Switch 2, Star Wars, and the Shape of Next-Gen

Retro joy met modern surprise the moment we put Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2 and saw a handheld punch way above its weight. We share what actually happened in docked and handheld tests, why performance felt close to PS5 at a glance, and where the cracks showed—two crashes tied to online checks that reminded us this era still leans on servers even when you’re playing solo. From there, we kept the momentum with a warm return to South Park: The Stick of Truth, Resistance on PS3, and a first look at EAFC26’s slower, more “authentic” match flow that rewards patience over sprint spam.

Then we zoom out. Sony and AMD’s Project Amethyst talk gave us the clearest PS6 signal yet: machine learning pipelines maturing, PSSR on PS5 Pro now, and “a few years” of runway before the next box. Meanwhile, Game Pass found itself in a messaging tangle—regional emails suggesting price holds for existing members, Ultimate gating day-one access, and the bigger question of how day-one drops really pay back. There’s still great value if Ultimate fits your budget—Football Manager, Outer Worlds 2, and more—but clarity matters when wallets are tight.

Nintendo played it smart on two fronts: stock you can actually buy and nostalgia that still charms. NSO added Mario & Wario, Fatal Fury Special, and even Bubsy, while Switch 2 sales sprinted ahead of PS4’s early pace. It’s a compelling pitch: carry big games, improve old ones, and make the next experiment easy to try. We also caught a PS Store “Animal Crossing-alike” that pushed the line far too close, and took a minute to appreciate the DualSense magic with a new Icon Blue edition—because feel still matters.

We close with community: a new Rocket League challenge, a platinum streak that won’t stop, and a very fun tease—a UK Donkey Kong high-score tournament in the works. That mix of cutting-edge and classic is why we keep doing this. If handheld power is calling your name, Switch 2 finally feels ready. If you’re riding the Pro wave, PS5’s ML story is getting interesting while PS6 forms in the wings. And if you’re choosing services, make the math honest: Ultimate shines when you use it.

Enjoyed the show? Tap follow, share it with a friend who loves games old and new, and drop a quick review—it helps more curious listeners find us. What are you playing this week?

The Gaming Blender
We mash genres. We pitch games. You question our sanity.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Blackpool Expo Afterglow & Retro Buzz
• 2:50 Housekeeping & Twitch Collab With Mags
• 3:45 What We’re Playing: DBD, Madden, Outlaws
• 10:20 Switch 2 Performance: Outlaws Deep Dive
• 16:20 South Park & Gen-7 Backlog Revival
• 20:10 Resistance, EAFC26, and Career Mode Tweaks
• 26:00 News: PS6 Hints, AMD, ML Upscaling
• 33:40 Game Pass Price Oddities by Region
• 38:10 Holiday Shooters, Battlefield vs CoD
• 40:50 [Ad] The Gaming Blender
• 41:30 (Cont.) Holiday Shooters, Battlefield vs CoD
• 42:09 NSO Drops: Mario & Wario, Fatal Fury, Bubsy
• 46:09 Copycat Watch: Animal Crossing Clones
• 50:09 DualSense Icon Blue & Controller Praise
• 53:19 Switch 2 Sales: Fastest Start Analysis
• 59:09 Game Pass Lineup: Day-One Math
• 1:05:39 Community Shoutouts & Subscriber Roll
• 1:14:19 What’s Next: Our Play Queue
• 1:19:19 Donkey Kong Tournament UK Tease
• 1:23:19 Final Reminders & Sign-off

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:21

Hello and welcome to the Unofficial Controller podcast. And it is me, RGT, and I am joined by well, fresh back from his travels, heading up north of all that retro goodness at the Blackpool Expo, a Scott A.K. Marathon Gaiman on the uh U Book or the FaceTube, as we call it. How are you doing, Scott?

SPEAKER_00: 0:43

I'm very good. I tell you what, I have got a sack full of retro goodness, ready to unload all over the audience of the UCP. That didn't take long to start. That did not take long. That's the beat. I'm feeling very good. Top top of my game this week. Um morale is high. Saw a lot of friends at the weekend, had a great time in Blackpool. It really reignited my fame for retro gaming and gaming in general. You know, when you're sometimes playing the same games, it's just made me want to reach out and diverse into different games, get into the backlog, some games I might have missed, ones I've had in a queue, which I in the backlog I haven't yet played. Yeah, even retro games I haven't played, getting back on watching more on YouTube, making more on YouTube. I've been dropping videos every 48 hours since. Um, it's just really got me right into gaming, just being of all those like-minded gamers and playing so many games. And yeah, I'm I'm feeling top of the world, RGT. Oh, I can tell.

SPEAKER_01: 1:45

I can tell. No, I'm I'm good, mate. I'm really good. Yeah, it's uh yeah, been looking forward to recording with you again and hearing all about Blackpool because uh I must admit I was a little bit jealous. I mean, you and Retro Red seem to have a hell of a time, and I still haven't been. I know my name is RGT, but I still haven't been. But hopefully next year we'll uh we'll get a bit of a road trip going. See if a few of the Discord will have a good meetup and we'll get a few of us to go. But um, yeah, sounds good. We'll speak a bit more about that in a little while. But um, I will say this is episode 289, so we're we're vastly very quickly heading towards that 300 number. So um, yeah, keep an eye out for that. And I'll also I'll say before we go into what we've been playing, um, just a little bit of housekeeping. Next week, everyone knows Mags, who's been on this show two or three times. Um, I know a few of you in the Discord have uh been to his Timeless Games convention, um, which has been in Bury and Liverpool and different places, Manchester, I think. Um, but anyway, um, so you all know Mags, big Twitch streamer, and he does his shows nightly on there. Well, again, we've been on there a few times, but next week there's gonna be three of us on there. So, as of this show is coming out, um this will be out on the Sunday. So, if you're listening to this on the Sunday, keep an eye out on the Tuesday, the 14th of October. Me, Scott, and George will be joining Mags for his Tuesday show. So, yeah, jump on Twitch, come say hi. Let's get the UCP family over there. Um, everyone say hi to uh Dave and Mags and we'll have a bit of fun over there because that that'll be good. So, yeah, Tuesday, 14th of October. Um, that'll be amazing. Yeah, looking forward to that. That's always a really good funny show. Um I love going on there with Mags because he's so enthusiastic and uh a great lad, you know. If you ever have a little wave in game and think getting a bit bored, just chat to Mags for 10 minutes. You'll see you'll soon get your passion back. Um, but yeah, so I think that might have to lead us into then uh you Scott and uh what you've been playing.

SPEAKER_00: 3:40

Well, I'll tell you, my good friend, I have been playing um of course Dead by Daylight, because I still enjoy that. That's our sort of cozy game. Can I just jump in there?

SPEAKER_01: 3:50

Because I saw I was I was on my switch the other day and I saw you were playing that, and I thought, oh friend online, see what Scott's playing. I thought, you've put a vast amount of hours in that game, didn't you? How did you look twice and then someone else picked up on your Discord on Marathon Gaming Discord, someone else picked up and went, My God, you've put some hours in that, Scott. I think it might be firm returns, but yeah, fair play.

SPEAKER_00: 4:14

Bearing in mind, I've played it on Steam, I've played it on Xbox, and I've played it on PS5 across all platforms. The Switch is probably the well, it's not probably, let's not beat around the bush. It's the worst place to play Dead by Daylight. Um, and I have played just on the Switch over 400 hours. That's how much time I've put into that game.

SPEAKER_01: 4:36

Fair play. That's your money's worth air, fella. That's your play.

SPEAKER_00: 4:38

It is, and the irony is I've probably only played 10 of those hours on the go. So I don't know why I'm playing it on the Switch. That just sums a lot up about myself and how much I love that little Nintendo hybrid. But yeah, so that's still our sort of go-to. We play a good couple of games before bed most nights, really. That's a little pre-sleep foreplay, a bit of Dead by Daylight. Um, but I've preached enough about that, so I'm really happy to actually talk about more games. If I was on the show last week, I'd probably say it's just Dead by Daylight. However, I've tried Madden 25 on a Switch, um, and I only played it for a brief moment. Straight away, as the audience loaded up, they had no heads. So I don't know if that pushed it to its limit. But the game, the game looked well. It played the Halloween version. Yeah, yeah. You have to DLC, pay for the heads, it didn't come with the uh big box for that one. But yeah, so I played a little bit of that, not enough of it. Um, I didn't go into amateur, I put it on like professional or whatever the second sort of toggle was, and I got my ass kicked. Um, but yeah, I had a quick play on that. It was great to play it. I played last Madden I played was 24 versus the Game Pass. I mean it would have been on the Series X. Um, and yeah, it didn't look it didn't look a bridge too far. Graphically, it was fine. Obviously, there was a performance issue of some heads missing, but um yeah, I played a bit of Madden 25, and um this is quite a big one, RGT. Um, it's a shame George, our leader, isn't on the show. I did message him privately, I sent him a few voice notes. I've been playing Star Wars Outlaws on the Switch. Oh, on the Switch 2. Now, I've actually at time of recording, I've got a video dropping where I talk a lot about this game. Check it out, Marathon Gaming on YouTube. If you haven't subscribed, make sure you do. I have played on the Switch 2 Donkey Kong Bonanza, I have played um Yakuza Zero and then Mario Kart. Now, let's exclude Yakuza Zero because it's not it's a port, it's not made for the Switch 2. However, Donkey Kong Bonanza and Mario Kart um weld, they are made exclusively for the Switch 2. Now, those games do look better than a game on a Switch. You can see the graphical upgrade. I've also played Switch 1 games on the Switch 2 and like a confirmed performance and graphical upgrades, upgrades, such as Harvestella, for example. Uh smooth, unlike your experience with it, um, and also very polished graphically. You could see it's been upgraded to some point. But my god, Star Wars Outlaws, as I loaded it, it reminded me of when I put um Hogwarts Legacy in the PS5. You know, when you're just looking at the shadows and just the paving and the exteriors and the landscaping, and you're like, wow, look at the way the puddles gleaming from this lantern onto this brick paving. It was that sort of thing, and performance-wise, it ran very smooth. And I have to say, RGT, without waffling for it too long, it is the best-looking game I have seen on the Switch 2 in terms of aesthetics and graphically, it was phenomenal. However, while I was playing it for an hour, it crashed twice. Now, the ventilation, yes, the ventilation wasn't kicking up. Um, I don't think the switch was overheating. It might be an anomaly because it's the thing is it's Ubisoft, right? You have to log into their servers to play a game, even if it's offline. That winds me up. That's a separate podcast in its own right. That is ridiculous. Um, that you have to do that. Yeah, I am not a fan of that. Not a fan, I'm not a fan of EA do it as well. Why? I don't want to play online. Let me play, but anyway, that's for another day. Um, but yeah, it did crash twice, but it said something to do with the servers. So why it needs to be on the servers, I don't know, because it's not a code in a box, it's a cartridge. Um, pretty hefty download. I'd say it was a good hour or half an hour to an hour. However, Madden 25 on the Switch 2, that was a good couple of hours. That was a long time downloaded. Yeah, but the actual game, how it's seven out of, I think it's brilliant. Anyone hasn't played it, there is some stealth, but which is why I wasn't too bothered. Um, but it's it's you play a thief, um, you've got a little sort of pet with you who you can use for attacks when you're stealthing. Have you played it yourself, RGT?

