Unofficial Controller Podcast
Your number one weekly gaming podcast for all the latest Sony Playstation , Microsoft Xbox , Nintendo Switch and PC News. Retrospectives , Readers Mail and Industry Chat.
Unofficial Controller Podcast
Indie Wins, Consoles Wobble, Players Adapt
Big year. Bigger questions. We kick things off with that familiar tug between what we used to play and what actually fits life now — and it turns out single-player indies are meeting the moment. Expedition 33 becomes our touchstone: a sharp blend of turn-based planning and real-time timing that rewards mastery without punishing those who prefer defense builds. Its countdown mythos, voice acting, and expedition logs show how smart scope and strong direction can outshine budget. Persona fans get a tailored roadmap too: how 3 Reload stacks up against 4 and 5, and why Metaphor might be the perfect fantasy detour.
Then we go wide. Project Tal prompts a candid look at why Korean and Chinese studios seem to hit above their weight: laser focus on what’s on screen, clever “fake it” lighting, and disciplined scope. That “triple I” energy is good for players and forces bigger studios to prioritize craft over bloat. On the hardware side, Xbox hints at a “very premium,” PC-like future with an Everywhere strategy spanning partner devices and cloud. It could be brilliant if the UX is Steam-simple… but a reported 30% margin target reshapes what gets made, how it’s priced, and who survives.
Switch 2 steps into the ring with promise and friction. Elden Ring Tarnished Edition’s delay to 2026 after rough show-floor performance is surprising, especially given how it runs elsewhere. We unpack cartridges vs SSD, optimization discipline, and why handheld isolation can make 30 fps feel great if stability and clarity come first. Nostalgia sneaks in, too: No Man’s Sky VR dips, an Infamous 2 victory lap, a PS3 SSD mod that hides old bottlenecks, and a quick MLB-on-the-go confession. Through it all we come back to one thing: be intentional. Pick games that respect your time, deliver a story you’ll remember, and feel good on the hardware you actually use.
If this mix of sharp takes, practical picks, and future-gazing hits home, follow the show, share with a friend, and drop us your hot take on premium consoles vs portable life. And don’t miss our new nostalgia spinoff Flashback — subscribe, listen, and tell us which month in gaming history we should jump to next.
We mash genres. We pitch games. You question our sanity.
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Cheers gamers!
Hello and welcome to the unofficial controller podcast, your weekly gaming podcast, episode number two hundred and ninety-one. With me, George, and this week joined by a returning and triumphant Triple S. He's the indie darling to my Indeed, darling. How's it going, Triple S?
SPEAKER_06:Man, it is going. It's so glad to be back amongst amongst you people, amongst the the people that I have I feel like are family to me. You know, it's it's one of those things to where I'm back home at the UCP and I'm so glad to be here.
SPEAKER_02:Well, like a prodigal son, like a brother, let me cup you in my bosom because there's nothing that brings people closer. No, it's true. There's nothing that brings people closer than a shared trauma. I think now that you're kind of clear of the pastor Longhorn cult movement that we all got ourselves wrapped up in, a little bit more of a return to normal triple S. I have to admit, the sort of insane sort of sermons you were giving round the back of the toilets and whatnot was much. But we're all back video game now. Absolutely, here we are. You've come back from your rehab from PTSD. I worked through it. I wouldn't advise it. I think I've uh yeah, it's been a rocky road. Um, but it's good to see.
SPEAKER_06:I still get the twitches uh and triggers every time I see a turnip, you know, turnip mayonnaise. Where it's like a cat with those in the eye, and I'm like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, this is a bit bizarre story because you talked about sweet baby rays at one point in time as well. I do believe it's a barbecue sauce. Well, I now know it is. You talked about sweet, sweet baby ray, and I was like, yeah, just sort of going along with it. I didn't really know.
SPEAKER_01:When I was at a friend of mine uh house, and I walked through his kitchen, and out on the side counter was this sweet, sweet baby ray. And I was like, dude, what is this? And he said, Oh, this is barbecue sauce with sweet, sweet baby ray. Wow, it's real. It's real. It was like the metaverse has come to life. Yeah, it really was.
SPEAKER_02:I thought Pastor's just crossed over to physical solid reality. I didn't really quite know what I was looking at. Um let's let's answer the question, let's ask the question. Everybody's wondering. Hangee keeping what have you been up to? And really, then let's just do a light touch of what you've been playing. Are there any standouts or what you got your fingers on? Right.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I'm I'm trying to remember the since the last time I've been on the show, man. It's been it's been a lot. It's been really cool. Life's been um going well. Me, the missus, the dog, we've all been um, you know, doing doing the normal life thing. Um, so no major changes in life. It's just kind of been a busy, busy cycle of of everything that's going on. And then outside of that, though, we've um here in Texas, it's just absolute insanity. Sport, you know, sports driving me up the wall. It's the best time in sports because you got baseball, you got the playoffs going on right now, you got football is in full swing season, and then basketball just startups. I'm eating good there. Video games, it's been fun. Um I've like many people, I think I've been questioning who I am as a gamer because you know, the current economic landscape, the bad news and upon bad news of like what's been going on in video games has kind of made everyone kind of either get more staunch in their current, you know, habits and beliefs as far as video games are question everything there is to do. Like, who am I as a gamer? And I've kind of gone through the extra central crisis as well. So, yeah, it's been a rocky road um in video games, especially like it feels like I've been taking psychology 101 in video games again this year, and that's been sort of up and down, but I've come out to the other side really understanding and this part of the journey of my life of who I am as a gamer, and I've like really appreciated that time. Um, but as far as what I've been playing, it's like I've been I've I've been doing this project, um, you know, on my own show, the single player experience, where I've been talking about like mostly indie titles and and the other sort of single player video games that I've been talking about. And right now I'm working on a project where it's the single player power rankings, and it's basically yeah, so I'm basically doing almost like an ESPN style thing of where I'm going to be ranking and telling each person, each each listener what the best video games are, you know, from the first place all the way to probably the tenth place, and we'll we'll talk about everything in between, giving you the power rankings. And of course, games come out so rapidly that the power rankings could change, you know. It's all yeah, as Stephen A. Smith would say, it's all fluid. It's all fluid.
SPEAKER_02:But you know, uh that's an unsteady dance platform to kick a kick off on. It could be changing from day to day.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, for sure, for sure. But yeah, it's weird because like every especially in the indie scape, yeah, like I have a in my mind, I've always separated lately indie versus triple A of like video games, and it's becoming so weird to me because like my appetite has been leaning so far indie experiences this year because like those have been punching above their weight class. I would probably say at just overall, not even just separating them. I would probably say unequivocally, like the top 10 games this year, I would probably say at least five of those are indie games, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Hollow Knights three, yes, given to us.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I would say Hollow Knight Silk Song is there with a bullet, Expedition 33, indie game, there with a bullet. I would say Hades 2 can, you know, is there with a bullet. You know, I would probably say those three, I would be shocked if those three games at the game awards at the end of the year with um, you know, Jeff Keeley, if if they're not in the game of the year discussion.
SPEAKER_02:I think I you know, I'm not in disagreement with you, but I wonder if because time has been funny this year. Expedition 33 doesn't feel like it came out in 2025.
SPEAKER_06:It's it is funny, but then like you hear it people are you hear the the swell, it's like a resurgence of that game is starting to like swell up again because like Halloween is Halloween is almost upon us here. A lot of people are talking about dressing as like different characters from there, and then like there's a weird thing where like a lot of the game awards for this year happened, you know, are starting to happen earlier for some reason. And Expedition 33 has already won like one game of the year title um overseas in a I think it was in an Asian market, um that makes sense. Yeah, so I'm like they're already doing numbers there, and it's like that they had such good wheel as far as like the studio had such good wheel, they are saying the right things, and whereas everyone else in in kind of like is delivering bad messaging around video games, they're still like the crowning favorites of like, oh well, we made this game on a budget. That's what everyone's preaching right now, is like make smaller video games, make video games on a budget. We don't necessarily need the highest triple-A graphics, you just need good story, good voice acting, good gameplay. So I'm like, they sort of have like this super natural, um, supernatural like feeling around them to where like everyone just loves them, even if you didn't love the game. They love that studio, they love the messaging around it. It I would be shocking.
SPEAKER_02:Since the game launched, I think the messaging from them has been really well managed, stage managed. I think it's been on point, it's seemed to hit every narrative, it ticked every good feeling box along the way in terms of like the voice cast, etc., and the way the game came together. Um if a game is deserving of the golden gong at the end of a year, if ever there was a kind of a Poncy in the making, you'd think it'd be that. Knowing us, well, probably putting Infamous 2 as my game of the year or something triple S. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_04:Jeez, Infamous 2.
SPEAKER_02:That's how crazy I am. Um, but yeah, and quite deserving. That would be not that it's not had the success story, but that would be then quite the success story for that studio, and then the journey that they've been on of not redemption, but you know what I mean. You know, yeah, for sure. They've come from studios and they're they're ascension, you know. Yeah, it's it's the kind of phoenix in a way from from the flames of you know, the largest studio. I think it was Ubisoft, wasn't it? It was Ubisoft. A lot of those developers came from there, yeah. And I and I think that's great because once again, Ubisoft's not short of good ideas. What they're short of more often than not is time. Um and bad management, man. That management, you know. Well thing is, it is it is an old company now, if you think about it. Yes, it's been flipped around and whatnot, but it it has been around since the very early days of home video gaming, so there probably always was going to be a little bit of a thread of that in there. It there's no excuse, obviously, but you know it's a very old company, a European company, I think, primarily. But anyway, we get lost in the weeds a little bit there, but yeah, good to hear our indie guru coming back from his I don't know, sort of 30 days fast in the desert of gaming, really, comes back out with some absolutely banging suggestions, which I have to love. Uh anything else? What have you been playing, Amir? Oh dear, what since you last saw me or just recently? I think we'll do just recently for the just recently, yeah. For the fans. Well, well, up until very recently, I've been playing a lot of the of No Man's Sky, Guilty Pleasure of One, as you know, and I've gone back to it with the Corvettes and probably sank another hundred hours into it, dude. Easily that dragon, mate. I'll be honest. It's things got a little bit freaky. Uh at night time, round the uh George household. I have to admit, I just sort of sunk into my chair, picked up my controller, chased this rare wing that I needed to make my dream ship come true. And I've PS5 is the version you're playing. Yeah, yeah. And I've been in and out of VR with it as well. Um I know, don't gotta use their heads in some way. Uh that's what I thought. Every time I look at it, you're like that, just sort of little miniature version of you, just sat on the edge of it going. Very much, you're right, triple S alright. I saw it, I wanted it. I didn't realise it'd be this bob. I basically got it for a kayaking simulator and uh spacewalk experience. I don't know what's going on. As you say, I I never make a lot of sense. Um and then I was re-jigging some stuff around, and my older PS3 died, so I pulled the SSD out of it and slapped it into my bulletproof touch wood to this point, slim, beautiful. Give it a candle, charged up all the controllers, and then took my wife on a sort of a whistle stop tour of some of what the PS3's got to offer.
SPEAKER_06:The the greatest hits of the PS3?
SPEAKER_02:Well George Edition, yeah, more like the sloppy mid-card of the PS3. So I I it was also a route of curiosity for me just to see because when you put the SSD in a PS3, it does remove some of the it does approve improve the system a lot, and a lot of the sort of more demanding games ended up with a lot of the close-in texture pop in, there was a lot of redraw and other messy bits going on. But when you put an SSD in, that's removed completely. Just that little bit of extra speed, although it's bottlenecked, is enough to allow the console to cover up the crimes of a mechanical SSD, uh mechanical hard drive.
SPEAKER_06:So quick question. So I this is fascinating, but like you so just uh just to clarify, you took out you took out the hard drive and you put in an SSD for your PS3, right? That's correct. George, um this is the starting symptoms of PC gaming.
SPEAKER_01:No, no, no. I'm just being honest. No, no, no. I'm just being honest. I'm just being honest.
SPEAKER_06:No, no, no. You are you um you um it sounds like you know, this is how Anakin's eyes start to get red a little bit, you know, and tend to eat a little bit, you know.
