land in Africa somewhere where someone's stripping all these switches down. But but yeah, but on that jovial note, that is us at the end of

Where To Find Us And Goodbye

SPEAKER_00 1:22:42

our podcast. Indeed. Uh we have successfully brought it in within an hour. Not actually, I'm looking, I'm looking at the clock now, and I think we're gonna be exactly the same amount of time we've done for the last two pods.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:53

With nothing but consistent. That's what we are.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:55

I think didn't did I send you a picture the other day of like once I uploaded it to Buzz Sprout. I think when I sent you the picture the other day, and we were in something like 57 cents.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:05

It was it was insanely close. It was too close to be think it was unplanned, but it really was.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:11

We should not we should either end it now and keep it, or we should just carry on for another like three hours, you know, and then just really sort of like maybe when the showcase comes around we'll break a two-hour podcast.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:21

Yeah, we'll just split it into parts.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:23

But uh, yeah, so that's it for this week's episode of Gamers of the Lost Spark Podcast. Don't forget you can keep up to date with us on social media at LostSpark Podcast. We are also now down with the children on TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:36

Dancers coming too.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:38

I did say that we should do a dance, you know, we should come out of a dance and do a TikTok dance, which I think Chess and found very funny. But uh, but yeah, so we will be snipping and clipping the podcast for bits and pieces. So find us over on social medias at Lost Spark Podcast. You can also also find us on YouTube where you can watch previous episodes if this is the first episode you've watched, and you can either go back for about 10 years and watch, you know, back to I think it was episode 40. So, Steve, where can people find you on Xbox, PS, YouTube, and social media?

SPEAKER_03 1:24:13

Pretty much everywhere I'm at Ste Carter91. I'm now very, very streamlined. So if you uh Instagram, PlayStation, Xbox, I think that's it. Yeah, I think that's pretty much where I had a Twitter, but no one uses Twitter anymore now, do they, anyway? So yeah, that's that's pretty much it. You find me on Instagram, you'll find me on Xbox, you find me on PlayStation. They're the three places, places you'll find me hiding out.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:34

Okay, cool. I am on PlayStation and Xbox, I am General Letdown. If you want to jump on and play some games. On social media, I am Mr. Stuart Burgess. So uh we hope you've enjoyed the podcast. If you have any feedback or you would like to get involved in the pod, please send us an email to Halo at gamersoffthelostspark.com or comment or drop us a DM on social media. There's so many ways you can get in touch with us these days. If you want to get involved, you've got a question, you've got an answer, you want to you know, come on the podcast, reach out, give us a shout, and uh we're happily uh welcoming you in.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:10

Yeah, definitely. Anything at all. I like seeing the comments drop in, so yeah, I'll try and uh check out and reply to comments. And we and we have had some, Stu, haven't we? You know, people that oh it's nice to see you back, which after you know six years' absence, it's nice that people's still getting the notifications and still finding us. So we're we're clearly doing something right.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:26

We've had a couple of nice pot we had a couple of nice comments about you know the PC game inside of it and next games become consoles becoming PC Game games consoles as well. So uh so yeah, please do comment because we love reading them and we'll try and get back to everyone. So uh so that's it. Yeah, thanks for listening to this podcast 179. So that makes the next one in a couple of weeks 180. So thanks for listening and thanks for jumping on board, Steve.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:52

No, thank you as always, mate, and uh thank you guys for listening. Excellent. See you next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:56

Cheers. Take care, mate.