SPEAKER_01: 9:06

I haven't played it. Um, I was very sceptical. I'd I'd sort of been a bit Ubisoft out because I knew you know, and some of their games, and forgive me if you're a Ubisoft fan, and I do apologize, but some of their games are so half-assed. That's all about the quantity, not about the quality, you know. And that yeah, you know, and sometimes you know, some of the games I really enjoy, and I I that just put me off. I just and that sounds horrible thing to say. I didn't trust them with the Star Wars license, I didn't, but right.

SPEAKER_00: 9:35

Oh, they've done it justice, George.

SPEAKER_01: 9:38

George loved it. Seb said it was a good seven out of ten game, but also I did watch I'll just give it an eight. Yeah, well, I I I did watch a comparison video. Um I can't remember if that's Digital Foundry or one of 'em. Don't quote me on that. Um, but they were comparing PS5 and the Switch 2, and and although the Switch 2 had a slightly different colour palette, but that's not a downgrade, they just decided to do it a different colour palette. I tell you what, if to the untrained eye, you wouldn't be able to tell what was the PS5 in the Switzerland.

SPEAKER_00: 10:09

I'm glad I'm glad you said that.

SPEAKER_01: 10:11

Yeah, I was looking at it and I was thinking, I tell you what, that's showing what the the Switch 2 can do because not only have you got near enough the PS5 port, you've got it on the go.

SPEAKER_00: 10:23

I mean, that's mate, I I've done a I'm glad you said that because after a half an hour of playing, I paused it, I messaged George, and then I sent him another voice note a little while later, and then I was like, right, let me do a real test. And I put it in docked and I put it undocked and played it handheld mode, and it looked so good. I said, George, this game, if I sent you a picture of my screen and screenshotted it and told you I was playing it on the PS5, you'd go, Oh yeah, you would not question it. No, you wouldn't, and um, and obviously, tongue in cheek, he said, I've played it on the Switch 2, and he goes, and I've played it on the PS5. He goes, You can see a difference, but I tell you what, it is if you hadn't played it on the it's just the first time I've got a lot of it.

SPEAKER_01: 11:07

Just bearing in mind, George does have a switch, uh George does have a PS5 Pro. You might quite see the difference a little bit more there. That might just be given a little bit of horsepower, but anyway, yeah, sorry, carry on.

SPEAKER_00: 11:19

No, I was just gonna say it's it makes me wonder, is this a sign of because we're only what are we, three months into the Switch 2's life? Is it's two things. It's either this is the Switch 2 at its max. I mean, I've still got Hogwarts Legacy to try out, so that's a real good test, and Cyberpunk. So that'll be a test because I've played Hogwarts Legacy on a PS5, so I'm interested to see the comparison from my own point of view. It makes me wonder is this Switch 2 at its limits or can they do more? Because how they've got this game to run like that on a Switch 2, I really felt like I was playing the next generation of console. It did not feel like a Nintendo Switch, it did not look like a Nintendo, it looked like Nintendo in 2030. It was, you know, it looked like an upgrade. I've really, really blown away. Um, I know that might sound a bit odd to some people, but I mean I've been fan of Switch 2 since it came out, but this is a real step up this game.

SPEAKER_01: 12:18

I mean, for me, you was switch to, you know, okay, I've I've waxed lyrical about the switch to I love it. But I will say normally when I go on holiday, I tap my switch or PSP or bits and pieces, you know, PSP is obviously probably classed as retro now, but anyway, yeah. Um, but you always feel like oh I'm looking forward to getting home, getting the PS5 on, playing them big games again. But I took the Switch 2 this time, I didn't feel like I'd missed any gaming at home. I didn't at all. That's the first time I've ever done that because it does feel like you're taking that whole console up to spec with you. And uh yeah, it's it's it's a good feeling as well, just that little that little screen and that little case with you, knowing that you've you've taken your whole library with you. You could you can play all the big games, that's there with you, you know, and that's that's a nice and and your travel your travel dock, which you spoke about in the last episode. I mean superb, absolutely brilliant. Yeah, yeah. For the money, I mean you can go anywhere if you've got a TV, you can just pop it in. If you're in a hotel room, brilliant, absolutely brilliant for for very little space taken up. You you can take your you can take your whole console game in with you, you know. Very, very good. Um, anything else you've been playing, young Scott?

SPEAKER_00: 13:25

Yeah, I've been playing a little bit of retro. So I believe it or not, I've been playing Chase HQ2 and Rambo and Rambo 3 on the Sega Mega Drive, but wait for it, RGT, via a Chinese bootleg game cartridge. I got you got a video on this, haven't you? Yeah, I did. It was it I've got it all finted for about four pounds, and it I talked about it on a previous show, but it just made me laugh because it says four in one, and then there's a picture of six games, and of four games listed, only one of them's in the six pictures. There was so much wrong with a cartridge, it really made me laugh. So, yeah, I did a video and I had two fire extinguishers on hand when I filmed it because I was really concerned that my mega drive was going to catch fire. So yeah, I researched which fire extinguisher to use. Um, it turns out obviously I can't use water based and electrical. I went with a dry powder, but I didn't want to damage my stuff permanently. So I went for two CO2 canisters, which you're not supposed to use in a confined space. But I thought, worse comes to worse, the console will live and I'll die. And I can I can be happy with that. At least I've tried. But yeah, no, I played um I played those games, really enjoyed it. Um, but what I'm really interested to know, RGT, is how the devil are you getting on with South Park Stick of Truth? Because that's a game I've completed um myself. I know you've been playing it as part of your RGT Back to the Past. So I'd be really excited to hear that I was going to be coming on air with you this week, um, RGT. So please let me know. What have you been playing?

SPEAKER_01: 14:59

Well, we'll start off with that then. Uh Safe Park Stick of Truth. Um, if you're new to the show on our Discord channel, we do a thing called RGT Back to the Past, which Scott has just said, um, basically, we're just going through Gen 7 games. Me and uh one of our guys off there, uh Fats and Geef. Um, we've got a we got a list together a few months ago of all PS3 games or Xbox 360 games that we either haven't played, want to play, or'd like to revisit, and then each time we we've all ready to finish a game. We did start with the time limit, but we're not now. When we've finished the game we're currently playing, we put four up for a vote, and then you guys decide what we're playing. Well, this month, you know, like I said last week, I went neck and neck. We had a bit of a draw with Bayonetta and uh Safe Park, stick a truth, which then um ran out a winner on on the on the final vote. Um now Safe Park Mrs. RGT's really into. I'm sort of a fan, you know. I'd watch it if it's on, but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch it, so I find it quite funny. And also turn-based games I'm not really a fan of. But I will say, this for I'm playing on Pierce 3, by the way. Um this for a Pierce 3 game, brilliant, you know. You're you you're planning you're playing the show. It's it looks perfect, it runs perfect. You are playing the show, it's like you're watching an episode, and also for someone like me who doesn't really get turn-based, I'm not very good at turn-based, the turn-based combat is actually really good. I actually quite enjoy it. I'm I'm still not that far in. I've kept jumping in. I need to have good two or three hours in it, but I'm really enjoying it. I quite like it's it's simplicity in the game, but it's also got us challenges. Um, but it's literally go to a map, do that, come back, go there, do that, have battles on the way. It's just really good fun, it's simple, safe park, um, but really good. I mean, I think like I say, I picked this game up while I was away because I'd done the vote while I was away, and there was a CX near me, so I popped down there. I picked it up for like three pounds or three pounds fifty. So, I mean, on a PS3, this game's really affordable. I think it's on 360. I think they done a version on the PS4 or some Windows, um, I think it's on Switch. I mean, in Platinum, any, you know, like I say, if you listen to this, what I join in, jump on the Discord and um look down at RGT in the past, give us your opinions if you've played it or if you're now playing it, see where you get up to. We normally put mission markers in, we haven't on this because it's I think it's a 12-hour game.

SPEAKER_00: 17:24

Oh mate, it you you won't have any problem in people not completing it. That game is flawless. I was so glad when you chose it. Yeah, because mate, I I literally steamed through that, and it's like you you like how you described dredge back in the day as being well balanced. This just keeps you going and going, and it's hilarious, and like you said, you feel like you're you feel like you're in South Park, an episode.

SPEAKER_01: 17:50

Uh they've done a good job of that and and transferring it into a game, and you're 100% right, it is really well balanced. It lur it it teaches you as you go through, it shows you the bits, um, and even if you lose a battle, which I have two or three times, you uh you never feel like the game's cheated you as because you haven't quite got that attack on time, you haven't quite got the right healing, you know, it's very well done. Um, and I think it's a great little game. If you collect for sort of generation seven consoles, pick it up while it's cheap, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 18:22

I played it on a Switch, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:25

Why not? I mean, because the good thing is Save Park, the way that that show is animated and made is never gonna age. So even if you play the old version or a new version, it's always gonna look it's always gonna look like Save Park. So it's yeah, it's good. I'm having great fun with it.

SPEAKER_00: 18:39

It's on PC 360, you're right, it was on everything, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 18:42

It's on everything, so there's versions there to play. Um, also, as of recording yesterday, um when I finished work, um I played about half an hour of stick of truth, and I just kept thinking, I've been sorting out my PS3 shelf bits and pieces, and I thought, what haven't I what's a staple of PS3 that I haven't played? And I spoke about it briefly at the end of last week's show, and I thought, do you know what? I fancy a bit of the old first person shooter action. Uh Killzone's never really done it for me, and I was looking through and I thought, I haven't played Resistance really, not properly. Launch title, PS3, so I popped that in last night. Resistance played about the first two hours of the game. Um, yes, me and George spoke off air about it. It is a bit of a HD PS2 game, but you can forgive it. That you know, it's one of the very first titles on the PS3, so it's going to be like that. But I think it looks good, it plays well. I quite like the story for people that don't know. Resistance is actually made by Insomniac, who went on to do Spider-Man, funny enough. Um, but the story is that there is it's an alternate, you know, 1900s, and in 1930, I think this alien race landed in Russia and started this sort of almost plague that infected people and spread across all the way across Europe, and it got to England anyway, and you're one of the last soldiers left. Obviously, you are the resistance, um, and you're trying to get this this weapon to America, but unfortunately you get sort of shot down and and the game sort of spins on from there, and your battles to get through. Um, really good. Same again. I think it's only about a 12-hour game, but I keep look playing it thinking, yeah, I want to get one, two, and three done. I think tick them off as I'm uh I'm a bit of a PS3 fanboy at the moment and collect and half.

SPEAKER_00: 20:32

I thought there was I thought it was just two, and then a third was on PS Vita. Is there three on the same system?