SPEAKER_02:I'm just saying. Well, this is the full it's not the UCP anymore, it's the UPC, it's the unofficial PC podcast. Wow.
SPEAKER_06:I was like, um, but hate to break it to you, but you're you're taking a step there. Well putting the SSD into a PS5, I imagine.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, listen, said left alone to my own devices, my good friend. I will fiddle with any slot I can get my fat fingers into, I'll tell you. And the PS3 was just begging for it. So the SSD it went in. It's not the first time. I fingled a slightly older version of the PS3 with it as well, but it sadly died. Um despite my best efforts to keep it alive, and this thing had more solder on it by the time it was done by professionals, not me, of course. I don't know what the bloody hell I'm doing. Uh, I don't know how it even turned on. So it was time to embrace the future. Well, it was time to embrace 2009 anyway, and and pulled the swim in. Um so I played we actually played all the way through and completed, and I'll tell you what, it didn't overstay its welcome. It wasn't it wasn't absurdly challenging, but it was challenging enough. There was enough of a hook from the storyline, and I'm enough distance past since playing the original where I absolutely loved Infamous 2. Oh, Cole, Cole, baby. You see, if if uh I didn't know if RGT was gonna be on, but he's basically Zeke.
SPEAKER_07:Oh yeah, yeah, I can do that a little bit. I can see that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he's Zeke. Uh, but yeah, I you know the graphical improvements, the fact that they use the sort of in-game graphics for the cutscenes just brought you that little bit of extra believability. The fact this thing still looks absolutely solid as a rock, I discounted it when I first played it not that long ago, not on launch, but maybe two or three years ago after playing the original, because it was probably too soon, and I was just a bit burnt out. I have to admit, when this game finished, when I'd finished it, it was a bit like, yeah, I'm I'm glad I'm clear of that. Um it bounced around some other drivel in there, I won't bore you, but last night we actually pulled out Simpson's Hit and Run and started playing that. And mate. It's a classic. It still looks gorgeous. It is a classic. It's got this look to it. Uh, I'm putting it on through an original PS2 fat through component, so you can't get a better looking version of it, I suppose. Unless you can get it backwards compatible on Xbox Series X or something. But I've not heard it disgusting polite company, so maybe not. Uh, and it was fun, it was knockabout. It's obviously aimed at a slightly younger audience, so I was literally blitzing through it like uh like me at a cheese party, if I'm honest with you. But uh, yeah, crumbs are still on the side, my good friend Triple S. That's about all I've been doing on the gaming front. My beloved wife has uh just to get you up to speed though, has picked up Persona 4 on the Switch 2. Absolutely wait, Switch 2, yeah. Yeah, so the Switch 1 backward compatible basically Vita port of Golden.
SPEAKER_06:Um she was that a separate purpose like purchase, or was that like a two-in-one kind of thing?
SPEAKER_02:I know there is like a package kicking around on the Switch store right now where you can get you, I think it was P3 Fez remake on P3 Mobile 4 and uh five. I've got five Royale on the card, so that's the one I've got for that. And I think I got probably off the switch door golden bit for it. And and she literally off the back of completing on her own the Lord of the Rings. Oh god. There's a turn-based one, the third age. She likes Lord of the Rings, and this was like her sort of feed-a-way in, but it's actually turn-based, JRPG basically, from start to finish. And she just took to it like a duck to war, absolutely rinsed it. There was a section towards the end where she got trapped, and that was a good thing because it just levelled her up unbelievably. She came out of there like an absolute beast, basically, way op really for the end of the game and everything, just literally cakewalked it. And um off of that, I said, Oh, well, you know, there is other there is other games like that. And I thought, well, what what what's I thought, oh could Final Fantasy X really scratch that itch? I thought, oh maybe, but is it is it is it similar combat methody? It's the exact same timing loop for the fights as it is in Final Fantasy X. I don't know what came first, but more than likely Final Fantasy X. And then she just ripped into Persona 4 and absolutely obviously and I make mate abliterated it. Wow. Is she gonna do five next? Oh mate, five's already cracked wide open like a cannibal brain-eating party. Um to me, that's my favorite. That's my favorite persona. I wanted to ask you what you you've played the new three, right? The remake of three. How does that hold up for someone who well four and five? Because three was a different mate. I have to say, it was different, but I don't know what this remake's like.
SPEAKER_06:It's not bad. Um, I think it's the best way to play three. I still think like it's the best way to play three. I think four and five, I think you can maybe do an argument on which one of those has the better story, the best story out of the series. But then like I think five's friendly game first, like game gameplay, like actual like player first um features are probably the best out of the series. But then, like, yes, uh, but and I do think like some of the characters in four are great, but then I'm like, three has like an old school charm with modern day upgrades that I think makes that game like way more replayable than it ever has been. Talk to me about the upgrades. What are we talking about? It's just the simple things of like the persona five-ness, um, of like you basically being able to stealth in the uh stealth in like the the I'll call it the underworld. I can't remember what the the term was called. Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, that's better. The SSD makes the game a lot more faster, cheapier, and such like that. It has like more um options to where you can you know scale the difficulties up a little bit, you know, up and down and all that kind of stuff. Um, I think like the actual combinations that you can do with the personas, I think are a little more like it feels like I there's new persona beast in there that I don't remember being in three, but for some reason, like I remember them being in five, but don't remember them being in three, if that makes sense. And then I think like they at they kept true to the nature of like all the confidants and all that kind of stuff, but for the most part, I think like some of the it feels like they improved like the hub areas and getting around those a little bit more. So I still think that it's a lot more because they tried to stay true to the original vision a little bit. I think it's more clunky than it is in Persona 5, especially, but like getting around the school and getting around um the different like districts and such like that feels a lot better to me than it did back in the day as well.
SPEAKER_02:And that fascinates me, and I think you've just confirmed a Christmas present, to be fair. Um, but uh the I'm interested to know like I'm I find it interesting that they're gonna remake four so soon because after playing it myself and obviously watching Rachel play it, I thought to myself, this is not in need of that much attention.
SPEAKER_06:No, neither was um what Zelda, Horizon, you know, anything else in this capitalistic world. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I wondered if going all the way back and redoing Persona OG would be more beneficial. Because that could have stunted how three would then look in the end as well.
SPEAKER_06:I think I think the the best the best people are the best companies who've done remakes are obviously I think Capcom, especially with like the way they've methodically done each metal, uh each Resident Evil and like kept it in line, you know, like starting from what was it, I think two, three, four, and all that kind of stuff to where it feels like they had a plan involved, whereas Persona feels like they just get a shotgun method, and whichever one the the one of the seeds lands in, that's the one that's they had a plan involved, but I think they actually probably thought zero and the remake of one would hold up better than they do, because two, three, four remake, do what you will with five and six as you please, but play having played zero recently and then gone into the remake, or then if you go to two, it's so stark, and actually, zero plays better than the remake of one.
SPEAKER_02:So then you you can't if you're playing it, if you want to play it chronologically, you play zero and you're like, Oh, okay, tank controls, just give me a moment. Yeah, okay, I'm cool with this. These are all where the button placements are, and then you go into a game that's basically exactly the same. All the button placements move, and the game is just different again.
SPEAKER_03:It's oh god.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, guys. I almost wish they would have just outsourced um a lot of that remake into like a sister studio or like another company, and that way we would have kind of had our kick it needed to with like new personas or you know, the new vision of whatever um Atlas wants to be, but also like maybe cool it down with some of the spin-offs of like all the damn games in the world, like all like all the dang persona like five spin-offs. I'm like all that effort could have been put into like remaking zero through two, and we would have had like banger after banger versus you having a dancing persona game now, or you having a mate.
SPEAKER_02:I would love to get a moment in the Atlas board room where they're showing the sales projections as these things and then the staff allocations, and everyone's going, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, the the dancing, yeah. Yeah, oh and should we rustle out a tattoo again? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, why? Why? Who's the audience?
SPEAKER_02:I who is I don't like admittedly, there is like a nudge of extra story in it, I believe, but like honestly, I don't I feel like it's especially with Royale, it's it's done. It's it's it's everything sold.
SPEAKER_06:It's everything you can want from Persona 5. You know, Royale is like, I think, like my my favorite, not only my favorite way of playing the game, I think it's one of the best JRPGs of all time. Because it's so stacked, it's so beefy, there's so much to do. But you know, you were talking um about getting Miss Rachel a gift for Christmas. I would not I would actually say maybe also get Persona 3, but I would also say in lieu of getting Persona 3, get metaphor. Because I would say oh, because she loves fantasy as well. Because you you talked about the Lord of the Rings tie-in. Yes, and I was just like, she really likes that fantasy vibe, and this is all about it's more of like political fantasy, it's about knights, it's about honor, and all the things I think like were inspired, like a lot of the story, I think has inspirational the inspirational seeds that came from Tolkien, you know, like and Tolkien isms like you know, throughout that game.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm like what what about how do you think she would take to uh expedition 33?
SPEAKER_06:I think she would love it, but I do think Expedition 33, if she is used to being methodical and taking her time with like um making those choices, like I think Expedition 33 has a swing to it to where you have real-time combat elements into the turn base. So like whenever whenever someone hits you, there is like you can press, I'm gonna use plus, for example, in here. You can press circle to dodge out of you have to legitimately dodge and time that right. And then you also have like R1. Um, R1 is like parry, and then like if you hit your parry right, you can actually you know flip that attack back onto them and hit them with double damage. And the timing on that, even for me, as someone who's been gaming 20 plus years, is hard, except you know, like critical you get it.
SPEAKER_02:Is it an extra bonus if you get it, or is it critical to gameplay that you nail it? Are you gonna die in a boss battle if you don't nail everyone?
SPEAKER_06:It is on I'm playing on normal difficulty right now, and I've been taking my time through expedition, but like it is on normal difficulty, I would say it is not critical. Like, I they advise you if you're having trouble with the parry, always dodge because the dodge window is a lot larger than the parry window. Yeah, but also if she wants to play on the narrative or easy, easier difficulties, I think that would be beneficial to her as well. You know, like I where the they have I think it's so enlarged that it is more more friendly, you know, into where like even though the machines are there.
SPEAKER_02:She's been down the road of experimenting with different difficulties and ultimately decide that that normal is the right position because we had a little discussion about if you get your prize too easy, you lose interest. If the prize is too hard to get, you lose interest. Whereas this, like, yeah, you're a bit sort of stuck on it at the minute, but you've got to keep grinding away and it'll pop. And it did, and it's like, oh, okay, yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_06:Because that felt amazing. I'm not a souls gamer by any means. Like, I'm not a souls gamer, but but I do get that sense of like people loving the satisfaction of overcoming those obstacles, and they're they look on the like after they butt heads with the boss for 50 times, and then they they look back after they beat that boss and they go, Yes, it's that like cathartic moment of that. Well, like Expedition 33 for me has been a journey of like the of really struggling early on with the like the pairing and figuring out because every enemy has every single enemy has different like different attacks, just like persona. So it's very similar to where persona, you know, like each of the enemies have different attacks, and me trying to do as good as I can because I know like the parries can uh not only like uh hit the enemy back for the amplified attack, but they can also like gain me um bonus AP points. So those AP points, just like in true JRPG fashion, can be used to do like the you whatever the special skill skill um attacks are. So I'm like I try to stack those up as much as possible to um so that I'd be able to do as much damage as quickly as possible or use like specialized skills. So you can also offset that and if you by upgrading certain characters because they let you build your characters in certain ways, you know, with the attribute points. So I'm like, with her, I would advise if she's not good, if she doesn't feel like she's gonna be good at parrying, especially especially as she tries it early on. If you find that you're struggling with parry, put a lot of those points in defense and defense, and that way when you do take those blows, they don't hit hard, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Like so, I'm like clearly enjoyed sculpting the characters in Lord of the Rings to kind of benefit a different playstyle and team. So I think that could work. I I bring that up because we were walking through a brick and mortar store very rarely. These days to find video games in there, and out of all the games on the shelf, that's one that she I don't know why she was magnetically pulled to.