SPEAKER_01: 20:39

I'm sure there's three on PS3, yeah. Um so yeah, uh you know, for for a pick up and play and go through and save points at the each little mission as you go through, checkpoints. Yeah, it's almost that Halo-esque, obviously not as good as Halo, not saying it is, but that's that Halo-esque gameplay that you sort of you get through and yeah, really enjoying it. Reminds me quite a bit of Halo actually with the aliens and um especially Halo 2 when you're in the sort of in in the Earth cities and stuff. So yeah, it's it's really good, really enjoying that. So I hopefully get some more of that done this week. And finally, I haven't played much this week, finally, again, as with recording what turned up today was EAFC26. Um, yes, I forget it's that time of year. People always know I get it every year. This year I've put I normally pre-order, didn't pre-order this year because I wanted to know what the switch 2 version would be like. Reason being is um there was a lot of room the switch 2 version was pretty much equal with PS5, and if it was 60 FPS, everything included I mean the last EAFC25 I've got, apart from the frame rate, the game is there pretty much. They've done a good job putting it on the switch, but I wanted to know anyway. So I hung on. I thought I'll wait to see the reviews, see what comes out. And what I got on was PS5. Um when I saw the reviews, uh they're locked at a 30 frames per second, and although you do get used to it, it's probably not quite so bad in handheld mode for a football game, the smooth flowing, all the rest of it. I just think you need that 60 fps, and and it surprises me they've done that on the Switch 2 because it's more than capable of playing that game in 60. I don't quite know why they haven't, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 22:31

They've gone for the safe option and they know it will sell well, regardless. So that's what they've done. It's a shame.

SPEAKER_01: 22:37

So I've gone I've gone with PS5 version, but I still think later down the line when the price drops a bit, um, I would probably get the switch version because it's just nice to have an EAFC if you're away, or you know, start your own little league, or um, I'm not even sure if it's cloud, if it's cloud save, you can then carry on. But anyway, um, but anyway, what do I think of it so far? Um, it's similar in quite a few ways as EAFC25, but in other ways it's quite different. Um the there's certain differences, little tweaks to um sign and players, bits and pieces, the way you um navigate the menus, which are quite like it looks a little bit more classier, um animation-wise, players and cutscenes, they're the same. Um but on the pitch, they now have a new way of playing. So you have your standard way of playing, or you have authentic mode, um which I've started in, and I think I'm gonna stay in. So authentic mode is a lot slower, a bit like how you would watch a match on TV. So it's not as arcadey as what EAFC was quick, quick, quick, up the pitch, bang, bang, goal. It's a bit more, you know, you can't just bomb away from players, it's a bit more closely tied in, like a real football match. Um, and I'm quite enjoying that. Um, I've started my my usual what I do, career mode, League 2. This year I've gone with Oldham. Um colour matched all my stadium. You know what I'm like, I'm a bit of a nerd with this. Current matched all my stadium, blue and white nets. I've signed all the young wonder kids that I think that are gonna be good, and um got all my good coaches in for youth so I can build up and make some new famous players. Um, but so far it plays well. Um is there enough changes from the last game at the moment? Maybe just enough in career mode. I don't know about online and and foot and all that, I don't play those. Um, but it's good enough. I think it's gonna be that game in the background again that ticks away. Um, I think the last three years I've slowly played less and less and less of over the year of EAFC, um, which even got me to thinking this year, do I buy it this year? Do I buy it this year if you're paying£60 year in, year out, if it's getting less and less and less. Um, but I did um enjoying it and I got a bit excited again for getting back into career mode, getting a team going, you know, let's get some sign-s going, train and let's make some superstars and and let's see what happens. But yeah, I'm um I'm enjoying it. That's only early days, but we'll see. We'll see how far and how many hours I put in, and then maybe when EAFC27 comes out, I'll decide then whether I get another one or not. But so far it's it's alright. I mean it is hard doing yearly games. Everyone says there ain't that many upgrades, but you've got 12 months to make another new game, so you have to keep adding on to the game that's out. Yes, I understand that. But I think I I think it was like£55 for the game. So it wasn't, you know, it's not the 70 bucks that you know, a lot of these are games at the moment, so I wasn't too bad with the price, but we'll see. I think if I get two or three hundred hours out of it for£55, I'm I'm happy with that, you know. So, yeah, we'll see how it goes. But yeah, that is um not much this week for me, but that is pretty much what I've been playing. Um, so I suppose we better say that we've scoured the darkest regions of the internet to bring you the latest news. Now, first up, this is over on Push Square again, um, one of our favourites, um, and this is by Liam Croft PS6 out in a few years as Sony AMD discuss uh the future of games from Project Amethyst to the future of play. Yeah, so that seems weird talking about a new gen, but uh when you think what these have been out now coming up for six years, normally that's about a seven, eight-year gen cycle. That's weird to think that, but uh anyway, Sony and AMD have today released a new video on a PlayStation YouTube channel that provides an update on the two companies' work on Project Amethyst, which sees them exploring the future of technology together. Uh, one part of this research shall result in the PS6, to which system architect Mark Cerny states overall, it's still, of course, very early days for these technologies, they only exist in simulation right now, but the results are quite promising, and I'm really excited about bringing them to the future console in a few years' time. The technology on machine learning that will improve graphics and gameplay in the future, for now at least, the PS5 Pro is benefiting from the research through a PSSR visuals upgrade next year. This has been described as the full fat version of the current FSR4 technology available now on PC. You can learn more about the technology and how the two companies are cut colour I can never say that, collaborating. There we go, in the embedded video above. So don't forget this is on push square. So make sure you click on there and have a read on there. These latest comments line up with the previous statements from Sony representatives who all point to a Pierce 6 release that's still a few years away. Earlier this year, Sony said he's working on a multi-year plan in terms of next the next generation. Rumour suggests a PS6 will launch alongside a handheld device, which Sony secretly seemed to be preparing via a new low power mode for the current PS5. There is also speculation of Sony again opting for a detachable disk drive for the PS6. Now I I found this very interesting, Scott. Um obviously there's still these rumours about the PSX come PS6 coming out plus a handheld. Now, are they trying to do a Switch 2? Are they gonna have a dockable handheld that is LinkedIn, or is it gonna be two standalones that I'm wondering whether they'll do the PS6 and then they'll have a full fat portal which will be able to play games, download games, but will also be able to stream your PS6 so you've got uh you know sort of two separate consoles but on one sort of account, if you know what I mean. Um but yeah, I find it interesting, and as and as also they seem quite uh linked in, especially with going with AMD as well. They seem dead set on a future together and be interested in what chips they're making, and whether it's like obviously the Series X and PS5 have got a very similar chipset, whether this is actually just gonna be a bespoke chip for Sony themselves, and and regardless of what Xbox are doing at the moment, if they're into the next gen, will they have a same chip or different chip? It's really hard to see. But yeah, I think it's interesting. I mean, what do you think about this, Scott?

SPEAKER_00: 29:34

Well, I feel like they're planting a seed very early, so I'm assuming the only reason why you would do that, have you got to think about it? We've only just had a PS5 Pro this year, so they're talking about a PS6, so it's got to be at least two years off until it's coming out. Surely they can't be talking about it for next year, can they?

SPEAKER_01: 29:52

No, and I think normally normally when a generation is really successful, especially with Sony, they tend to eke that. Generation out a bit longer, you know. They sort of did with a PS4, didn't they?

SPEAKER_00: 30:04

Yeah, and the pros normally a bit like the OLED on a switch, it's like a half-cycle thing. So that's how you measure it. So you think it would be two, three years to the PS6. So it makes you wonder why do they need to let people know? So I think they're fearing the competition because the PS5 portal was great, it is great. It had a dodgy launch because no one understood it. That to update it a little bit. Everyone thought it could be played remotely like a switch, but no, you need that internet connection. It wasn't clear, they ballsed up, right? However, they've sorted that out now. People understand. Um, it's been great for me because I made to pick one up really cheap. There's loads available because they seem to have people brought them and didn't realise they couldn't play them and got rid of them. Um, but it just seems, yeah, a very strange thing to let people know early. I noticed the Xbox have got their own handheld coming out, which I think is very soon, possibly November. I'm not sure I might have double checked that.

SPEAKER_01: 30:57

I think it's start of November, I think. The the sort of the rogue alloy sort of clones Xbox sort of thing, what they're doing.

SPEAKER_00: 31:03

Yeah, and I think I think place I think Switch um is sort of in its race of its own at the moment. I mean, we'll probably come to it a bit later on, but the switch is at the moment, in its first three months, has outsold the PlayStation 4, which is very successful. So it's smashed that out of the park. I think it's just trying to hang on. So you what you got is you've got a collection of people who are sitting on a fence. So if you haven't got a Series X and you haven't got a PS5, you have to make a decision now. Christmas is coming. So mums and the like, people with spare change, might be going, Oh, do we go to Switch? Do we go to Xbox? Do we go to PS5? So I think everyone's just showing their cards early, saying, you know, I I talked about it when I did my solo show. I was talking about a blimmin speaker that's coming out next year. Like, why are we talking about that? Anything that's in the pipeline is being thrown out now because Christmas is coming and they don't want to use it, they don't want to lose anyone who's not sure on which console they want. They want to show everything that's available and that will be available in the coming years to make sure they retain their current market audience. I think that's what they're doing, mate. I think it's a little bit. I mean, if anything, I I see a bit of weakness in PlayStation there, the fact that they've had to, I mean, there's no need to drop that information right now.

SPEAKER_01: 32:26

Well, I I think personally, I think the landscape in game in the last two years has changed drastically. Um, and with with with all the woes at Microsoft and Xbox at the moment, and I think with all them rumours that have been firing out that that Xbox aren't making a next generation console. I think Sony have just gone and Mark Cerny have gone, look, let's put this out, let's reassure them. All right, they might not be making one. We are, we are making one. Don't worry. You you can have a PS5, uh PS6 or or this new handheld Vita 2, whatever that'll be, Portal 2, they're all coming. Don't panic, you don't need to worry. And I think they're they're almost trying to steady the ship because it's it's it's you know, it's rough waters at the moment out there for these companies. I think the only one that is just plugging away in the background, they're selling the consoles, they're even and I hadn't had many games out at the moment for the system is Switch 2. They're just sitting there chipping away, they're you know, like you say, they're selling a lot of hotcakes. They done a they done a master stroke by having the stock there at launch, so you didn't have to worry. You know, nearly everyone could get one. It was very few that would, you know, couldn't. Um, and I think they're just the same again, Nintendo are doing their own thing, they're chipping away on the back. But I think with the Sony and Xbox situation, I think Sony have almost sort of tried to detach himself away from the rumors and sort of said, no, we're doing a console, don't panic. PSX is coming, you know, we're actually doing it now. And I say it is strange to launch a video with one of your chip manufacturers that it does seem odd, but like you say, it's a bit of panic there. And I think there, you know, I was talking off air with George earlier, and there's almost this sort of there's a bit of a whiff of a game crash coming, and I think Sony is sort of saying, Whoa, hold on, let's just stop like I said, steady the ship, let's put it out there. Us and AMD are working together, don't panic. We've got this new system coming, everyone's alright, you know, you can buy this. Although I did hear there was a bit of a rumour, I don't I can't see it being true, but there was a bit of a rumour come out today. This isn't on Push Square, this is just something else I saw. Um that the there was rumours of PS6 is gonna be a thousand bucks.

SPEAKER_00: 34:32

That's gonna that's true, I think.