SPEAKER_06:It is fantasy, it is fantasy to the core, but there's also like a little bit of sci-fi elements, and I think the story is so riveting. It's so and in a way, the yeah, the story does interest me, to be fair. That's the one bit that made me think, do I need this or no? Yeah, in a way that I think like I think what's um so impressive about Expedition 33 is not only the gameplay, because I do think even though there's not it's not like it is indie, it is an indie JRPG, but like it feels like it was done with a by triple A team because it a lot of it was, but it also feels like the story and the voice acting are all triple A level because like the story, very simple process, very simple like premise in the sense to where like the a painteress has these numbers that are on a giant map that uh giant like canvas that overlooks the entire island that they live on, the entire place that these people live on. And from 100 and it goes down. And for once you like let's say once it hits 80, all the people who are above 80 years old dust off like Thanos. Wow. So every single year that number trickles down. So as you as it trickles down, humanity of course gets younger and younger because like it it just it just happens that way. Like, and then the expedition parts come from like the different years, knowing their death is upon them, they go out and they they send out an expedition to the island or the location where the witch uh the witch, the painteress, is at and they try to take her down. And the story uh this one is about expedition 33. The clock has ticked down 233, and you know, humanity doesn't have much time left. There's 33 years left on the clock, you know, like it's gonna trickle down further, 32, 31. And it is about this group who knows that all the it's gotten down to 33. So all these expeditions have failed before them.
SPEAKER_02:And so are they 33 years old, or is this the 33, 33rd expedition?
SPEAKER_06:A lot of them are up to the 32nd year, you if that makes sense. So I'm like, not all of them are 33, because when that when the Pantress hits that 33 in the sky, everyone that was 33 and above are already dead. So all of them are 32 and below.
SPEAKER_02:You know, I don't know what happens in the story, but imagine if this went on to like expedition five and load of five years.
SPEAKER_06:A man, five-year-olds, you go five year olds, but then like it's a really cool twist because like in true evolutionary fashion, you know, like humanity has kept trying to evolve and get better with technology, with magic, and all that kind of stuff to try to combat the the Pantrist. So I'm like, it feels like the story has been thought out so so seamlessly because like it every little thing ties into like the stories, and then as you go play, like as you play the game, my favorite part about this game is not just like the great storytelling, the great like action, the great combat. The I think the visuals are way better than they have any right to be from a studio of this size. But then my favorite thing is like seeing the seeing the logs of all the expeditions that come before you because as you're in this uncharted land in social, there are there are expeditions and every single one of them are voice acted differently. So you hear the like the anticipation, the anxiety, the excitement from like all the expeditions that have come before you, and each one of them tells a different tale on not only like how they got to a certain location wherever you found the log, but because and but like usually on their moments before their death or like a moment where they figured something out that might help your expedition.
SPEAKER_02:It is cool.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I think in a way that do they play while you play, or does it static the screen and then play it to you? Unfortunately, it statics the screen while you play, but then they're so small Yeah, but then it's a again indie studio though, but like again, it's so small of a moment it might take you 30 seconds to hear that.
SPEAKER_01:But like yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:So it's not like it's like um oh, it's like five minutes long, and you're just sitting there twiddling your phone or anything like that. They don't they give you just a little bit of a snippet to say, like, oh, my name's Angela. I uh and this is not a spoiler, this this is just me making it up off the top of my head. Yeah, my name's Angela. I reached on this cliff side, I was excited. We tried out a hot air balloon method. A hot air balloon method got us to this point, but for some reason now we've been sniped out of the sky. And before I die, knowing that we don't have very much supplies left, I just wanted people to know I went out like a G and I demolished everyone around me. That's as quick as that's as quick as it goes right there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, I do kind of like it. I like when you know I think Bioshop did it where you play while it plays, so you can have longer ones and enjoy it like a little podcast as you go. Infamous too had these dead drops where you have to it says stun pigeon, but I'll be honest with you, if a pigeon can survive that drop and a car drive in over it while I shuffle down to get the USB drive in his leg. Uh yeah, good luck to it. Um but they also play while you're playing, so you just have that nice little bit of lore, and they're not long, but they're long enough where if you were stuck in a saty screen, you'd be mardy.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, or did you um like hear anything about the voice acting of this game?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, how you know they are just really sweet stories about how they came in and just bounced the dialogue, didn't really think much of it really, and then ended up being this big success, and they're really happy for him. And I think most of the voice acting contributors kind of had similar stories, which and I think there was more out the back end, but it was it was sweet, and like I say, it it framed up a great moment for him.
SPEAKER_06:It is on the English voice acting side, which is absolutely phenomenal. They have Charlie um Charlie Cox, who played you know, Daredevil, um Andy Circus, you know, the the voice Andy Circus is in this game as a major character in this game. Ben Starr, who's video game royalty at this point, he's basically in every single major video game as a voice. Um, Jennifer English, um, Kristen Ritter, um, like all these amazing like mainstream voice actors are like in this game. So I'm like, it is it's phenomenal talent. It's also like a do or die situation based on like the the story I gave you earlier, and like the acting is impeccable. So I'm like, it is even if you were to backseat game and to watch her play this game and such like that, I think that would be a great experience for both of you because like it it feels so narratively empowered powerful on that note.
SPEAKER_02:One thing I wanted to talk about is like I feel like uh I'm in my 40s now, hard to believe. I'm not gonna be and I feel like I'm coming towards almost and this might sound insane because it's it's not true, but I feel like I'm I'm a sportsman coming to the end of his professional career because I find games increasingly more difficult. Um I find them like maybe some of them a little bit harder to get the initial pick-up and play idea of the gameplay loop. Um it's harder to devote maybe as much time as I once did to just pull in the curtain, sitting in my pants for ten hours and well, probably 80 hours without even cracking light or drinking or eating and playing these video games. Um so yeah, then because you get a bit of skill fade, you come to a game like oh uh yeah, and your characters doing like the tenpenny bounce on the spot as you're pressing all the buttons trying to work out what is what. Um yeah, and I just think wow, is this something that happens to us all, or am I just going through through a bit of a lull at the moment between games, a little bit sort of because I have to say, I've got Ghosts and Death Stranding 2 on the shelf ready to go. But Ghost of your day, and yeah, yeah, definitely. We're moving the mouse and doing all these different bits and bobs, and we just want to settle down because we like the stories, we just want to settle down and play through that like a series. We don't want to do a bit on the portal here, a bit on the PS5 there. It's not the same, and you need sort of you you can't be messed about with those sorts of games, you just want to blitz them through, but getting enjoyed in the best way possible. Um so I think that draws us up to the news, Seb, if you agree with that. Uh yeah, for sure. Let's dive into it then. As always, you know me said the news was just basically a random deep swathe of the internet. I can't guarantee any of this is relevant. Uh, and we possibly might be discussing some sort of news from 2005. Uh not guilty. 20 years old. Yeah, basically. But anyway, we scowed the very darkest regions of the internet to bring you the latest stories. First up, over at Push Square, uh Robert Ramsey's pulled on his uh dear stalker and got his pen out to talk about Project Tal. Um while we'll be the first to admit he says that we're losing track of all these crazy looking action games from Chinese and Korean studios, that doesn't make Project Tal any less impressive. This newly announced title is currently in development at Mad Engine in South Korea. It's based around the country's mythology. And it's described as a triple A single player action RPG. It's tar targeting PC and consoles in 2027. Uh, there's a trailer out there if you want to go look at it. And I'll be honest with you, I bring it here to the table, Seth, because the level of graphical fidelity on show in this game and what they're kind of showcasing is possible. And as we reach the end of these this gen, we're starting to see some maybe some of that promised graphical fidelity that we've all been hankering for. He goes on to say, interestingly, this doesn't seem to be your typical action RPG as you fight alongside, and this is a cool element, a roster of intelligence. We'll see about that. MPC companions via assistant that dynamically responds to the player's combat style and environment. Uh, has this caught your radar yet, good friend, or is this new news to you?
SPEAKER_06:No, no. Um, the trim looks awesome. Um, I you know what this feels like? It feels like a combination of um a couple of other genres within this. This um, like I know game development takes a long time, so I can't, you know, I'm not gonna say like, oh, they saw Wulong and like really jumped on that.
SPEAKER_02:But well, that is what I thought, to be fair.
SPEAKER_06:It feels like, you know, um, it feels like the presentation, some of the boss battles of Wulong um mixed in with like I would probably compare it more so to um what is that game? Um Capcom's game where you have like companions that are NPCs. Um no, no. Um I'm almost there. Almost there. Not Monster Hunter, it is the the one that dang it. Give me one second. Um while I look this up, yeah, it looks very fun. It looks like an open um open world or open area type of game. Um it reminds me so much of Dragon's Dogma. Uh that's the one I was thinking of. Right. Dragon's Dogma, in a sense to where I'm like the NPCs look like they are corresponding to kind of what you do, and if yeah, I bet you have like loose instructions to what you you could tell them. If I remember correctly, there's a moment. Yeah, for sure. It looks um it feels like souls, and that you know, like that um that that genre has really like really taken over the mainstream in a lot of different ways because this does feel like it is heavily leaning towards a lot of the elements that we find in in the mainline Souls games and in Elden Ring a little bit um with giant monsters that you have to take down, but it feels like they're using a little bit of like the um gameplay elements from Dragon's Dogma, a little bit, I would probably say, of the new version, unfortunately, of um Dragon's A Dragon Age as well, a little bit to where that's also in play?
SPEAKER_02:Just to spin this around and have a look at it from this angle, all these Chinese eastern developing studios coming on board, Sony's got their sort of dreams sort of campaign or golden child campaign for the Chinese developers that they've got running. How are these guys able to how are they able to just come to market pretty fresh and push these consoles and PC with this graphical fidelity in an open world setting like we've never seen before? What is the magic source that's happening over there? Because to me, compared to a Western developed game, these recent Chinese developments and these Korean developments seem to have a they've got an edge, and I don't quite know how.
SPEAKER_06:I think um I think it's pretty simple to me is like I think they are laser focused on what matters in video games in a way that here in the West we're not. To where like I think they're I don't think the fidelity is that much better. I think it's more utilized, if that makes sense, to where like I don't think they're utilizing some secret level of tech that we're not over here. I think like they have they don't worry so much about environments, if you haven't noticed, with um with games like I would probably say Neo in all those games. They're not worried about the environments, they're worried about like what's in front of you.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_06:And they use like optical illusion tree tricks to kind of make you feel like you're oh, we're in this lush environment, but they only do just enough to make you feel like they that you get a sense of like the setting and the scenery around you, but they focus a lot of that graphical fidelity on what matters, which is like the combat, the actual like the ways that the game responds to the actions you do. They are the bosses themselves. If you especially if you look at games like um Wulong and such, where you actually can see how the blows are impacting your enemies, and you can actually see the graphical fidelities and details on your enemies. I think they're focusing on what matters versus how detailed a gun or a blade of grass is going to be, or a puddle. Like, I also think like there is and Battlefield uh has also done this recently. There's a huge emphasis right now on non-ray tracing, to where like you make a game look as good as possible, but you don't actually use ray tracing at all at all.
SPEAKER_02:I think that is the secret source for making a game look awesome without absolutely melting the console at the minute. I don't I don't know why more people aren't doing it. It's almost like, oh, if you don't have ray tracing, it won't sell. Guys, make the game look good and no one will care.
SPEAKER_06:No, I I don't think um I don't think anyone's complaining in Battlefield 6 right now that there's no ray tracing in that game. No, no, and the game's still selling like hot cakes, it still has a high player count on across all platforms.
SPEAKER_01:It still looks a million dollars, doesn't it? Really?
SPEAKER_06:It looks good. So I'm like, I think that's it. And we're like, you can have elements that look like ray tracing when not ray tracing actually be there. You can have like fake it. Yeah, for real.
SPEAKER_02:They got really good at faking it to the point where we couldn't tell. Then they take all that horsepower and do it for real, and it looks worse because we need another stage of console to get there now. And it's like, oh guys, you know, just keep faking it because I really don't care if that reflection is real.
SPEAKER_06:I don't know, and it's one of those things to where, like, if you watch, I think like um I was listening to like the a video where they were talking about like a person overseas um in foreign markets were analyzing what Americans were looking at when they were looking at videos and what videos like in YouTube, what videos people clicked on and what videos had retention. And a weird thing that they noticed that they put in video games was like a lot of the textures and apertures um were blurred and had blurred backgrounds, but people still people saw that as high quality as far as like the videos that people watched on YouTube, whereas like they got a semblance of what was going on, but the background was blurred, but like the person, the actual focus of the video was in higher definition. And in turn, they like there was a huge movement going on that said, What if we give people a semblance of what's in the background, but we focus and put all that graphical fidelity, all the major focus on our presentation on what's actually present right in front of the gamer.
SPEAKER_02:Without bringing quite honestly, feels like a bleeding pig's head to the table right now. But PSVR2 obviously uses that foveated rendering. Imagine if the next gen console just had a camera on top of the TV that did eye tracking and basically just rendered where you looked.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, it that would I think that'd be revolutionary in a way that people aren't ready.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, not quite, but you know, just relax and play the game. Normally you're focusing on like just a tiny circle where your character exists, so the rest could be blurred and and the textures could drop back a little bit, and then when you look down there with the SSD and whatnot, it'd instantly be there. I've noticed that in the VR, you try and catch it out, like oh okay, I'm gonna look over it for ages and flick around, bam, perfect. So, yeah, that's got 120 hertz refresh rate, admittedly, but anyway, I get side. Are Chinese developers yeah, I think it looks really good. My my my next question to you is triple S, if I may be so bold. Are Chinese developers no one's a threat, obviously, because we all get games out of it, but are they a threat to the established order? Because they do seem to be they've I'm not saying they didn't exist prior to this, but they've pushed into the Western market harder and with the help of the major studios more than they've ever been able to. And they've come at it for first stabs in a really great effort. And I think that you know let's frame it this way Bethesda should be shitting themselves. Is that why we've not seen anything of the next Elder Scrolls? Because all these games keep coming, like First of all, Witcher 3 pulled their pants down. It's like, oh okay, yeah, okay. Well, we're working on the new Elder Scrolls, and then boom, after game after game keeps coming out in that ecosystem and doing it as good if not better. So are these Chinese developers a threat to the to these developers, you know? Especially someone like Bethesda.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, um, yeah, of course, there's only so much market share to go around, so the obvious answer would be yes, but then like I think like the real positive spin on on all this is basically like I like to see studios, especially up-and-coming studios like this, um, especially if they're not owned by Tencent and owned by EA and owned by the activities of the world, get their shine in a way, because like in a way that is threatening to the uh bless you, that is threatening to the overview of what Xbox and and their daddy Microsoft wants, but then like in a way that's healing of a lot of the industry. Like that market share, instead of it being captured by the tried and trition uh traditional methods of Bethesda, it's going towards a up-and-coming studio that is trying to have their fair share of the market and actually like capture the market. That's another prestigious studio that that adds to the portfolio of what video games are. And I feel like that makes the industry more interesting, more better. You know, like competition breeds breeds like better results for consumers. So I'm like, I love this news. I think like I look at this, I look at War Horse Studios, which is that um Czechs. Um, they made um how you say Czechs, Czech Republic. Um that Czech Republic, yeah. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, you called your wife your missus earlier, so you've obviously spending far too much time with us.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so so I'm like, they're the studio that made um Kingdom Come and Kingdom Come Deliverance. Yeah, Kingdom Come Deliverance sold really well. I'm like, I'm happy for you know the Wulongs of the world, the Kingdom Comes come deliverances of the world, the other a like the Asian-based studios, because I'm like, I think, oh, and we couldn't like CD Project Raid as well. Yeah, CD Project Raid, yeah, Poland, uh Polish studio. So I'm like I I love how divisive and expansive they're making the the industry because I'm like, as opposed to fat cats getting fatter, this is more people making their stamp and people actually resonating and supporting, you know, not necessarily small creators, these aren't like small, small indie creators by any means, but indie in the sense that we're they're not you know third um first party, third party owned, yeah. Big conglomerate dogs, yeah. No, I corporation. Yeah. So I'm like, this feels it feels like in a way, you remember how there used to be a bigger double A audience, like back back when we were back when we were growing up, um, and you know, like that PS2, PS3, P even like PS4 era.
SPEAKER_02:It feels like kind of fill that gap, but that are these guys now the new A? I feel like they're it feels double A. It feels above double A, though, and that's my point with these Chinese Korean developers. They I don't know what the underneath product is, but Wukong kind of survives that element of it, and then graphically, yeah, you've talked about some optical illusions and magic tricks, and I'm all for it, you know. No one said a console like to replicate real life, just make it look realistic in the area I'm in.
SPEAKER_06:A lot of people in the industry are calling like these new wave of games triple I, like triple indie, you know.
SPEAKER_02:But like uh, I don't know whether Project Tal is or isn't that thing, but triple triple I.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I love it. Where like it's it's not indie, but it's like it's that triple A level of indie game, and it's like that triple I level. And I love that I love that saying, and I think like other games, even if they are backed by a smaller company, you know, like a smaller foundation or a smaller background, at least it's not like EA, at least it's not Activision, and you know, they're getting their slice of the pie of the industry, and I like that. Triple S is a triple I of a triple A.
SPEAKER_01:That's three triples with a triple A. So he's the triple, triple, triple. Wow. Yeah, he's a separate.
SPEAKER_02:If you can get that in baseball, you'd be eating good. Oh my goodness gracious.
SPEAKER_04:What do you mean good?
SPEAKER_02:Well, let's wheel out this next bit of news. Dressed in green, presented by Ben Kerry over on uh where is this Pure Xbox, Sarah Bond. Uh, our next gen console will be very premium and informed by the Rogue Xbox Ally. Let's get into this. Shortly following the release of the Rogue Xbox Ally, Microsoft Sarah Bond has been dropping hints about the team's next gen plans. Is it about time you did? Because uh you practically convinced everyone you're shutting down. And the Xbox president has some interesting things to say about the next console from Microsoft. In an interview with Mashable, Bond was quizzed about rumours that the next gen Xbox will be more PC-like. In response, the XEC basically went along with these rumors saying that the team's next gen console will be a very premium, very high-end curated experience, and that the thinking behind that has been informed by the ROG Xbox Alloy handheld. Here's a quote: I can tell you right now the next gen console is going to be very premium, a very high-end curated experience. You're starting to see some of the thinking of this with the handheld, but I don't want to give it all away. Of course, that doesn't mean the next gen console will necessarily take the form factor of the ROG Xbox Alloy, but it's sounded like Microsoft is leaning into that sort of hardware philosophy going forward. What we're reading into this is that the next gen console will probably be a pretty expensive, more PC-like in nature, and open to all different storefronts and ways to play that you see on PC. However, one crucial way the new console will likely differ from the ROG Xbox Alloy is compatibility with existing Xbox libraries. We're seeing a lot of frustration swirling around that the new handheld is just a PC with an Xbox logo due to its lack of console game compatibility. But that should all change when the team's next gen system comes along. Microsoft has already revealed that it has established a forward compatibility team to make sure existing libraries work with feature handheld hardware, and we're fully expecting the results of that labor to be on show next gen. Now this sits here because you'd think the way Xbox are punching consumers right now that uh and and the industry had decided the writing was on the wall for them, and the Series X was the last ever console. The Rogue Xbox alloy was basically a front row seat at the funeral, or at least at the weight of Xbox. Um but Sarah Bond refuses to die. She's uh she's stood up, she's dragged together little bits of PC, much like the original Xbox. Let's never forget that. The Direct Xbox is a PC in a box in its fundamental original design document, and now it sounds like it's returning back to Motherhead. It's gonna crawl up on her lap and have a little suck of um bitty, is what I would say. Oh just for a moment you forgot that you're on the the UCP, and then you suddenly had a very harsh reminder of uh I don't know why a chicken would need to be breastfed, but suddenly it does. Now what do you make of all this? Now, the reason why I put this in the news, there's always a reason why children put something in the news. The reason why I put this in the news is because I am feeling like the only leg Microsoft and Sony have got to play in the next gen console game. He's either gimmick the hell out of it with some sort of dockable, undockable, semi-like processing running on the hardware handheld, which sees me thinking they're following Switch a little bit like they followed the Wii with the move and the connect, and we all know how that worked out, boys. Uh maybe do your own ideas. Um, or alternatively, which Sarah Bond is looking to confirm here, that they're going to have to justify them by being very premium, made out of a premium material, have a kind of premium look and feel to them, which is to be expected. Because I imagine S that when the next gen consoles launch, we're going to be knocking on the door of 899. If not, why not all in by the time you've bought all the gizmos that are going to go with one of these next gen consoles? We're probably knocking on the door of at least a grand minimum investment. Now, at that point, am I better off going down to I don't even know if there's a shop you can wander into and buy PC in anymore, Seb? Unfortunately. And then I'll be the consumers exposed to the minefield of buying a little deal on Amazon or trying to build their own. I can't imagine a 12-year-old's going to succeed very well trying to bolt his own PC together in a backpack.
SPEAKER_06:But you'd be surprised a lot of them are tech savvy now. Like a lot of them are PC building very early now.
SPEAKER_02:Well, you're in touch with the younger end of the audience, whereas I come in defending the daddios, um wondering why consoles aren't made out of wood like they were back in the good old days. But triple S. Can I know everything goes up in price, and I know that everything is relative in terms of inflation, etc. But in today's modern marketplace, even in a world where a candy bar costs you probably$1.50? Geez. Welcome to the UK. What world are we living in where a console is a thick end of a G, baby?
SPEAKER_06:There's a lot to break down in this, like in this question, I guess. Um, are we gonna speculate on the direction of Xbox now, or you wanna talk about like Sarah Bond's comments? Like you are.
SPEAKER_02:I wanna kinda I wanna get into it. I want to light touch on all of it, if I may, but primarily well, let's start with that first question. Is the market, albeit in two years' time, is the market in a place where that noise of a grand for a video game? Console is ever going to be acceptable.
SPEAKER_06:No, um, it is gonna be very high-end. I think like I you know, I'm curious right now, because um, with the economy the way it is, with the political landscape of the way it is, with the the terror situation in the US affecting global economics and such like that, it is um we're in a weird spot where video games is being affected by all that, but where also you know um companies and greed comes into play to where like a lot of a lot of corporations are taking advantage of the the political underclimate and raising prices for for that for sure. But then so getting all that out of the way, um, consumers, I think there's always gonna be buy-in from the early adopter hardcore audience, and that is a hundred percent gonna be there. Like, I think like the with the and I'm not trying to drag down anybody in particular, but with like the ROG ally X um Xbox edition with the Nintendo Switch, with like Steam Deck, um, you name the console, there's always a high swell of early adopters who want to be right there from the front, um, trying to get into oh, I want the latest and greatest tech, and I want to just see what the Hubble blue is about. Then after that, that kind of like early ground swell swells away, then I think we really get down to the meat and potatoes of like, oh, is this console actually selling well? Is it actually doing well? Is the market actually responding to it? So I don't think we'll know initially even when the new console comes out, but when like a year to year point five, I think we're gonna see how well the market responds to it. With the Switch, I'm curious on how I'm curious on what the the year two sales are gonna be, way more than I am about what year one sales. And I think like the ROG Ally X, I'm so uh the Xbox edition, I don't think the ROG Ally, the first one sold well, much unless you slap Xbox on it. I'm curious on how much of a difference one one is that year two gonna be from like the first iteration to this iteration, and I'm also curious on for this next coming up Xbox, how much traditionalists are going to book the thought of having to deal with different storefronts. And because I think like traditionalists and old heads are really staunch in their belief of like, I just want to pick up a console, I want everything to be read in front of me, I want the UI to be as presentable as possible to where I can get into my games.
SPEAKER_02:Um the whole Xbox audience must think that, otherwise, I would have bought a PC in the first place. They they skated that very that's why I brought it up the direct Xbox. It really was a combination of old laptop parts put into a box and made easy to use with a menu on the front of it so you could just load a game in. They're now getting to a they're getting allegedly. What little portals? Go here for your Xbox games, click here to go for your Steam games, click here to go for your epic games. It's very interesting, and what, and then you navigate to their store, but you boot from there, but then you gotta go back and then boot from X. It's not what I would call if it's handled well, and if anyone could handle you expect Microsoft could make it slick.