SPEAKER_01: 34:34

If if that's true, I mean that's gonna be a tough, tough sell, I think. A thousand bucks is that's that's a big chunk of change for a hobby. Do you know what I mean? You're then getting into uh you're then getting into uh of limiting your market down a bit, but we'll see.

SPEAKER_00: 34:54

These are all rumors um a PS5 Pro's 7, right? So I expect it to be 899. What I think it's gonna be, it's gonna be 899, right? So it'll be just under 900, and then it will bring out some whatever the perials or attachments that come with it, or controller, special controller, and it would take you up to a grand. I reckon it would be 899.

SPEAKER_01: 35:17

Do you know what? I think you're hitting L on the head deck because I think when the PS4 Pro come out, I was a bit lukewarm to get into it. I was a few months late getting on that. Uh, I think I paid around about 400, 430, something like that. And the PS5 launched about 530, so it's about a hundred bucks different. So I think I think you're about on the money there. Yeah, I think you're about right. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of money, but we'll see. These like I say, these are all rumors, so it's interesting. If you want to read more or see the video, pop on to uh uh push square and and check that out. Um, I'll just jump on my last bit of news for hand over to you, Scott. Um, and this one's over on Pure Xbox again, and our friend again, Fraser Gilbert. Um, strange Xbox email suggests Games Pass price increase doesn't apply to certain members. Um Microsoft confirms it's legit for some countries. Now Fraser writes Microsoft has now confirmed that the email is official. Um and it quotes, our recent Games Pass update remains unchanged. Current subscribers in certain countries will continue renewing at their existing price for now, in line with local requirements. We'll provide advance notice before price adjustments take effect in these countries. The Verge is now reporting that the email is genuine and from Microsoft and notes that Xbox Games Pass, members in the likes of Austria, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Poland, and India are all getting it. Well, pure Xbox let you know if Microsoft provides an official follow-up statement on the matter. Now the original story was that we're obviously all aware of the Xbox Games Pass, Ultimate and PC Games Pass price hike that's rolling out in most regions right now, but certain members are potentially not affected by it, primarily um in Europe it seems. Today lots of people have been sharing an apparent new email from Xbox that claims the increases will only apply to new purchases and will not affect your current subscriber in your region. And the origin of the email is in places like Austria and Germany, um, and that's what we just had a closer look at. Now um that's really interesting. Yeah, the article goes on. Check it out on Pure Xbox, what I say, Fraser Gilbert, jump on there, have a look, and have a read through it, goes it goes on a bit more. But now the only thing I can think of, when I first read this, I sort of thought, how does that work then? How come some people have got the price hike now and some people haven't? Does that is it people who have paid in advance or is it people who are paying monthly? I didn't quite know. And then I thought, when I've read that again there on that email, it seems to confirm that it's certain. I mean, let me just find that quote again. It says, Our recent Games Pass update remains unchanged. Current subscribers in certain countries will continue renewing at the existing price for now, in line with local requirements, which tells me that they have laws in that country that you can't just suddenly price hike until maybe a membership has run out, or maybe a membership tell you what.

SPEAKER_00: 38:33

I know it's going off a man, two-year contract locked in, right? And about three months into it, I got a letter through saying they're putting the prices up eight pounds. And I was like, hold on a minute. But yeah, it's it's legal. So do you know what? Fair play to what was it, Germany and Austria?

SPEAKER_01: 38:48

It is, I'll tell you what we from what we know as of recording this, um, which is the Thursday before the Sunday release of the show, so this is the ninth today. Um, so as of the ninth, um, and this this update came out on the seventh, the Tuesday. It is of Australi, it is in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Poland, and India, as we know for now. So that tells me they've obviously got some sort of consumer law there. Like, whoa, hold on, you can't just chuck that up. So these people might have, say, for instance, they might have bought Games Pass in advance, a bit like people do on PS Plus when that's on a Black Friday sale, and they might have got two years in advance, so that maybe that price hike won't start until that runs out, or they buy more. So I wonder if that's what it is. And they got a law there saying no, you can't because you've sold it to them at that price.

SPEAKER_00: 39:41

So yeah, so what you're saying is there's no price hike if you're nowhere near Berlin. That's all I took from that article.

SPEAKER_01: 39:48

Very good. I like it. Yeah, it's it's it's a strange one, and there's these yeah. I even saw uh I was watching a bit of new gaming news earlier, and they were sort of saying this seems a bit of a panic email has gone out, and surely, yeah, surely Microsoft knew these rules before announcing the price hike because they now had to backtrack in these areas, and it still isn't quite clear. But again, at the moment, it's it's a bit of each week we come on here and we record there's there's something more about Xbox and what's going on. So we'll we'll keep you posted. Um, if we know any more by next week on on these these price hikes, and as of this show coming out, that might have changed a bit more, but um we'll see because I mean I said last week I thought ball of time this week's show come out, Xbox would have backtracked on their big price hike. They haven't um they haven't backtracked, so we will see. We'll see. Um we'll see watch this space and and we'll see what happens with that. But um, yeah, I'll I'll hand over to you now, Scott, and and what have you got there for us?

SPEAKER_00: 41:20

I've got a few interesting articles, and we'll um some of them won't need much time, but just want to bring up a couple of bits really. First of all, we were just talking about some big games that lead up to Christmas. I know we've not had Halloween yet, but we are starting to see big games getting announced. Um soft, not just well, hardware, like accessories. We're starting to get near Christmas. The catalogue's coming through the door. Little Little Woods and Index and Argos, they're all coming through. Get your Christmas list out, start writing down and chuck it in the fire. I think that's what people still do. Oh, little woods, I remember that. Ringing what I wanted on Littlewoods with the felt tip. Now, our very own Boba from the Discord, um, he's been testing the old beta for COD Black Ops 7, I believe. I think I saw that today on that recording. There's another big game with that in mind. So um by the time you listen to this on Sunday, just a few days ago, um Battlefield 6 would be dropping. So that's another big game that's come out, um, which people are testing at the moment, which is uh long-awaited Battlefield 6 from EA that launched on October 10th. Um, so that's quite a big game. So it'll be interesting to hear the comparisons between the two. I know obviously that are different games, but you do it's a it reminds me of RGT of the whole FIFA and Evo days, you know. You wouldn't get people playing both of them, especially if they played about a similar time of year. It was a real a real uh sort of war. Diehard battle on which one side you're on. Yeah, I mean I've enjoyed both of them, but I just thought it's not in just in case people have slept on it, there's a lot of especially with a Switch 2 being a new console, there's a lot of um games coming around, so I just thought it's probably worth just mentioning to people, just letting them know that game is available.

SPEAKER_01: 43:09

And as well, that just reminded me, sorry to jump in while we were talking about Call of Duty as well. Yeah, sure. Um, there was an article that came out that um because Xbox apparently these price hikes um because they put the new law, the latest Call of Duty, they put it straight onto Games Pass. Um apparently they lost 300 million in sales um of the game, hence why now I think that's been shoehorn bars. That's why now you can only play Call of Duty on Games Pass if you've got Ultimate. Um yeah, and that's why the price hike, the rumours are, yeah. So that wow, I won they lost 300 million in sales because it went. Yeah, I think Microsoft have looked at it and the big bosses have looked down and said, Well, hold on, hold on here. You know, you've put this on Games Pass. We lost 300 million in sales of game, so I think we uh we need to adjust this.

SPEAKER_00: 44:03

And that's a do you reckon that's what spurred on emergency board meeting? Let's change the tiers. There must have been a discussion that happened because PlayStation done it and it worked successfully. And obviously, wow, because that's obviously that was the big news in the show you did last week with George. If you haven't listened to that, guys, check that out.

SPEAKER_01: 44:20

Yeah, and I think they paid all them them billions, all them billions for Activision. Um, and that was pretty much because they wanted Call of Duty. Then they chucked Call of Duty on Games Pass, which I think they expected to gain another 15-20 million subs because of putting it on there, and that didn't happen. So if they'd actually sold the game, they'd had another$300 million. So that's what they lost in game sales, and I think that was the time when they said, right, price is up, you can only play Call of Duty if you're on the 30 bucks tier a month. So wow, that's yeah. So anyway, sorry to jump in there. I just that just I'll let you carry it.

SPEAKER_00: 44:56

Yes, worth saying. Um, so this is the Nintendo Switch news of the week. So on October 8th, Nintendo Switch Online shadow dropped a free SNES games, highlighted by the official release of Mario and Wario for the first time outside of Japan. Along with Mario and Wario, Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can now enjoy Fatal Fury special, which is quite interesting because um I remember having that on the Mega Drive. I know it's on the SNES, but very, very pricey. That's SNK, isn't it? Yes, it is SNK. Yeah, Neo Geo, Terry on the box, the old red cap, or is it orange? Um, and then here's a funny one because me and George, I think, talked about this not long ago. Um, Busby, Bubsby the Bobcat, in Clause of Encounters of the Third Kind. A little pun on the old third as in furry. So the first entry from the Buzz Busby series, um, because we did talk about that being uh remastered, and we were like, why? No one wants it. But yeah, those have um just popped up. Um, I mean, Mario and Wario, a 2D puzzle game, that was originally released in Japan in '93. So that is a strange one just to bring over, but obviously they can do, which is pretty cool. Um, so yeah, I mean, players control a fairy who can add or remove various objects and obstacles, which in turn allows Mario to make his way to Luigi. Similar to Mario Paint, Mario and Wario requires mouse controls to play, so that's why it's cool, RGT.

SPEAKER_02: 46:25

We can finally get to use the mouse.

SPEAKER_00: 46:28

Um, we have had Mario Paint come, but I still don't think there's enough point and clicks or enough in that game. I mean, it was a bit laughed at when I brought that to the news all those weeks ago. But I think that's really cool, and no one would have played it. It's a Japan had released, we haven't had it in the Western world, yeah. Um that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01: 46:45

That's nice, I like that. And I think with Bubsby, yeah, people will always remember Bubsby 3D on the PS1, which was absolutely atrocious. I mean, fair play to developers, 3D was new, and they jumped on the new 3D, and they just weren't quite ready for it. But the actual, I think, if I remember right, the actual 2D Busbys were okay. I think they were all right platformers. They're there were.

SPEAKER_00: 47:06

Yeah, I mean, we got this, we got the SNES and a Genesis version, so Mega Drive for us in Europe. Um, so that's available, and obviously it's been talked about, so it's very well, it's it's in the moment, um, and it's current, which is good. And I'll tell you what, Fatal Fury's interesting. So it's a 1993 fighting game, as RGT said, by SNK. And now let's be honest, Neo Geo, that's for the cool kids. This I think this is Nintendo saying, hey, we've got something for the older audience, because this isn't going to be a good one.

SPEAKER_01: 47:33

Only the coolest, only the coolest, let you say for the fishes.

SPEAKER_00: 47:37

Yeah, yeah, and this is reminding me of the whole this is a reminding me of the whole um Sega versus Nintendo war. I feel like they're taking it to PlayStation, Xbox here, they're like, hey, we've got we've got a big game coming.