SPEAKER_06:I I've gotten hands-on with the LAX, and from my brief, very brief, uh um like hands-on with it, I I've this is also me trying to take my bias out of it, but then like trying to come at this from a um understanding of like what I think modern-day gamers prefer. Because I do think traditionalists prefer the experience like you were saying just now, which I think traditionalists, ironically, the platform they've been trying to avoid the longest for the longest, is giving them the would give them in this new this new landscape in this new generation is going to give them that more that experience more than any other platform, and I think that's Steam. But like, because Steam, like with their Steam OS and everything like that, you can have everything in one place, everything in front of you in one place, no matter what storefront it came from.
SPEAKER_02:And that's what I feel that's where I feel Microsoft with their billions, with their probably people sat around spinning round on an office chair half the time on God knows how much money a year looking for a project could really be doing for them. Literally stitch all these storefronts together into one cohesive vision. Steam are racing ahead again, and you gotta wonder here, because Steam Deck. I'll be honest, it's not Michael Patissa. No, no, and I don't know where worldwide sales are at, but I tell you what, it puts a very convincing argument together for the consolization they've done the most for a consolization of a PC experience that I know of.
SPEAKER_06:I think they're I think this is just me. This is just me speaking. I think they've done everything in the right way of prodding the market, seeing what people like. I think like I think Steam Deck Deck was beta testing. I think they're going to get into the the console marketplace. And to make, I think like from everything that I've seen, they they did the Steam machine back in the day. They did like their own variation of the hand of their own controller. I think the Steam Deck, I think with Steam OS and putting that on different devices, seeing how that works. I think like Xbox and Steam are playing like the same game, they're just doing it in this in a you know like a different order, so to speak. Steam is kind of prodding the market and testing it out.
SPEAKER_02:But I kind of see I see Steam being like on the evolutionary scale in the underful man. I see Xbox almost barely descended from the trees, friend. I just I don't I don't know how they can get caught mapping in so many different ways every time. We joked, I think, before we went on air, that if someone could have written out you couldn't imagine all these things would be performed by Xbox time and time again, and it'd be you can't imagine it's just a coincidence there can be that that bad optics every time to the point where you've got to think it's on purpose. But to what grand effort, and we decided very much like Doctor Strange, Phil Spencer was assessing all the realities, and no matter how crazy this feels, and no matter how many big heroes we lose along the way, Hi-Fi Rush, you are beautiful, but you're dead. All these fallen heroes along the way, to end up with this world where Xbox is king of all gaming, no question.
SPEAKER_06:I think for uh, you know, uh you there's a lot to to unpack with that state of those statements there, but like it is a weird thing to where like I I mentioned Xbox and Xbox's Steam. I think they're trying to get to the same direction, they're just taking wildly different paths of trying to get there. Like, I in a sense to where like I think Xbox wants to be everywhere, but they want to be everywhere in the sense to where they're mostly going to focus on this next this next journey because I don't think fans will let them get out of hardware. I do think Microsoft wants to get out of hardware, Xbox doesn't, fans don't want them to. My Microsoft, I think, wants them to be just like Microsoft Windows, just like Microsoft Um 365, which is you know like their Excel and all that kind of stuff, to where anything that acts it is able to access it can access it. They're also building heavy into their servers and heavy into cloud platforms.
SPEAKER_02:And that is what they need to make this happen, they need to get those networks, those server built, and they're gonna need rooms upon rooms upon rooms. If this takes off, and it and imagine this world: Xbox Anywhere. I've got a 2020 television that's managed to get the Xbox Anywhere app downloaded on it. As an example, I haven't, but let's just say as an example. I've got it working. Yeah, for sure. I've got my Xbox controller, everything's singing and dancing exactly as I want it to be. Imagine that future then where they kind of merge into the Steam store, and I'm playing I'm somehow seamlessly meant to be playing a game from 2001 in the Steam library that's like barely functional, and it's kind of hanging on and it's working on this network through emulation, and I'm kind of grinding through my controller. Do Microsoft genuinely believe that's a reality? That's the reality they're pushing for?
SPEAKER_06:I think um I think Microsoft is Microsoft, I think, has a different vision of what Xbox wants to do. I think they're different companies, and unfortunately, one's above the other.
SPEAKER_02:Is that where Xbox are pushing to? Is that the reality we're gonna wake up in one day where I just pick up a controller, turn on my TV, and all the work's getting done on the cloud, and I'm playing something from the Steam library from the city?
SPEAKER_06:100% that's what Xbox wants. Wow. 100% that's what Xbox wants. You know, like how are we controlling the transactions in this landscape? I think they want to have their cake and eat it too, to where like I think in this next generation, this is my prediction. Um, we haven't taught, we haven't got to this part of the conversation, but I'm just gonna I'm gonna skip ahead. I like it.
SPEAKER_02:Let's get to this.
SPEAKER_06:My predic My prediction for this next generation of Xbox is Sarabon and everybody, they're gonna announce one premium device around$7.99 to$8.99. Um that's gonna be their core device, and I think there is going to be a lesser device that very similar to what the similar like the Series S was in this generation. There's going to be a lesser device, but it's not just going to be made by Microsoft. I think they're also going to put out a slew of Xboxes made by Asus, made by Um Legion Go, made by Um Yeah, made by I am Neo. I think like they are going to put out different different compatible um compatible devices that all are going to have the Xbox logo on them and the Xbox iOS, uh not iOS, but Xbox OS on them. And that's going to be their lower tier market. And then their higher tier market, there's just going to be one console that's going to be for premium gamers only. In the meanwhile, they're also going to push Xbox Cloud out the Wazoo, and they're also going to have several different announcements in the next coming eight months that says, you know, we're moving Xbox console gamers and console games. This game is now Xbox, um, Xbox Anywhere. Like, they're going to brand it. This game is now an Xbox Anywhere game. This game is now an Xbox Anywhere game, which is code for uh we're putting all of our Xbox console games into Xbox PC versions of those same games. They're going to have that have that mindset. All the games that are coming out now, like from that October announcement or the September announcement from the price raise, everything going for is going to be Xbox PC primarily developed for. And then it'll just happen to also play on the console. And I think they're slowly going to just like they did with backwards compatibility, they're going to migrate a lot of that old library from Xbox Console library to the Xbox Play Anywhere library.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's an easy win. One thing I would say about this strategy is I've not thought of it in that way before, but we've kind of been here before. Hi, I'm Tripp Hawkins. Welcome to the 3DO, the Future of Gaming. This can be made by anybody. You know, it's not going to be made just by us, it's going to be made by Panasonic, Sanyo, everybody. Uh in a way, you absorb yourself of a lot of the problems. In a way, what I think you're right. The fans are what's holding Xbox's business transition back. The hardcore fans that they've built since the original Xbox are saying, I want the console.
SPEAKER_06:They're only going to hold them back for so long because Xbox right now has proven they do not give a damn about these fans.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I know that, and but and that's a shame because you know, for the longest time, I was also in that wheelhouse of being there for them from day one. And same here. It it it started to get very disingenuous, and it was like, nah, back end of the 360, the writing was on the wall.
unknown:Company.
SPEAKER_06:I was I was here for this whole generation until this last 12 months, but yeah, it is um, but yeah, I think like they're gonna have one thing that you you said, I think well, the biggest statement you said, not just in the Sarah Bond um article that you read, but like I think her biggest takeaway to me was that line where she um where she specifically talked about like they got to have their cake and eat it too, because like she said, Oh, um, the ROG Ally X were not the ones who set the prices, you know. R ROG was the one who actually set the prices on that. Yeah. They kind of got to have their cake as the yeah, they got to have their cake with it being it. So I'm like, it is one of those things where I'm like, I why stop? Why why not partner with AM Neo? Why not partner with, you know, like Legion Go? Why not partner with any of the other 12 mobile PC platforms that are gonna do this?
SPEAKER_02:And so it's like I wonder if you know there was a I presume there's a deal between them exist to give it a little bit of exclusivity. Plus it's the first time that they it's not the first time exactly, but it it's the first major time that they've kind of lent out the Xbox brand per se. It's the Xbone, you know, that phone adapter, bits and bolts PlayStation. Yeah, well, it's it's it's true, PlayStation dabbled there. Um they've kind of put the official stamp on things, but this to me goes one stage further than Xbox have kind of really been before in this handheld PC. And and to be fair, what is it? Is it a sticker on the corner of it, basically, and a button that's gonna fast track you to the Xbox area quicker than another version of it?
SPEAKER_06:I I think what I think um one of the things that makes me feel like it's not gonna be an exclusive deal is the play anywhere mantra. It's because like you can't be exclusive when you already have these things on phones, televisions, and everything else. Absolutely, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But if you're going if you I suppose if you are one of those hardcore Microsoft guys that's got them this far, and I I spoke to you off air and I talked to RGT about the hardcore consumer basically propping up the video game market right now, they're the ones who are buying the games every month. Um, I think the highest attached rate of console user probably bought a game once one game a year, which I found staggering, to be honest with you. But I guess if you're a kid, you've got the console, you probably play the free-to-play stuff in a way. Luckily for them, they're getting a scrape off the microtransaction, but that's about it. Uh, that's a weird world to live in. You put all this development time into a console that then someone else puts the game on it for free that you allow, and then you basically exist off the scrapings of the floor scrapings of that game.
SPEAKER_06:Man, this would be a different landscape if PUBG had never taken off. If PUBG and Fortnite would have never taken off, completely different landscape.
SPEAKER_02:Um think that games we'd be playing now, and how and how they wouldn't because I think those games have negatively impacted the gaming landscape in terms of gameplay as well, because they know that's a hook for a lot of people that don't play anything else. So the games kind of have to have those threads, the big glute, the big, shiny look at Suicide Squad. It's almost like it just fell out of the back ass of a fortnight season, didn't it? It was it was exuberant, it's shiny, it's neon. Yes, it's catching to the eye to anybody, but it certainly feels a product of that generation. And I maybe would be playing another muddy brown shooter again if it wasn't for those. But yeah, I I agree with you if if the free-to-play gimmick, I suppose, more than anything, but definitely the Battle Royale standard hadn't gripped so hard.
SPEAKER_06:What would the landscape would be so different? It would be the casino focus of games, would wouldn't have come this hard.
SPEAKER_02:No, not there would be loop, there would be microtransactions for sure. Yeah, there would be the card pops, you know, but they would be featured still in some way, you know, your stubs on MLB or whatever it is on FIFA or ultimate team points or whatever it is, you know, they would still exist, but I don't think it would be would it exist in the Pantheon of all the games? I don't think it would.
SPEAKER_01:That's an interesting thing.
SPEAKER_06:Now, because I was like, I think like if you looked at the chain of events that happened after that, if if there was no Fortnite, um, no Fortnite, no PUBG explosion, that means the landscape of first person, third person shooters would have absolutely probably stayed along that same type of line.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And if it stayed on that type of line, would Xbox would have probably had a little bit more momentum with like their first party output as far as like Halos probably wouldn't have flopped as hard as they would have, yeah, you know, like they'd have had more art on as well because people would be hungry for that genre. Yeah, for sure. And if that and Titanfall would have probably done a lot better, but if those games would have done a lot of better done a lot better, then Xbox probably wouldn't have had to try to make the Hail Mayor to buy Activision or Bethesda. And if those game if that transaction never would have happened, there's so many dominoes that would never fail to put it.
SPEAKER_02:I'll tell you one, I'll tell you one thing that would have been even more of a juggernaut than it is now. Is if those if Fortnite didn't exist, GTA 5 would be doing even more numbers than it already is. It's crazy to say, but it would be absolutely nuts. And I do see Fortnite becoming the one-stop shop for let's say a kid gets a console, awesome, didn't have any games to play, no problems, he gets Fortnite, and then Fortnite box off within that map now. Really every genre. You can drop down there and race a car around, you can drop down and play football, you can drop down and do a dance. They got concerts now.
SPEAKER_06:They have you in one ecosystem. You mentioned the Simpsons, like Fortnite is about to do a Simpsons map completely, completely do a Simpsons themed like season. If you didn't have if you if they didn't do that, you would probably have Simpsons Hit and Run, like two now. Easily. Easily. I'm like, there's so many spirals if Fortnite would have never become a juggernaut.