SPEAKER_01: 47:50

Well, I'll say something controversial. I I I think I think of the subscriptions that are out there, Games Pass, the Nintendo Online, or the PS Plus, and I've said this before, I think the Nintendo one is the best subscription service. Um I agree, I agree. You don't feel tied, you don't feel financially burdened by it because it's what is it, 37 or 40 bucks a year, and you just get all these retro games to play, and the rest is up to you. And I just think that is the best service. There's a little bit of online with some nice benefits, and that is it. The others are just trying to go bigger and bigger and bigger, and as we can see, one of them's struggling. So, yeah, fair play, Nintendo. I do like the online service. They could have gone for a big 30 bucks a month, but they haven't. They've done it a year, play once a year, and you get all these retro games to play. So if you're not a collector but you're interested, you got them on your switch to play. I think, yeah, fair play. That's good, very good.

SPEAKER_00: 48:44

Definitely. Um, and so speaking of stick with PS5, I've got a couple of PS5 bits um to get on to. Um, and then what I'll do is I've got some Xbox as well. I'll try and we want to try and bring news for every console because obviously we've got quite a wide audience. So, for you PlayStation fans, this is RGT, do us do us a favour. This is quite a funny one. While I'm waffling, I want you to Google a game called Anime Village Online. And while I read this next article, so a game has appeared on PlayStation Store that looks exactly like a popular Nintendo franchise Animal Crossing. In addition to having an extremely similar option, the game could easily be used to describe Animal Crossing New Horizons. Now, the gameplay pictures RGT and even the cover art is how they've got how they've got away with it. And I think I don't think it's gonna make it, right? Copycat games on digital distribution platforms have become unfortunately common in recent years. Some of them are ripoffs with little in common with the actual game beyond the title, while others do a decent job of replicating the gameplay of the original. But in either case, the developers are typically trying to capitalize off of gamers who stumble across their game instead of the real thing. Now, I agree because this looks exactly like it. So this game, Animal Crossing like PS5 game, basically appears online. So a game called Anime Village Online has appeared on a PlayStation store. This is on right now. The title might be enough to raise some eyebrows, but the real issue and description of the game and the included image, which is blatantly similar to the art style found in Animal Crossing, the image shows a cartoony girl leaping into the air with hills and trees in a background with such strong similarities in her art styles that one could easily mistake it for a promotional image for the upcoming Animal Crossing game. Description details a solo cart game of up to 10 players. The gameplay revolving around building a home, decorating, growing crops, and catching fish. Hmm, sounds similar. The game also claims that cross-platform multiplayer will be available when the game launches in 2027. So they've really messed up because I don't know why they've leaked this, because it will definitely get taken down in 2026, let alone 27. What was that other one?

SPEAKER_01: 51:00

That Pokemon one they done. There was a Pokemon one that's still going now, and that's a big legal battle. What was that called? Uh um, where you go out and catch creatures that's like Pokemon with guns, in it's on Xbox Games Pass and all that. It's it's got a bit of a whiff of this about it, and I just googled it and looked. I hadn't heard of it. Oh my god, I thought it was Animal Crossing. They've used the same characters and everything.

SPEAKER_00: 51:21

Well, I think they've I don't know why they've announced it so early. Maybe they have to, but there's another game RGT. Feel free to look this up. So there's an Animal Crossing copycat game, and it was it was released on PlayStation Store, and it was removed earlier this year in 2025. It's called Anime Life Sim. And obviously, Anime Village Online and Anime Life Sim are very similar. Now that game's been removed. I think it's the same developers, to be honest with you, and publishers. I think they've recloned it, skinned it.

SPEAKER_01: 51:52

Yeah, that looks oh my god. How no wonder this was taken off. This is that well, if I show you the pictures, you'd say that's Animal Crossing, without a doubt. That is Animal Crossing.

SPEAKER_00: 52:04

I've seen it, I've seen it, mate. When I was yeah, when I was doing my research, trying to look it.

SPEAKER_01: 52:08

Um yeah, even the faces and the way they look, everything is yeah. That other one I remembered Power World. Power World was the was the uh Pokemon clone.

SPEAKER_00: 52:19

Yeah, I mean that's not gonna make it, surely, RGT. Why'd they announce it? 2027, that's not gonna see Christmas.

SPEAKER_01: 52:27

Well, I wonder if they're because they're probably about halfway through the dev cycle, they're probably thinking, should we just release it, see what happened so we don't get it, see all the work. Yeah, yeah, and if they don't take us down now, we might do it. But I watched that reminds me. I watched an interview the other day um with Eric Baroni, who'd done Stardew, as his first sort of podcast he'd done, and they said to him, So many people have cloned your game. Does that bother you, or do you not take them down? And he said, Well, no, because one, that's quite flattering, and two, I copied Harvest Moon. So I'll be a bit hypocritical if I went and which is fair play, fair play, you know. And as a small developer, he he thought that was quite flattering that people thought his game was that good they wanted to make their own version. But I think for Nintendo, I mean, that is just almost stolen their IP. I think I can't see that, I can't see that being released, surely not.

SPEAKER_00: 53:20

Surely not, but I've got something that will definitely be released. So that's a bit of a probably a bit of a I've done the uh PlayStation 5 fans out of uh a news story there, so I'm gonna give them a nice story. So I think it's I I mean my page has just crashed that I'm on. I'm hoping you can still hear me, RGT. But there's a PS5, there's a PS5 controller, an icon blue special edition.

SPEAKER_01: 53:41

Oh you saw this coming out, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 53:43

Yes, that is actually by the time the guys listen to this show, it should be out that week. Um I'm struggling to load the okay, I've got it back up. I'm gonna try and describe it as best you. It is a do you know what it is? It's a spot on PlayStation Blue. Do you know what I mean by that? It's a PlayStation blue.

SPEAKER_01: 54:00

It reminds me of my I've got the blue, I've got the blue Super Slim PS3, and that's that sort of deep PS screen.

SPEAKER_00: 54:07

Describe it as an a neon blue, if you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, very powerful. So it's an icon blue special edition dual sense wireless controller, um, which is a new PlayStation 5 peripheral releasing on October 20th, West Canada, guys, and then 28th, Mexico and Chile. I don't actually know the European date. When I find that out, I'll put it into the Discord, but I would have thought pre-orders would be on. Um, because I just thought I'd let everyone know that because we had a 20th anniversary PlayStation controller and it went out of stock really quick, so I thought we'd let the guys know. Any fans of the show, just let them know and then they can get their pre-orders in. But yeah, check it out online.

SPEAKER_01: 54:45

Part two, one, and that that went out pretty quick. So I pre-ordered that. Luckily enough, I got an ordering on there. But they can't.

SPEAKER_00: 54:51

And I'll be very honest with you, yeah. Someone who's played on Xbox, who has an Xbox and has a PS5, um, and obviously I'm a big Switch fan. I'll be very honest, the best controller I've ever held. No, it's not a Switch Joy-Con, it is a PS5 Pro controller. Um, you know, like you say, the feedback on the driving games RGT, which I know you're a fan of, those it's another level of technology, isn't it? They've really I think they've really won with the controllers.

SPEAKER_02: 55:19

I think they've got one.

SPEAKER_00: 55:20

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01: 55:21

I mean, that's pretty cool. I went around to see my friend the other day and he's playing that uh Ghosts of Yotai. Um, and um he was he let me have a quick go on it with his dual sense, and oh, that felt so good when you're doing the samurai sword and everything through the dual sense, it really adds to the game, superb. And you that's when you sort of I've always said the dual sense best control I've ever used, and then when you play things like that, you think, yeah, yeah, that is that is the best controller.

SPEAKER_00: 55:48

It is spot on, yeah. Right, one more quick thing from Nintendo, and then I will move on to Xbox um to wrap the news up. So, Nintendo Switch 2, we touched on this earlier briefly in the show, has sold over 2.4 million units in the US within its first three months. According to a new report from Game and Industry Market Firm, the reported sales of Switch 2 put it 5% ahead of the record-setting pace held by PlayStation 4, which sold an estimated 2.2 million units in the US from November 2013 to the end of January in 2014. Since its arrival on June 5th, the Switch 2 has quickly set sales records in various markets. With the first several weeks of availability, the Switch 2 became the fastest selling console in the US, selling over 1.6 million units in its first month. The Switch 2's rise in the US was in part due to the success of first-party Nintendo games such as Donkey Kong Bonanza and Mario Kart World, alongside back or compatibility with most Switch titles, which include, I like Dead by Daylight for Christ's sake, sold it out Nintendo, which included games like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, which received update to take advantage of the upgraded hardware. The Switch 2 selection available titles continues to grow. Three months into the span, the new industry sales report indicated more continued growth of Nintendo's latest console. As reported by Matt Piscatella of Sagana, the Switch 2 sold a record break in 2.4, which is amazing. So yeah, 5% more than PS4 within its first 90 days, um, which has smashed the previous record of 2.2 million units sold. By comparison, the Switch 2 sold an estimated 2 million units in Japan between June 5th and mid-September. Nintendo's Little Console was offset with Carlin South figures of PS5 series. Basically, it's smashed the granny out of it, RGT. I don't know what more to say. I know we touch on it every few weeks, but it's giving it a nice update. That is a whole quarter we've had, so it's a very good reflection rather than talking week by week, month by month. But obviously, I know we talked about how well Nintendo done. They beat the scalpers, um, they got the logistics right, and to be fair to them, they've had the biggest obstacle because you might think, right, COVID would affect Series X and PS5. Do you know what? That's not a big obstacle as Trump tax for importing and export goods in America.

SPEAKER_01: 58:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 58:14

How they've managed to get around that is mind-blowing. So fair play to them. I mean, they've done a bit of smuggling, they've probably shipped things to Mexico and Canada and drove through the borders, and fair play to them is a bit like Cheech and Chong over there. The Switch 2 was available everywhere. Yeah, I think that's absolutely awesome.

SPEAKER_01: 58:31

I think there's sort of two main things with what Nintendo done here. That was one, they had a massive fan base there ready, who really wanted the Switch 2. I mean, there's some hardcore, a lot of the Nintendo's owners are hardcore, they love it. You know, it's one of the only consoles that you'd have three or four in a household, you know, you don't have three or four PS5s, or rarely. And then secondly, no chance, secondly, the distribution, they were ready. They made these in stocks, they've been making these for years ready, so the availability was there. So they'd got the hype, they had the fan base, and they had the stock. And I think if you want to launch a console, I know there haven't been many games before. Everyone uh you know is shouting at the the radio in their cars, oh GT, but there hasn't been hardly any Switch 2 games. I know that most consoles are like that, but the actual launch of it and how they done it, that's that's how you launch a console. I think that's how you do a console. And it's got to think.

SPEAKER_00: 59:28

Sorry, Taraji. Sorry, I just button, but you know how excited I get with this. Obviously, we've had two big IPs, right? We've had Donkey Kong, we've had Mario Kart, they've brought over so two very successful IPs. Then what they've done, they've paused it and they said, you know what? We can do what the other boys done. They brought over Cyberpunk, they brought over Star Wars Outlaws, they're bringing some of those parties over. Um, and then they've jumped back on and they've gone, okay, let's give them something they've not had for a while. Kirby Air Riders has come in, and then what's the biggest IP at the moment on um Nintendo, other than Mario Pokemon? We've also got that coming in October. So they're mate, they are on it like a carbonnet.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:03

They really well, also, I mean, yes, the games aren't there, but we have to have every console, that's nothing new, that's not a Nintendo thing, but also because the backwards compatibility is so good, you know, you can still buy Switch games on the cheap and play, and they play even better and run even better and look even nicer. This it's very well thought out, very well done. And the thing I liked, I remember when I got my PS5. I mean, I was worried someone was going to burgle me out for it because I got it on launch and pre ordered, one of the very few, you know, and you think it's Don't tell anyone because someone's going to kick your door in in the middle of the night and steal it. But with the switch too, I had a friend at work, he was into his switch, but he's also Steam Deck. And he said, Can I have a go on your switch too to see if I want to buy one? This was about three weeks after I got it. I took it into work. He had a play, went, I really like that. I'm going to get one. That weekend, he went out to the shop, walked in, picked one up and bought it. The stock was there. Very well done.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:53

And uh and that is a it's a good thing to say, actually, RGT, because it makes me laugh, right? On some Facebook groups and gaming groups, you get people jumping in and they'll send a picture of their Walmart in America and they'll show a Nintendo Switch display, right? And they'll put like, ha ha, no one's buying Nintendo Switch 2. It's overpriced. Look how much they got left in stock. No, it's stock. You don't you don't go into Tesco, right? And then and take a picture of the soap and go, ha ha, no one's buying soap. Do you know what I mean? It's on the shop, it's on the it's on the shelf because people are buying it. It's a problem when it's not on the shelf. The problem is having a laugh that there's stock there, surely.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:29

No, that that's the same people over at a picture of the shelves when they're empty saying, ha ha, Nintendo can't keep the stock up. So they're gonna it's just well stocked and it's well done. Just look at the figures and you'll realize that there's stock there and it is selling. You know, it's the best-selling, you know, it's exactly it's it's well done. Yeah, it's very, very well done. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:47

Well, speaking of best selling, um, let's see if Xbox is still the the leading subscription service because I don't know how they're getting on. It'd be interesting to know how they compete game pass-wise, um, with the PlayStation Plus. We've not touched on that for a while, but I have got um, because we've only gone a little light on Xbox this week, just to wrap the news up, I've got some releases, RGT, of um of Game Pass. And obviously, I thought it's quite interesting because a lot of people, even our own friends of the show, have in our Discord groups have been talking about canteen subscriptions and so on, unless you're in one of the countries RGT mentioned earlier, where the prices don't change. Um, so I thought I'd run through these RGT, and if you want to make a note of any worthy of talking about. So these are releases from October 8th. So we've got Supermarket Simulator. Oh, I set the world on fire with that one. October 9th, you've got Boulders Gate Enhanced Edition. You've also got Boulders Gate 2 Enhanced Edition. Um, October 14th, you've got the casting of Frank Stone. On October 15th, this is a day one release. This is Borex Pit. Um, October 15th, this is an early one, the Grinch Christmas Adventures. On October 15th, you've also got uh Eternal Strands. Um, that's on premium. The ones before that are all Ultimate and Premium. Then you've got Here's Coming on premium on October 15th, uh Ninja Guide and 2 Black, which is premium, which is October 15th, which is available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and in PC. Uh that's been since Jan, isn't it? So um, and then we've got PAX Die, which is October 16th. We've got Keeper on October 17th. They are both day one releases. Um, and then we've got Evil West, October 21st, which is returning title. That was last available in March, but it was furtherly removed. So I think they're bringing games back to probably justify, I guess. Some more day one releases, quite a few here. So October 23rd, we're getting Bounty Star and Power Wash Simulator 2, one for George. October 29th, a day one release, Outer Worlds 2. Um, here's one for Digital Monkry, Football Manager 26, day one release, November 4th. And then on November 12th, we've got a day one release for Winterboro, Call of Duty Black Ops 7, November 14th. Of course, it's a day one release, and then Moonlighter 2, the Endless Vault, November 19th. Now, I'm gonna come to you, RGT, because there's nothing there that excites me, unfortunately. So I was hoping you might be able to shed a bit of light on um if there's any any value for Buck there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:04:14

Um I think they've um covered quite a few bases, it's quite a few different genres there, and I think for your day ones, like Football Manager 26 coming day one is that's quite a big one. There's people love that game. And I and I saw a video the other day that really enhanced it this time. The match play and the games you watch, it looks really good, and they've put a new end, it's a whole new engineering, so that's quite interesting. Um, but what does interest me is or intrigue me, I should say, is how does this affect because I know now day one releases only count on Ultima. So does that depend whether you've still on Ultima or not? I'm not quite sure if anyone who's got Games Pass, let us know. Um, email us or you know, questions at unfinished controller podcast.com or jump on our Discord if you're on there and just let us know. I wonder how that'll work with that. But I think it's quite a few games coming there, and that's with all the bad news around Xbox, that is, you know, one of the real benefits of Xbox when they do release these games day one, you know, when you get when you get a day and date dropped on there, brand new game. You know, if you're into your football manager and you got games pass, you know, away you go. You've got hundreds of hours of of of managing your team on there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:26

So yeah, I believe it's I just looked it up, RGT. I believe you can only play uh the games on day one if you've got the game pass ultimate.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:36

Yeah. I believe.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:38

Yeah, so you have to have that top top tier.

SPEAKER_01: 1:05:41

Yeah. So I mean there was there was a few rumours coming out, they've been testing adverts. So they were thinking of adding adverts on the two lesser tiers. I mean, do you really want to play Jordan's playing a game? Jordan playing a game.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:56

Oh my god, what's the world can't say?

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:01

So don't this was just a rumour, all right? But they were saying that they were they were trialling um uh adverts so that you obviously got less adverts to higher tiers, and if you went to ultimate, you didn't get adverts, which if that is the case, they're trying to shoehorn people into the highest tier. But that might not happen, that might just all be you know, might be a load of rubbish. But seriously, don't put adverts in games. I mean, we have enough of it on TV that we have to do.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06:30

I don't know, RGT. I think it will come in at some point because you've got to think um in the future you can have games for free and then just put the adverts in. I mean, the streaming services have been talking about it all year, haven't they?

SPEAKER_01: 1:06:42

Well I mean you get it in you get it on um Amazon Prime, don't you? Which I find a bit egregious because you already pay for Amazon Prime. Now, someone said to me the other day, oh, yeah, but you get adverts on YouTube, yeah. I know, but YouTube's free. Now I I pay for premium on YouTube, so I watch a lot of it, but YouTube is free. So you in a way you could sort of understand that, but if you're already paying for a service and then you get adverts, a bit like what Amazon have done, you're a bit, oh come on, do we want that in gaming? But you're right, it ain't gonna be long before you're then on a boss fight and suddenly they're showing you two burgers for 9pm McDonald's. So who knows?

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:17

Who knows? But yeah, some interesting games coming on there, bit of good news as well from Microsoft because they've been an Xbox, they're they've been through the mill of late. Um, but if you are still an ultimate subscriber, you've got some good games coming day and date, plus you've got games like you know, Boulders Gate 2, the enhanced edition, and that, and there's some good games there, them old Boulders Gates, they're good fun games if you like your dungeon crawlers and that. So, yeah, there's there's a bit for everyone on there coming coming to Games Pass. So, yeah, if you've got that, I don't think you've got nothing to worry about at the moment as long as you don't mind buying the 30 bucks.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:47

Yeah, it it's it's just if you're paying for free. If you've got I get it, if you're paying for PlayStation Plus premium for day one and you're paying Game Pass Ultimate, and you've got a Switch subscription as well. It's a bit like having Sky Sports, BT Sports, and then um the zone, you know. You you can't, I mean, let's be honest with you, you can't afford to justify all those payments. So I get why you would choose. So there's still competition there.

SPEAKER_01: 1:08:12

Yeah, exactly, exactly. You know, with with all the prices going up, something's got to give, and you know, you know, and we'll see, you know, so it's gonna be the best deal at wins, I think. But I think as far as the news, I think that wraps that up. I mean, if you've got anything you want to add to the news people out there and listeners, um, just jump on and let us know at um Unafree Controller or Questions at Unofut Controller Podcast.com or hit us up on X or um Instagram or jump onto the YouTube channel or go over and watch Scott on Marathon Gaming. Um, jump on our Discord if you want to do that. Um, there's always normally links in there on the Instagram bits and pieces to jump on the Discord, come and say hi. Um, thanks for everyone who's um we've had some brilliant downloads this week, um, some big boosts. Um, thanks to everyone in Brazil who's listening. We've had a big spike in Brazil. Um, glad you're enjoying the show, and thank you very much. And like I say, if you if you're in Brazil and you you fancy coming over the chat to like-minded gamers, come and give a Discord a try, come and jump on the Discord, come and join in. Great little family on there. Um, everyone's very well behaved, and we have good fun, you know. Just come and join us. Great, great little place to you know, speak about your passion and gaming and bits and pieces. Um, and talking about it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:27

Can I can I just can I just touch on something just with a Discord quickly, if that's okay, RGT? You certainly can. I do like to uh something I've started a new thing. I think I started it on my solo show and I want to try and keep it going. I want to do a Discord highlight of the week just to let people know what they're missing. Great idea. Um they join in. So this week, what I've chosen is Ging's platinum on Dragon Ball Fighter Z to mark his 730th platinum kill. So he's 713th game, he's platinum.

SPEAKER_01: 1:09:56

And uh also he ranks the game.

SPEAKER_00: 1:09:59

I asked him, I said, Ginge, how many golden hairs out of possible head of hair out of 10? And he ranked it nine golden hairs, and that is a unim unit of measurement that George's red-headed stepson likes to use for games. I mean, I made it up, but let's just keep it going.

SPEAKER_01: 1:10:13

Yeah, let's keep it going. Well done, Ginch. I mean, the guy's a platinum machine. He doesn't, you know, if I'm friends with him on PlayStation and you look, there isn't really any games on there that haven't got that little platinum trophy next to it all down the list. 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%. He's just like, fair play, mate, fair play. I mean, I think if he gets through a thousand platinums, he needs to have a bit of a party. I think. I think we need to make a trip to Nottingham and have a thousand platinum party because yeah, the man is a machine. Well done, ginge. Brilliant. That's a great idea as well. Discord highlight of the week, superb.

SPEAKER_00: 1:10:47

Um that's it. And then if I can just call on, just before we do go into our subscribers list, um, because we have got a lot of new listeners, and obviously we've got a lot of old listeners. So it is great that um we're going to get into in a minute and how you can support the show if you wish to do so. The the show is always free, so you don't have to, but we just tell you, you know, this is what you can get involved with. Also, there's a free Discord, so feel free to check out the show notes. You can click on that um to get the invite. If not, just contact us at questions at unofficial controller. Um, you can email us for there, or you can get hold of me RGT versus YouTube or through any of the social aspects. But what I would like to say is if you could, whatever you're listening to this on, whether it's Apple or Spotify, um if you do regularly download and stream the show, if you could please leave us a five-star review, it would really help us creep up those charts and help us be uh a bit more known to those who are into gaming podcasts and help us in the algorithm. So, yeah, if you might have been listening to us for years and you might think, do you know what? I've never done a review. You can do a review once on every platform. So yeah, if you can leave us a five-star review and uh any comments you leave, we'll read out on next week's show. So that'd be great if we could hear from you. I'll just throw that one in there, RGT.