SPEAKER_02:And the modern day Hit and Run 2 would look exactly like the Simpsons movie, it would be so oh god, mate, it would be so good. Because they do the 2D, but it's 3D as well, without looking stupid, because the Simpsons look. I think one of the rules in the design handbook of The Simpsons is never show them face on because they look so odd, you have to always be at a three-quarter slant on the screen. So obviously, in Hit and Run, when they made these 3D models for these characters, it's awful. The only thing that holds you back, really, because everything else looks perfect. So a new hit and run with Simpsons movie style animation would be would be peerless.
SPEAKER_06:And think about WB in general, wouldn't would have been a tried and true, mostly single-player studio um output outside of Mortal Kombat steel. We would have probably got more of the games of the Shadow of Mordor, Shadow of War games. Mad Max 2. We would have probably got Mad Max 2. There would have probably been another Matrix uh continuation of the Matrix trick games. Yes. We Hogwarts Legacy would have probably been made earlier, and there we'd probably be on a third iteration of Hogwarts Legacy's style of game.
SPEAKER_02:And then the Batman the Hogwarts Legacy we got now would have been the third iteration. So not only would it have looked amazing, it would have had this really great dynamic storyline with interactive lessons, more proper lessons, timetable, day night. Oh god.
SPEAKER_06:I'm telling you, and then on top of that, like the Batman um Batman games wouldn't have died off the the death that they did. They wouldn't have killed it like that. No, for sure. No. I mean, we might have even gotten a Superman game, God forbid. They would have got that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Because they wouldn't have thought to turn it into an online game to try and chase the microtransactions of Fortnite to appeal to the kitties, so they never would have needed to make it. Gotham Knights wouldn't have got made.
SPEAKER_06:Also, like I would probably say one million people in the industry probably wouldn't have gotten laid off because everyone would be working on a lot of these projects to constantly keep trying to recoup, uh constantly keep trying to get like steady waves of money as opposed to chasing the never-ending tail dragon.
SPEAKER_02:That is yes, there'd be a lot less boom and buss of these games that come to have that they and the problem is the incubation cycle. Fortnite do one thing one day. So by the time they thought, oh, Battle Royale might be a cool idea, oh, it seems to be catching on. But the time you've got through the incubation cycle of development, the bubbles burst, or they've got so big you can't crack in. So then they do something else. Oh, well, they've got this like that you could drive a car around in there. Okay, what if we can mine that and that development cycle? And then we see games like that car racing game, um, Crash Star, no, whatever it was on PS5. It got launched as an exclusive. It was like you drive cars around, but then you fight on top of them as well. Oh, the the twisted metal clone is what you're talking about. Not not even that, it was more destruction all-star. Not destruction all stars. That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it. Destruction All-Stars. We wouldn't have had that. We wouldn't, they wouldn't have needed, they wouldn't have even thought to make that game. That was it. Destruction All-Stars, that was it. That's the nail. Yeah, that was bad. That wouldn't have existed. That wouldn't exist. That studio would have made something else. Oh god, mate, honestly. Naughty Dog wouldn't have wasted all that time making that Last of Us online game.
SPEAKER_06:We could have gotten an uncharted with a game with like his daughter by that time. Easily. Oh my goodness, that would have been amazing. Or, you know, I would have loved to have like Lost Legacy Part 2 or Part 3. I would have loved that. I like those little smaller installments into that that style of game.
SPEAKER_02:I honestly felt like you know, spoilers for quite an old game now, and not spoiling it too much, but obviously the brothers' arrival, it felt like there was no point unless there was going to be more. Yeah. And then there wasn't. And it just maybe they did it to leave a window or sort of broaden out the team a little bit more, but yeah, I I genuinely felt like they'd left the door open for more there. They knew they'd close the door, but then they'd open the door and then left the door open. I guess maybe one day we'll go back there. But I was hoping the uncle would be the Sam to his daughter. Me too.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, or Sully or whatever. No, Sully, that's what I meant, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, agree.
SPEAKER_06:That's what I meant.
SPEAKER_02:But let's dust off this last bit of news. It's uh it's a bit of switch news favourite. The uh wonderful people at Nintendo Life. Big fans of the show is Gavin Lane. I do believe he's got a UCP tattoo on his ankle. Uh evidence picture over.
SPEAKER_06:The tramp step of the foot.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he's kind of where he likes to be grabbed, apparently, so that's where he likes to show off his love for the podcast. Absolutely. Um never thought of these two things would be sharing the same ecosystem of my mouth, but it's Elden Ring and Switch 2. Elden Ring sadly delayed though on Switch 2 to allow time for performance adjustments. They need to be. Tarnished edition pushed to 2026. Let's have a look at a little look at what Gavin's been saying. Bandai NAN code from software delaying the planned launch of Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on Switch 2 until next year. Originally scheduled to arrive in Nintendo's console before the end of 2025. A post on the game's official X account apologizes to players and says the delay into 2026 is to allow time for performance adjustments. Got their official tweet here from the Elden Ring account. We, while development on Elden Ring Tarnished Edition continues wholehardly towards release, we've decided to move the launch to 2026 to allow time. We apologize to players looking forward to the game and thank you for your patience and support. Just thought I'd put that in there because uh, you know, they're grateful for you. From Software's game was playable at Gamescom back in August, so maybe Seb can fill us in on that, although various outlets, including uh Nintendo Live. Stand around like old Serpent AHUP. Oh wow, reported disappointing performance on the Nintendo system. It's not the sweet, sweet baby ray we wanted, especially in handheld mode with frame drops and stuttering, especially noticeable in the open areas. Oh, the Switch 2's fallen so hard at the first turtle. This is Witcher 3 all over again. The game launched elsewhere back in February 2022 to glowing reviews and was followed by Shadow of the Earth ReLC in 2024, which will be included in the Tarnished Edition. It's unsurprising perhaps that such an ambitious game might struggle on hard handheld hardware, but we had hoped for a smooth, consistent experience on Switch 2, despite the familiar caveats of running a full fat cross-platform home console game. That's a mouthful gaffe in try saying that uh out loud on portable hardware. However, although it's disappointing to see this one slip into next year, at least for those of us who had holiday plans involving a trip to the lands between if the devs need more time to make the show not quite so tarnished. So I like what you did there. Don't thank me. Uh anyway. Thank our good friend Gavin and his UCP tramp stamp. Um thank you, Gavin. Now, did you get to play this on the show floor? Yeah, um, it did run bad. It did. But you know, it's one thing I want to say is you are like the rock and roll star of the UCP. You're at all the shows, you get all the codes, you meet all the indie devs. I mean, wow. Even the CEO looks at you, and that's me, by the way. Looks at you and is like, I wish I was him. He's handsome, you shouldn't. He's got a great physique, he's cut in a great way, he's polite, he's he's good at games. I'll be honest with you, if gaming had a messiah, if that's not blasphemy in itself, it'd be you.
SPEAKER_06:Nah, man, I'm uh I'm more of a um more of a guy just trucking along. I'm I'm basically the starter Pokemon um Chikorito or Bulbasaur. Chickorito or Bulbasaur. I'm not I'm not the A-Team Charmander or Squirtle, I'm the starter Pokemon Bulbasaur.
SPEAKER_02:I'm I'm pretty staked with that. You turn into Blastoise, don't you?
SPEAKER_06:Blastoise would be the Squirtle variation. Oh, sorry. Blastoise is the one Blastoise is the big turtle that has like the big machine gun or the big like power.
SPEAKER_02:Like wouldn't you be hang on a minute, I've just seen out the corner of my eye the UCP dog biscuit. What's the health update on Biscuit? Because he's he's had a bit of a turn for the he's had a little bit of a turn at the vet veterinarians.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. He had um um early this year he had a battle uh battle seizure, and then um he we got everything under control. He's been taking medication, been going on walks. He's a good boy. Right now he's um been catching a nap after an early morning walk. So he's doing pretty well, thank you for asking.
SPEAKER_02:Well, everyone in the UCP loves a little bit of biscuit. Uh yeah, so it's especially over there. Y'all like biscuits. Yeah, mate. We love biscuits, and we I think we love dogs even more. So you having a dog named Biscuit, that is the show's unofficial, official, unofficial UCP mascot, is quite frankly, it's the dog's bollocks.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. So yeah, he's doing well. He's doing well. When he wants me to actually let let me play video games for the for instance, it's he's still is he still a full man or has he had a little operation downstairs?
SPEAKER_02:Oh man, he had that operation as soon as possible.
SPEAKER_06:As soon as medically cleared, we basically had the the snip snip because Biscuit was a little bit of a ladies' man grow up as a pup. Yeah, yeah, he's a little bit of a ladies' man. Um, so we just wanted to make sure he wasn't gonna be running around um, you know, being a dad too soon.
SPEAKER_02:So So we now make all of our dogs basically the equivalent of Roman units.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, for sure. For sure. For sure. So like he's he's been pretty good though. Um he's been pretty good. We so on Elden Ring, though, the going on the show floor, yeah. It's surprising though, because I think like the a couple of things on Elden Ring. Elden Ring. Okay, let me just preface this by saying this. Like, I think the Switch 2 phenomenal system for what it is, and I also think like the games that run well on it are I think are more on the developers than they are on the consoles. Like, I think the div yeah, the developers, I think, especially Ubisoft made Star Wars Outlaws run magnificent on that thing.
SPEAKER_02:And then and the newly announced um was it Shadow Shadows?
SPEAKER_06:Shadows, yeah, coming December 2nd. Amazing. Yeah. Coming December 2nd. That one looks like it'll run pretty well on there. So I think uh just like with anything in video game development now, you have to optimize it well with whatever platform you're putting on. And I think one of the things that um when you look at the people who do optimize well, you get really, really good ports. Um, I'm looking at I think CD Project Red, for instance, with um with my favorite, one of my favorite games of all time, um Cyberpunk. Like, I think they optimize the hell out of that game, and that game runs flawlessly, even if it's a lesser version, runs flawlessly on the Switch 2.
SPEAKER_02:I'll be honest, in handheld, you wouldn't and again off air, we talked about, you know, I saw an interviewer Shu Hei Yoshida saying he can't tell the difference anymore. Fair play because in handheld six inches, ten inches from your face, in isolation, you can't tell. You're playing Cyberpunk 2077 and it looks great.
SPEAKER_06:I think the only I think the only the only part of like Switch versus everything else is like I think the only argument against the Switch versions of games is if you actually got your eyes on the better model. It's like you're living in a bubble, otherwise, don't like you don't know what you don't have. You know what I mean? Like I agree. If I if I only played the cyberpunk version of of on the Switch 2, and I'd be like, okay, I'm living good, I'm eating good. The game runs pretty runs really well on that thing. It runs pretty good. Yeah, so I'm like, I might be trapped at 30 fists, but you know, like 30 or 60 fists, but I'm like, I wouldn't know the difference between the ray tracing version, the actual draw distance versions of the game to where like you see the high fidelity. No, you wouldn't know that. But like going back to Elden Ring, I think like one of the things that surprises me so much about Elden Ring running poorly is this is a game from 2022, first of all. Yeah, 2022, it is a game that while I think looks okay at times, from software I don't think has made a game to where I would call it show shoppingly beautiful.
SPEAKER_02:Agreed. I don't think I even looked at it. Statistically, it looks great, but in terms of like a graphical art style, it is the art style that holds it together, agreed. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I wouldn't say anything about those games. I from the character models to like the boss, um, to the boss models, I wouldn't say anything looks like it is oh my god, this is if there was an award for best visuals of the year, I don't think that'd be nominated, you know? Like, yeah, it's about the gameplay, it's about the depth of the game. So I it baffles me why this game wasn't let me throw this in as well.
SPEAKER_02:It's been optimized to the point where it'll run on Series S, a known stablemate now with the Switch.
SPEAKER_06:This game runs on Steam Deck really good.