SPEAKER_01: 1:11:57

Yeah, and I'll also chuck in. We've had a big drive on flies at the moment. So if you're a fan of the show and you've got a local game shop, or you've got friends that would be interested, or you're going to an event, if you fancied being a bit of a UCP uh paper boy or girl, let us know because I'll send you some flies. I've got boxes of these, um, and we find it really works for us. Um, like I say, we've had a big push in downloads lately, and we've been popping flies off. And Scott and Retro Ed were flying the flag at Blackpool Expo, and that that all chips in and helps. So if you think, do you know what? You know, I wouldn't mind helping the boys out, I wouldn't mind spreading a few flies, let me know. Give us an email, like I say, questions at unofficial controller podcast.com to say, hoi, RGT, send me some flies, give me your name and address, I'll pop you some in the post. And I tell you what, if you do that for us, I might even slip you in a little gift, maybe a little fridge magnet or a little bit of limited edition artwork. Let us know. We I'm sure we can uh we can surely we can uh thank you in some way or another. But yeah, brilliant. So that leads us on to our subscriber list. Um, like we say, like Scott said, you know, the show's free, the show will always be free. But these people just feel like they give that little bit extra. And we do tiers every year. If you're ever interested in the tiers, um come on a Discord, come and ask us, and we'll let you know. We start from three bucks to ten bucks, and each year you get various little little extras and bits, and one of those perks that everyone gets is read out on the show, which is what we're doing now. So, do you want to start with your your old mate there, Scott?

SPEAKER_00: 1:13:30

I would love to take that one. I appreciate that. He's a very good friend of mine. He is my um my retro partner in crime, and he joined me for the long trip to Blackpool. Probably give me the best weekend of my life, don't tell my wife, because it's better than my wedding day. And that is Retro Ed, Retro Ed UK. Thank you so much because you are a legend. He's a good personal friend of mine, and I could do a whole show talking about how much I love Retro Ed, but yeah, he's a great guy, he's a great YouTuber, he's got a really good channel, he's really into his handhelds and his Game Boys. Um, yeah, top, top guy.

SPEAKER_01: 1:14:01

Hey, he is a great guy, he's one of them, he's always got time for everyone. He always wants to talk games with you, and he is just a lovely, honest guy. And whenever I watch his YouTube channel, and he does one of them hour-long ones where he does an update, bits and pieces, I'll get myself a cup of tea, I'll sit on that sofa, bang, retroeds on, and you feel like he's talking to you in the room. He's brilliant. Great YouTube channel, and absolutely fantastic. Yeah, so thanks, Retro Red. So, next up, we have he's getting a bit of a long-term one now, and he is also known as the One Man George Fan Club, and that is Carlos. And uh also um today on the Discord they were talking. I was getting rid of a few of my games and popped a bit on there, which is another advantage of Discord. We do little swapsies and sell bits and giveaways and stuff, and uh, they were talking on there about games, and uh he gives us a little sneak peek of his of his um imports he's got there because he's a big import fan, shooters, satin's dreamcast. You know, he's got it, and he gives a little picture of his shelves, Carlos. And I thought, oof, that man is a connoisseur of the import. Very, very nice, yeah, very nice. But yeah, again, as always, thank you, Carlos.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:14

From one good looking guy to another, it is the shirtless Ripped Returns. He's he's noted down as firm returns in front of me, but I've seen that man with his navel out, and uh big shout out to uh ripped returns, the absolute legend of financial advisory.

SPEAKER_01: 1:15:32

Exactly, definitely. Then we go to a very long-term supporter that's trestles at New York. Um, best burgers in New York, best buffalo wings in New York, and best service. So, yeah, check out Trestles in New York.

SPEAKER_00: 1:15:44

Next shout out is to our very own Roast Space Monk, a very active um member of the Discord and a big family and friend member of the UCP. So big shout out to Roast Space Monk. Hope you're having a great day.

SPEAKER_01: 1:15:58

Yeah, he's getting ever closer to that Dreamcast Fall collection, and that's looking good. It is looking good. Next up, we have the Italian stallion. We have Badabinkster, and I mean, he's another one as well. He's a bit of a dark horse with the old collecting, you know. He keeps putting on Instagram, he hoovers them up, doesn't he? Yeah, and then you sort of see in the background his shells, I'm thinking, yeah, steady on, fella, there is some PS3 games there. I mean, he's he's got a games collection going there, but yeah, thank you, Badabinks. And also, I will just say, I saw you in your in your football PlayStation sponsored shirt today. Forgive me, I don't know the team, but you are looking mighty fine, young man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:16:36

Mighty I was gonna say, if you want an advert for getting in a discord, right? Normally at uh Badabinx's office they do a dress down Friday, and I don't know how big this man's wardrobe is, but I've got a theory here. You know, he always takes a picture of himself in a different, you know, worldwide football kit. I'm thinking he there can't be that many shirts in his house. So I think because he's couvering up and collecting all these retro games, I'm starting to think though, I don't think that's cotton. I think he's stitching together inlays to PS1 and Dreamcast games and he's literally wearing a booklet manual made t-shirt bespoke. I think that's what's happening. I mean, maybe if I'm wrong, but you wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:16

But I've there is a man to do that, he is the man to do that. So if we next time we see him in a manual made PS1 shirt, we know you're on the right track there.

SPEAKER_00: 1:17:25

Yeah, we know. Right. This next one we've got to thank um is a very own tingle tuner. And I absolutely love tuna, and I love things that tingle. So when you put the two things, just you're just in for a wonderful evening. Um, this show isn't sponsored by Jorx, but if it wants to sponsor us, please do. Um big shout out to Tingle Tuner.

SPEAKER_01: 1:17:46

Brilliant. Next up, we have the man who does our challenge accepted and one of our mods on our Discord and keeps an eye on everything going. It is Digital Monkery. So this, if it's another part of the Discord, I know we aren't supposed to talk about the Discord, but I will drop it in there. He does a challenge every month, and this month's challenges. See if you can get the highest score on Rocket League at the moment. So it's been a bit of a slow start, but it's been some scores on rocket levels.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18:13

Yeah, we go to my RGT. So as soon as we have finished this recording, I'm gonna chuck my little spicy parsnip soup on the hob, get some sourdough bread inside me, and I'm gonna have a night of Rocket League like it's 2021. Oh no, yes, I can't wait to jump into that. Yeah, it's a big thanks to Digital Monkery. So, yeah, if you want to fancy a bit of Rocket League competition, join a Discord. Um, next one we've got up Bold Boulder. What an absolute legend. Again, big active user of the uh the Discord, long time fan of uh the UCP. Yeah, some think it might be uh RGT in disguise because we've never seen them in the same place.

SPEAKER_01: 1:18:51

Well, the way that guy can manual and then grind and then kick flip, he's definitely not me in disguise because I would lose my teeth and probably an arm by trying to do that. But this guy's uh he's a he was a skater through the 80s and 90s, and he's still got it now. So he's uh yeah, he's a hell of a skater, that boy, hence the name ball border. But yes, thank you again as always. Um, next up we have another one of the mods, the Discord manager himself. Now you don't want to cross this guy. Now, if you come in that Discord and you start kicking off, there's gonna be there's gonna be a little boba message coming your way saying, Oi, wind your neck in fella. Because not only Ziara's nails, not only is he an awesome call of duty player, but also leads me in to do his little trait where we go pshone, Bran.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:39

So that is I'd throw that with you in the background. I just wanted to be a part of it. It's like that was good for me.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:45

Well, actually, how it should be pronounced is Bobber. But George decided he'd never wanted to say that back in the day, so it's changed to Boba. But yes, thank you, Boba, aka Boba. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_00: 1:19:57

Hey, George is it here, we can say what we want.

SPEAKER_01: 1:19:59

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:00

Yeah, we can say what we want, Bobber. Don't you worry. Yeah, don't you chicken curry. Right, next up, we've um, well, spoke about it. He comes up a lot. He was in our highlight of the week from the Discord. That is our platinum champion, our uh challenge accepted champion of 2024, the legendary red-headed stepson of George himself, and that is Ginge all the way from Nottingham. Big shout out to Ginge, we love you.

SPEAKER_01: 1:20:21

Yeah, absolutely love you, Ginge. Brilliant, and well done again on those platinums, my son. Um, next up, that's the Lord of Darkness himself. Um, Harvey Retro. Check out his YouTube as well. Over 2,000 subs now. Eligmatic games and Eligmatic Productions, I think there's two. Um, check him out on Instagram. Um, but brilliant content. You get round Christmas time and he he goes through the old Littlewoods catalogues on the PDFs and see what prices were and what was on offer. I could watch them all day, but yeah, Harvey Retro, brilliant, thank you, my man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:20:53

And this next supporter has just received a uh a Castlevania game for the Xbox 360. Yep, when I had a look earlier in Discord, and that is Emma Sharp. So I hope she enjoys that game.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21:02

Yes, as uh as of this coming out, you've probably already got it, but I will be uh dropping it into you, Emma. So thank you very much as always. I hope you enjoyed your uh your holiday and your world tour of UCP in America there. And she also for the um for the visual viewers there, she brought me back a little gift, which I'll show you now, Scott. She brought me back a Christmas decoration in honour of my little studio here where I record. She's brought me a little gaming chair for my Christmas tree with a a controller. Um, for people who are listening on audio, that's a gaming, a big gaming chair, um, Christmas tree decoration with a bowl of popcorn, little can of red ball, little table, and a little controller hanging off the bottom. So that is very kind of you, Emma. Thank you very much. Bless your heart. Um next up we have well, I mean it's Greg, but I have we don't know where he is. As we say every week, the only certainty we know is that Greg is nowhere near Berlin. So thank you, Greg, and I hope you're doing well, my man.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:06

And this next person, we know where they are at all times, they're always within arm's reach, ready to give us a clip round the ear hole, and that is mumsy. Whenever we step out of line and try to spend all money on games than we've got, she says, Hey, RGT, hey Scott, hey George, hey Seb, hey Bobby, get over here and don't double with that apples and pears. Yeah, thank you to Mumsy.

SPEAKER_01: 1:22:27

Thanks, Mumsy. That's why I don't swear on the show because any little F-bomb, I would get a clip. I'm not swearing, mum. I'm not swearing. Calm down. She can hear us, Scott. Um next up. Well, this falls on me then. This is the one and only RGT fan club. Thank you very much again.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:45

You you you can't fake your own club. I'll take this one. You can't fake your own. I'll take this one. Thank you to the RGT fan club. So you better take the next one.