SPEAKER_02:Well, like you know, more to the point. So what's happening here? Now, I don't know if you caught up on the latest bit of news, but the the game card situation for Nintendo actually circles back round to a solution where it's better for them to have it on the hardware to replicate the SSD experience rather than pulling it off the card. Now the card is a limiting factor. Star Wars Outlaws was a game key card because it could go directly onto the SSD and that reduced the loading, it went directly onto the hardware and mirrored the performance of an SSD, which allowed them to do the trickery to get outlaws running. Now, one wonders if are they struggling with that because they're trying to go down the route of putting it all on a card.
SPEAKER_06:I think with a game like this and the landscape that we're in, it's like especially with physical, I'm like, you gotta get it running on a card. And I think like also people expect this to be the lesser version of whatever of whatever game it is, you know.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I agree. There's people I think people on the Switch are more eager to accept a compromise to get a good running version of the game they've seen others play.
SPEAKER_06:Yes, I do. They don't no, they don't care about the the highest version of that. So I'm like with a game like this, just get it running well. Um, just get it running well. And I don't think I I don't think people are gonna trip about load times. You're playing the Switch 2 version of the whatever it is, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:I think the load times is more in terms of just being able to get the textures off the card off the card onto the screen in a way that didn't look really bad from a pop-in and texture flicker point of view.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it is it's weird. Um, but I also like there's certain games that run, I think like run really well on it, but then like I saw Pokemon ZA, and I'm like, to me, this might be more in line of like a criticism of like the Pokemon company, but I see no reason why that game looks as dull and flat as what it does, and also why the open world is as empty as what it is as well. So I think it's like it is.
SPEAKER_02:All their 3D transitions have really suffered from that though, mate. It's and I always wondered what it would be like to transition in a Pokemon game from 2D or isometric to 3D, and it's big open areas with loads of random creatures running around that doesn't make any sense at all in terms of an ecosystem. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_06:And then it looks like the okay, so with ZA, it has the cardinal scan of being all in one area, one on one city, and all you're seeing is like this funky looking like city platform. And with Elden Ring, I think it at least I give it the banner.
SPEAKER_02:I know it looks better than that game's deep. I know that Pokemon looks better than this, but it's got real serious shades of the town from Sonic Adventure on Dreamcast. Oh, it really does. It really does.
SPEAKER_01:And that's not a good thing. That's not a good thing.
SPEAKER_06:But no, like Elden Ring baffles me. Like, I don't get why. And I also get that, you know, with Fremsoft, you know, if they're doing the porting themselves as opposed to like having a separate company doing the port port job for this, then I get that they were also working on um night rain. But I was just like, I at that point, uh, I think it's bad either bad management because you knew you were not working on night rain, so you knew you didn't have like the resources to throw into making this a proper port, or it's poor optimizations because like you had the resources and you still optimized a very poor performance on Steam. So uh on not Steam, but on Switch. So I'm like, something there was a sin either way. I'm just trying to figure out where where the sin happened.
SPEAKER_02:I I just I suppose in a way it's a surprise, a that they even announced they were port in this, and it was there was a lot of excitement, obviously, when people realized that it was coming. Um they're looking for an extension uh to to tweak it, which is fair enough. They've had a bad show in on the show floor in physical hands, which you've got to think is why would you even commit to show it if you knew that you have play testers in the building? I would yeah, I I don't know. You do nothing but harm to your company like that. Exactly. I would I would write of that. I don't know whether it was a vertical slice. I doubt it because it's too open a game. So it was like literally here you go, guys, knock yourself out.
SPEAKER_06:And in a way And it's also like you don't hide that type of game because that game's also been out for three years. So it's like demoing a port like that, you don't never like you usually don't see them port off like or have like those garden walls that you can't get past because everyone's played the hell out of them.
SPEAKER_02:It's the full fat version that they've basically let you go at either a demo timed version or the full fat version on the show floor to knock yourself out on. I suppose my only argument about people saying, Oh, it runs poorly is those people that flopped to play it on the Switch 2 would have been hardened fans of Elden Ring that would have played the absolute wheels off of it, either on a high-end PC or Series X or PS5 and gone at it with expectations, and they would have played it in a when you get very familiar with a game, you play it in a very choppy and very kind of staccato fashion. And I also wonder if that lent itself to its poor performance on the show floor. It was by a crowd that are very aware of its performance on the other platforms, their timings are built around the attacks of the creatures, so they're kind of subconsciously aware of the FPS, if you catch what I'm saying, and therefore it was showing up worse because it's running at half the FPS that they played it at.
SPEAKER_06:I mean, is that half the issue? Here's the argument I have against that one, though. It's like if I I remember when this game came out, this game was also on the worst console on the market at that time, the Xbox One. Not even the it's also on the PS4.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm like, yeah, you're right.
SPEAKER_06:It's also on the PS4 and it's on the Xbox One, like the OG Xbox One. I'm not even talking about it.
SPEAKER_02:I honestly thought when this was announced, thought that they were gonna use like a hybridized version of the either the Xbox and the Xbox Series S version where they can have that little bit more shiny, but still have it running in a decent way. Like I say, I who knows the reasoning behind it. I just I'm baffled by it, to be fair.
SPEAKER_06:This is why this is why I'm like, I think Switch Switch players can't have their kinking needed to. You can't say, you can't say on the Switch 2, oh, our console is just as powerful as the Series S and all that kind of stuff. And then like you have all these games to where there's question marks on whose fault it is when the game doesn't run well. You know what I mean? You can't have your kingdom.
SPEAKER_02:The industry's kind of pointing the finger at developers, but maybe these developers just have more uh dedicated more time and resource to that transition because they see the legs in it. CD Project Red saw the legs in a transition of Cyberpunk because of the success that Witcher 3 had on the platform. This is their first is it no, there is a version of one of their games, isn't there? Actually, on the Switch One marketplace. Is it Demon Souls? Dark Souls, one of those. Yeah, so Demon Souls maybe is it's a three, maybe? Yeah, or is it one? A PS3 port of one on the Switch.
SPEAKER_06:This isn't their first game, this isn't the first game that they ported to Switch. No. So how many others have they done? So they've definitely done at least one. Um no, and even worse, they're doing an exclusive for Switch right now. They're doing the Dustbloods. So I'm like, they're doing the Dustbloods which is coming out. So I'm like, I don't that's what I'm saying. You don't get to have your kink and eat it to. Like, you do you gotta I'm like Switch gamers, like either your console is powerful and you want to get that.
SPEAKER_02:But based on the premise, how do they not have the help from the head-hon shows to make this inside out the best version of bloody Elden Ring you've ever seen in your life?
SPEAKER_06:Exactly, exactly. But I do think whatever finger points you want to blame, you can blame FromSoft because they are doing seven different things all the time on a lot of different things. They have their fingers in so much, it's yeah, it's a miracle that they haven't had any slip-ups like this, you know, beforehand. And the game's not out yet.
SPEAKER_02:Well, considering as well that their success has come from a game's that primarily were buried so far in a niche that no one really knew about them, and now they're you could almost argue that they're diverging on what people accept as mainstream games, and it's like, wow, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_06:They're the standard goal points for action RPG or action games now. They're it what people think about modern action games are from soft games now.
SPEAKER_02:They created a souls born genre, yeah, that took over the world, and I'm I am not as keen on that. It's a little bit we talked about with Fortnite. If these games had never taken off, if that IGN review had stuck, where would it have been now?
SPEAKER_06:I'm I'm like you. I would prefer I prefer the action games that are more third-person, over-the-shoulder driven, more God of War style, you know, games like that. Um, or even maybe even the Devil May Cry action game versus games that we're getting, but like Soulsborns have like infected the whole industry to the sense to where like action games are modeled after them, even if they aren't considered a souls game. Like you look at it you had to ask yourself over and over again, is Wulong or is um Wulong is that actually like a Souls game? Is um is that actually a Souls game? Like it if you have a game.
SPEAKER_02:I think you could definitely argue it's a boss chase game with uh a disguised gameplay stitch between.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it's like in the action genre now, you're either an Ubisoft clone, Ubisoft open world game, or you're a Souls game, and there's very little in-between in that genre now, but like very few examples of games in that triple A space that are in between that. But like on your initial question, because like I know we've gotten off the reservoir a little bit, but like hey, that's what they love about our shows, yeah, for sure, for sure. That's our dynamic duo there, but like it is it's interesting to see what the landscape is going to be like for video games, for for Xbox, for Switch. Um, on Switch 2, especially specifically with like Elden Ring and with ports, they are going to have such a hard time because like a lot of the fan base for the Switch, for like the Switch, over I would say over 28 and above, so 30 and above, I would say, expect their games to be on that cartridge because they are by nature traditionalist gamers who are also physical, a lot of them love physical media.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm like that's why I think the game cards came as a bit of a compromise. There's a red thing in the box that you put in your console in a box that you can put on your shelf. It's less egregious than a code on the box, but it might as well be.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, and a lot of those games now are going to be old ports of old games that are always going to have that question of is this going to be a good port of that? And that's the nature of the console, that's the ones you're playing on.
SPEAKER_02:I think I've I'm I'm enjoying the Switch 2. I think it's a great machine, but and I think I've said this on air, they're getting away with it at the moment. We're two years away, possibly less, possibly a little bit more, away from the next iteration of PlayStation and Xbox. Do we not think that Switch 2 is going to look like the Switch 1 when they come around? It's not going to be running their games very easily, is it? No. And when we get a port, will it look like Witcher 3? Yes, it bloody well will do. Uh, and you know, as I say, right now we're getting away with it. Switch two is swinging with the big boys and just about scratching it. Like it's also getting some of their games and not a compromise version either. Kind of the full fat, although the FPSs are dropped, maybe the resolution's down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. But still the full fat. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I can play on PS5. Oh, yeah. Pro. Really?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. It depends on what you consider the big games. You know, that I think like I think that narrative fits so well with like especially the sports games that are coming out. Like the sports games make that narrative so much.
SPEAKER_02:Because I tell you what, I'm pumped for, dude. I tell you, and and this I I this I tell you what, you jump in the time machine, you go back to old George and and and and I tell you what, this is a this is one hell of a new world we're living in. What platform do you think I'm thinking about buying MLB on? MLB26. What what platform? Oh, you're gonna do it on the Switch because you can take it on the go.
SPEAKER_06:Dude, you can take it on the go at that point. It's like that's uh that's gonna be a no-brainer situation for you. It's either that or you're gonna look at that portal and you're gonna be like, ah, but then you're like, but the switch is native, and that's gonna win over.
SPEAKER_02:That's welcome to the logic gate of my brain. And that's exactly where I went to. I don't know, like, but can I can I like whoa, okay. So now it's like the full quart version. Really, the switch two is gonna it it's gonna look like the the first version of the MLB on the PS5. That that was acceptable. Yeah, but you can live with that, is what you're thinking. Oh, oh mate, I play it on the Vita, so trust me when I tell you this, I can re I play it, I play it on the Switch 1 or the Switch 1 version. Trust me, I can really live with the first iteration of the PS5 version in my hand versus maybe a little bit more ray tracing on Matey's helmet, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Tani's helmet's got a little bit more ray tracing on the peak of it.
SPEAKER_02:Great. Uh it doesn't matter anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Um, it doesn't matter about your ray tracing.
SPEAKER_06:So so it's like I think that's so interesting because like I think the big game conversation with the Switch too is going to be interesting because like that it's trickling. I think if that was more as true as gamers want it to be, then we would see a wave of ports just ready, lock floated and ready to go for a lot of the I would say the l early PS5 generation would be just like coming out every two weeks. We were seeing a major port, you know, like well they went early with straight, you know.
SPEAKER_02:They could have they did a switch one port of that, and you could have thought you kicked your powder dry. That could have been in a Nintendo direction, everyone would have gone, oh yeah, game on Switch, that's great. Switch two graphics, that would have popped. Yeah, there's a few that I've raised an eyebrow over, dude. I have to admit, like why in the why in that here, or why isn't that not been redone, or why didn't they wait?
SPEAKER_06:It's like some crazy so since we've been talking, um, they announced a the Fallout 4 is coming to Switch 2.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I was yes!
SPEAKER_02:I was hoping they would do this if that's hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hold on, hold up, hold up, hold up there a minute, hold on, hold on. Does that mean that we're gonna get a remastered PS5? Is this Oblivion style remake announcement, or is it literally just here's Fallout 4 as it was, which isn't a bad looking game, but it does wreak a little bit of like the Cedar's foundations. It's still it's still very much Fallout 3 with new clothes.