SPEAKER_01: 1:22:55

I know why you're doing this. I know why you're doing it. No, no, no. You're doing a switch of roo here. You're doing a switcheroo.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:01

You cannot read out your own fan club. Those are the rules. Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23:06

Oh, I know what's happened here. Right, next up we've got pre Pete Brocklehurst. Thank you, Pete. The hardest man, apart from ging in the Discord. But I wouldn't want to see if I yeah, that would that would be the immovable object against the unstoppable machine if them two fought. So uh thank you, Pete.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:23

And speaking of hard, this man's harder than the four hoofs straight from the uh stables, and that's Billy Marmite. He is tough. Billy Marmite, what is his favourite game, Billy Marmite? His genre, do you know?

SPEAKER_01: 1:23:34

Um I think he likes first person shooters, but he says he either either you know he's got a bit of a love-hate relationship with them. So he either loves them or he hates.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:43

Billy Marmite, let us let us know what games you're playing. Because I'm not sure if I've heard much from Billy Marmite this week. So I'd be interested to hear, Billy, what um what you've been playing, buddy.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23:51

Definitely. And obviously now you've done the switch roo, this leaves this to me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:23:56

Oh, is that that's a shame.

SPEAKER_01: 1:23:57

Oh, in that, I wonder how that happened. Um, yeah, so if you're new to the show, um we're contractually obliged to do it this way for Fat Sang Geefe because he likes it in quite a passionate way. So all I will say is thank you to Fat Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:24:18

Have you ever thought that the reason why I would do that in streams and downloads in Brazil is because of that particular segment?

SPEAKER_01: 1:24:28

I would imagine we probably lose downloads because of that particular segment. Good point, good point. Yeah, so sorry about that if you're in Brazil. Um, but yeah, so thanks for and thanks everyone who is uh one of the the you know subscribers there. We don't expect anyone to do it, but the people that do, and I know I say this a lot and you're thinking, shut up, RGT, but yes, it it goes a long way to uh helping us run this show and putting the hours in week after week. Um it's not a cheap thing to do, and we really, really appreciate it for you. But if you're just a free listener, you're a free listener, and we appreciate all of you. You uh download means the world to us. So thanks to everyone. Um, so that is the thanks all done. So I think we ought to head on to uh Scott, what you're hoping to play.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:13

Well, my list is gonna be short and sweet, but an interesting one. So I'm gonna be hoping to play Cyberpunk because that's a Switch 2 game I haven't took out of the plastic. However, I am pretty sure I'm gonna be playing Hogwarts Legacy on Switch, which I'm very excited about because I didn't complete it when I played it on the PS5, um, which was a PS4 version, believe it or not, and I'm really intrigued to see how it plays. Um, now the reason why I get away of playing Dead by Daylight in the main room rather than playing it in my uh man cave/slash games room is because the wife can tolerate that game. Now, she also tolerates Harry Potter. I've already planted a seed and she said I'd like to watch you play that. So I'll definitely be trying Hogwarts Legacy. So um I'll be telling you guys about that next week on the next week's show. Um now, in terms of retro, I'm hoping to play some Atari Jaguar as well as possibly some Master System because I've ordered a Master System game. So I'll talk about that next week. And then Atari Jaguar, in case you uh haven't heard, guys, and you don't follow me on the old socials, I got to meet up with uh a little uh a little known game developer who um known a bit of an unknown guy, and he happened to have worked on um on Doom and Wolfenstein 3D and also on Quake, and I took a copy of Wolfenstein 3D and uh a Doom for the Atari Jaguar, and I took a hat with me that said Doom, and I managed to get John Romero to sign all of it, and I got to have a conversation with him and I got a picture, and I just want to say we might have cuddled and kissed at one point. I don't know if that's from Page. We shared a moment, it happened. UCP Marathon Game in Scotty and John Romero in a travel lodge in Blackpool. That happened.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:01

I need to get him on the show. If you want us to get him on the show, let us know and we'll see what we could do. Let's get the legendary John Romero.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:07

I was speaking to Retro Ed, and I reckon it's possible. We were speaking about it. Um so I think that's that could be coming down a pipeline.

SPEAKER_01: 1:27:13

That'd be amazing. That'd be amazing. And speaking of Atari Jaguar, I um I got the I got a uh aftermarket SCART one for mine. So I've put it through, put my Jaguar through a uh SCART selector and upscaler through my OSSC onto my TV, and it it does look quite good on for an upscaler. So you've now got me thinking, oh, do I uh do I dust off the old Jag controller? And I've got um I've only got two or three box games for it, but I have got the old sensible world of soccer up there, which I wouldn't I do quite like on the JAG.

SPEAKER_00: 1:27:51

Yeah, so speaking of um dusting off RGDT, I can see all those games behind you PS4, 360, PS3, PS5 below to your bottom right. Yeah, which of those are you hoping to play?

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:06

Um, well, I'll be playing more stick of truth, PS3, um yes, enjoying that. I'll be playing more resistance. Um, really enjoyed that. Um be playing more of that. Um I what there was a few retro games I've been thinking of playing. Um, I was thinking of starting a new season on uh sensible soccer, and now you've got me thinking, do I play that on the Jaguar this week? And which will please George because he absolutely despises the Jaguar. But I have a bit of a bit of a love-hate relationship with the Jaguar.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28:38

I just think, do you know why does George despise?

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:41

He hates it, he hates it. He says it's an absolute pile of crap. But it is it's just unique in it, and I love it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28:48

George, I'm handing him a notice.

SPEAKER_01: 1:28:50

I really must start getting someone a home brews for the Jags, there's some good games on this, and I want to get Alien versus Predator. Anyway, I'm going off piste here.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28:57

So yeah, I played I played that Alien versus Predator in Blackpool. Yeah, other other than when you move around and do a 180, it's slow. Yeah, but in terms of the actual um graphics, the depths, uh, the quantity of what's in front of you and the actual aliens and the way they move, very smooth, very good, very ahead of its time. Very 64-bit.

SPEAKER_01: 1:29:19

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And uh now I'm now I'm sort of having a bit of a colour, the games room. I'm getting a bit a little bit of shelf space here. So uh I even I even managed today, I got rid of about 25, another 25 PS2 games today, and managed to get my my Godfather collector's edition coffin in the in the little gap, but it looks quite nice. So um yeah, so gonna play some more retro. Lot to say stick of truth, resistance. Um I'm just all about the PS3 at the moment, so I want to get those two done and move on to the the next game. I want to play on there. Um, I've got the Star Ocean game, Last Hope International. I want to play that on the PS3. Um, but it's still some bit more things to set up in the games room here. But yeah, more EFC EAFC26, that'll always be chugging around in the background, I reckon. Um and I should really uh jump back on Grand Bazaar because uh that game sort of overtook my life for about a month, and that is very good on the Switch too. Um, so I might play a bit more of that. Um but I think other than just to say a bit of housekeeping, thanks to everyone for listening. If you are listening, I know people stream it, but if you give us a download as well, that's where the figures are. Streamings don't count, downloads do. So if you could download that'd be brilliant. Um, same again, like I said before. If you fancy a few flies doing us a little bit of favour, let me know, and uh I'll send you flies and a and a little gift. Just email us, questions at unofficial controller podcast.com. And don't forget, Tuesday, 14th of October. As this show is coming out, it's two days' time. From now you're listening to this, this is two days' time. Come and join us over on Twitch, middle aged gamer guy show. Mags, there'll be me, they'll be Scott, they'll be George. We'll be having a bit of fun on now in his Tuesday evening show. Um, come along, get in the got in the uh chat on there, come and say hi. Say you're from the UCP, and uh we'll all have a bit of fun on this show on there. Um, and just leave it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:31:14

Can I before you say the magic words, I've got a big exclusive which I want to elaborate on. Oh right in the show. Yeah, go on in. This is a big, big news. Um, now the date is to be confirmed. There's a listener, a silent listener of the show. He's been listening for a whole year. I was up with him in Blackpool. His name is Ollie, he's eight-bit boy on um YouTube. He plays a lot of Mars System games. He listened, he's a regular listener to the show, he listens every week. Um, and I was speaking with him. He's got very into Donkey Kong. Obviously, I've got a Donkey Kong cab at home, so we were playing together. He was putting a lot of effort in. I said, Hey, what's all this sudden attachment with um Donkey Kong? He got into basically watching a documentary. If anyone hasn't seen it, it's on YouTube. It's called uh King of Kong, King of Kong Peace for the Quarters with a famous bit Billy Mitchell, uh, not the one from East Enders, but the uh the Arcadian. And um basically he's got very into it where he's been talking to very high-level world elite players, and it turns out there is an annual Donkey Kong tournament in North America, in some countries in Europe, all around the world. However, there's never been one in England. And 8-bit boy Olly is a doer, and he's already spoken to arcade club in Berry, and I believe he's trying to see if he can get, I think it's weekend, second or third of May, 2026. Wow. So just a little preempt, get it in your diaries. I'll confirm more. We'll probably have Ollie in the show in the new year once he's got everything um sorted out of arcade club. But all of the best players from around the world of Donkey Kong um hopefully will be there, especially the ones in Europe and UK. And it's basically going to be um, you know, an elimination match. So basically it'd be whoever gets the highest points each round, and people get knocked out. But it's open to everyone. So we even said, hey Scott, if you want to put in some practice, like Ollie's gonna take part, he's a new player. So if anyone has got um, you know, a retro pie or any arcades near them or fancies polishing up on a bit of Donkey Kong, here is your six months' notice. Start practicing because uh there could be a big competition and it's gonna be fun. So, yeah, if anyone hasn't checked out that documentary, check it out. That's a little exclusive from the UCP fans. I did speak to Ollie and I said I'll mention it on the show, and he will share news with us first when he gets it as well.

SPEAKER_01: 1:33:33

Super, well done, Ollie, and a yeah, great thing to do. Um, and that's 8 BitGuy, did you say he's called on 8 8 Bit Boy, 8 Bit Boy, there we go. 8 Bit Boy Olly. Brilliant. If you know, let us know if there's anything you want to help with Ollie. You know, maybe if you want to jump into Discord, have a chat with some of our guys on there. You know, there's a lot of fans of the retro and arcade, so uh, you know, there might be someone there to help you or or things we can give advice on. But yeah, well done, Ollie. Great thing. I love to see hear things like that. People, you know, getting these games and then having a tournament, having a bit of fun with it, you know, when you see people doing like Halo tournaments with the old Xboxes and land parties and all that sort of thing, and people, you know, like um a few of the guys do at the thing. So, yeah, well done, Ollie. That that'd be brilliant. That's hopefully something that can build as well. So, yeah, well done. Um, also I will say just before we go, um, if you do listen in to or come and watch us over on Twitch on Tuesday, like I say, Tuesday 14th, which is two days' time, um, we are making an announcement. We have a new a new item coming, shall we say, um, from the UCP towers. So join in, that'll be the first announcement of that. Some of you, we have done a pilot, sort of a pilot a few months ago, so you might have an idea what it is. But come and join us over on Mag Show to find out the new new thing we're doing. Um, so that'll be interesting. Um, and again, thanks everyone. Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, thanks to the subscribers, um, thanks to people like Ollie who are doing these tournaments and keeping arcade alive. Thanks to Scott, thank you, my man. Um, been brilliant show as always. Love chatting. Great chatting to you, my friend. Chatting everything switch has been brilliant. Um, and just leads me to say there is nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller. That's what you do of it that counts. See you later, Scott.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:21

Cheers, RGT.