SPEAKER_06:Now, um, remind me, because I'm not I like Fallout, I'm not the expert on Fallout. Fallout already had their anniversary edition, Fallout 4, right? Yeah, did that have all the DLC on it, probably? Yeah, I think so.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so like that's so actually it got an update then, didn't it? It got a next gen update then. Yes, it did, because I played it on PS5. Yeah, so if we got that version on Switch, if that's what they're saying, that would be interesting.
SPEAKER_06:So the major question that a lot of people are asking based on this, so um the post reads Fallout 4 anniversary edition is uh has officially been announced, is coming next month, as a matter of fact, November 10th. Yes, so November 10th. The major question, and I think like unfortunately, I think this is like this doesn't have anything to do with Switch 2. I think this is more Thesda's fault. People are so confused right now because they're saying it's the anniversary edition. Anniversary edition, it comes with um the six expansions, um, which is automatron, far harbor, um, nuka world, wasteland, contraptions, uh, vault tech. And it comes with workshop, yeah. Yeah, it comes with over 150 um creation club items, including unique weapons, armor, pit boy, um, pank jobs, and more. And people are asking right now, what's the difference between this and the game of the year edition?
SPEAKER_02:Well, the anniversary edition has got the upgraded textures, doesn't it? The game of the year edition came out. Well, I supp I guess if you put them in your PS5 or your Xbox Series X, yes, it would. But if you were to put that in the console it was originally incarnated for, like the PS4 or the Xbox One, um it would be that game that originally came out with all the DLC, but with the original textures that the game launched with. I do believe maybe this anniversary edition is the one that you could get on PS5 that was like a download upgrade for your version of four. I don't think it was paid or was it?
SPEAKER_06:I can't quite remember. Um, this um evidently there is a next-gen version already that is free for all people who own it. Uh it's free.
SPEAKER_02:But I'll tell you what, it's quite the upgrade, dude. I'll give you that. It's quite the upgrade. It looks good.
SPEAKER_06:And it's I think people are more questioning the DLCs, like if all the DLCs came with it or not.
SPEAKER_02:I think they have to. You can't, you can't. I mean, let's look at the history. They've never done that, they've never done anything that dirty before. So, you know, I I can't imagine that the saying that though, they're still all separate available to buy on on the different marketplaces to this day. So I don't know. Will you be able to get a base version and then get the DLCs if you want them? Probably. Um, but this sounds like this anniversary edition it could be the full fat version, in which it is, I would say that would be it's now becoming a catchphrase in mind, but what a great game to take on the go. But as my life changes and I solidify down, I can see me moving back to PS5.
SPEAKER_06:But Fallout 76 also had an announcement too, but they did not announce the switch version, switch versions.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I genuinely, with all kindness, would consider that ecosystem pretty much dead.
SPEAKER_06:They just announced an expansion. I don't know why. You know, Bethesda does this weird thing where like even because I understand what you're saying. Like, I would I would say that ecosystem is like, oh, who's who the hell is still playing Fallout 76? I think that all the time.
SPEAKER_02:More importantly, how are they ex how are they extracting revenue or how do they see the ability to extract this? Because no man's okay, let's skip, let's just talk this through. They're gonna charge this very small community for this extra expansion that they're bringing out, and the very small subsection of people that would buy that is even smaller. No Man's Sky produces these amazing updates and delivers them for free. And for the longest time I thought, why would you do this? It makes no sense. But then I kind of saw an article about how the groundsweller support for these generates people that don't even own the game to go buy it at full retail, and I mean full retail, which then boosts a game that's technically getting on for its 10th anniversary, which is nuts.
SPEAKER_06:So I guess it makes sense to do that, but evidently, um, evidently the the people are happy, but also wondering, you know, why this expansion or why this game and um why this game? Um you know, like I also on the Fallout 4 news, a lot of a lot of the discourse online seems to be well, great, Fallout 4, but why not Fallout New Vegas?
SPEAKER_02:And also well, to me, I feel like off the back of the Oblivion's success, and probably halfway through the development cycle, they realize that they're onto something. And I believe that Fallout 3 and New Vegas will see that oblivion rework because to bring them as they are now nostalgia is it's a wonderful drug, but I tell you what, when nostalgia meets reality, Fallout 3 will make your eyes fall out.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, New Vegas and all the sort of the same way. Um, but uh a lot of people asking, or no Starfield.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's an interesting one. But I keep seeing that being delayed. I don't know why, and I don't know what the reason for the transition is. You would have thought that now would be the perfect time to start the hype train rumbling into the station for Christmas.
SPEAKER_01:Um will there be a hype train for a Starfield?
SPEAKER_02:Hey, on on Switch, uh hey, uh a game of the year edition on Switch, per se, probably wouldn't be that uh ill met.
SPEAKER_06:But games do also perform better on Switch, uh, even if they're like rated badly on every other console. It's like Switch people are so happy to get like a port, even if it's like a port of a game that is like mid-tier.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. Frame it up whichever way you like, but you know, people aren't people grown-up people with Switch every now and then yearn for something a little bit more cerebral, and Starfield fits in so well into that sort of metric that you'd think it would be a no-brainer to have it there. I also I can semi-see the reason for maybe holding off PlayStation for now, but Switch, where they've actually pushed some of their games that had no right being there, grounded, Sea of Thieves, that's sort of stuff. You asked about expansion.
SPEAKER_06:Who's playing grounded? How did grounded get a second iteration? You talked about expansion when grounded two was announced. I was like, how did this happen?
SPEAKER_02:I'll be honest with you, it never even feel felt like the original game ever came out. The beta, it was in the beta, it was announced, everyone was playing it during the beta, and then when it actually came out, like who cared? They'd already kicked the wheels out of it and seen pretty much everything it had to offer. Uh it was semi-appealing to maybe explore the Koi Pond expansion or all that kind of underwater base scenario, but no, not really. Um, let's say that draws a line under the news, good friend. As we um, if there's a take or opinion on the news that you think we might have missed, you want to hit us up on any of the official methods. So there's questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com, which is the email address. You can find us on the whatever seem to be the ever dying social media platforms, but you can find us represented on X, and you can also find us represented on Instagram, which is probably the last hope of bastion of of goodwill in the galaxy in terms of social media. Uh, every now and then I pop on X to do some groundkeeping or caretaking of the uh UCP page, and I wonder quite what I'm witnessing. Uh, but you guys do whatever you do over there. Uh, all the best to you. Uh wow. Uh I don't think we've bothered with any other social medias. I think I kicked uh RGT and said, Do we need a Facebook? Uh probably answered the question with that question. Um there you go.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, dang. Um, one question and one thing. Oh, hot news. Yeah. Um, according to Bloomberg, um Jason Schreier reported that Microsoft's 30% profit margin goal has led to game divisions, um, huge layoffs, cancel projects, and controversial price rises and multi-platform push. So, in other words, Microsoft has reportedly pushed Xbox Studios to deliver a 30% price margin year over year going forward.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my god. If we thought the news story this year was bad, they're gonna be selling that is crazy. Oh my god, they're gonna be selling the family silver by crazy.
SPEAKER_06:There's no way game like I mean, 30% like a 30% margin increase, like there's no way a lot of those studios are gonna get to. Stand still in two years, that's 60% increase. I mean, even if they were standing still, uh just to say like a flat 30, I'm like, there's no way a game like Keeper with double find is gonna hit 30% increase. Like Keeper is a game that just came out from the Psychonauts developer.
SPEAKER_02:And dude, even with the Xbox everywhere strategy, sticking it on PlayStation, Nintendo, literally your fridge, there ain't no way. No.
SPEAKER_06:I don't think the Outer Worlds 2 is gonna do bang gangbusters, as far as numbers go.
SPEAKER_02:I I think I think when all said and done from a multi platform standpoint, when that is done, it will have done okay. But I think Bob's still it all about wash his face. Yeah. And I think that's probably that's a good news story for them.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, I mean, do they care about good news story? Is that gonna be a 30% margin?
SPEAKER_02:I'm kind of talking from the sort of studio and the mental headspace of everybody working there. I suppose yeah, that doesn't fit a 30% gouge, does it? From the margin. Yeah. No. I mean, at this rate, there's probably only going to be a guy left to turn the lights off at five o'clock every night because there's just nowhere for that level of increase. We don't know what metric the others are working to, or whether this is part of an overall survival strategy that the big bods of Microsoft have told Xbox that they need to adopt. Otherwise, there's no future in it for them. Um, but yeah. And Ian jumped on the story as well. Evidently, it's been confirmed. If only this show won out Sunday, we would have got the that would have been uh read off the press. That's a shame. Yeah. Uh anyway, we've we've blurred oh hey, guess what? We also have a Discord. Uh feel free to jump on that anywhere, anytime, anywhere. And um just get involved, basically. You can continue the conversation here or or do whatever you're doing. Um those of you well, and here we go, we also have a little paid section of the show where you can support us. Don't ever feel like you need to, the show will always be free. I'm probably not the best salesman to be fair, but you know, I'll try. Um but there are different tiers of support. You can support us from as little as three dollars, that's correct. Not not pounds, but dollars. So I tell you what, for the price of what one Greg's donut, couple of Greg's donuts. There's a Greg Donut. You've supported the show, and and you got a t-shirt out of it. When was the last time you bought a Greg's Donut the Gear t-shirt? It didn't happen, did it? Same token. We're moving to a uh two-show platform. So we're gonna deliver you for your money, not one show, but two. So you're gonna get your usual UCP main episode, and then you're also gonna get a weekly slice of our new nostalgia show, Flashback, where we visit a month and a year in gaming from the history of gaming and bring you the news and the hot takes of that moment through the lens of the gaming media, the magazines, and the TV shows of the time. Which I'm actually really excited for, said you know, a new product, flashback. Um now I don't know if you've got Discord to handle good survey in the uh chat, uh in the host chat uh libs a list of our fine supporters. And we is it the same as last week? I think it is, yes. Starts off with retro with the mighty retro ed. I'm gonna go first because I feel that probably works out the best for you, I think. Uh okay, sounds good. I I don't I don't know. Have you ever done a va have you ever done a Zangeef? You've done a Zangief. You course you have done a Zangeef, yeah. Zangief. Oh disciple's building. Okay, so let's look at it this way. Whichever way it happens, you're getting Zang Geefed. Probably all I've got. So, first of all, we're gonna kick off and I'm gonna say thank you to the mighty legendary. And no doubt, like all our listeners, sculpted like a Greek statute, statue sta I don't know why I said statute, because that's a sort of that's a stub law. A stub law. God, retroed, what have you done to me? I'm so embarrassed. I'm just gonna bow backwards, uh, apologise for my misgivings and say thank you, Retroed. Up next, just so you know. Wow. I tell you what, it's a shame this is never gonna make it to video because that stare, honestly, I don't bat that way, but I got a rumble downstairs in the jungle. Uh that's a Carlos aka the one man George Fan Club. Up next, firm returns. If you if you're ever in doubt about what you want to do with your investments, and you want to make a solid investment that sees a solid yet firm return, here's your man. Look him up over on X, he's also one of our loyal supporters. Thank you very much for that. Who's next? Mighty Triple S.
SPEAKER_06:I've been here before, but the you know, like I experienced a lot in this city, but there was nothing, nothing quite like Trestles, because Trestles in New York is where it's at.
SPEAKER_02:Finest food in Queens, baby, the absolute best. Uh thank you to them. They hosted us during the New York era. Uh I get to now play with someone who is probably one of the longest supporters, most loveliest supporters, most kindest of supporters, him and his whole family, but primarily the man with the finest Dreamcast collection. Oh yeah, you've got more games. You may well have. But do you display them as well as Roast Space Monk? Because I tell you what, class and elegance you can't buy. But it's priceless. And Roast Space Monk's got it enslaved. Um I don't know if you know this, but there's a pre-qualifier. When you do the n uh when you do the next guy, you gotta do it in a in Italian accent. Like Mario?
SPEAKER_06:Italian or like real? Listen, mate.
SPEAKER_02:Much like me, you're an actor. This whole podcast is basically a fake. We are actors pretending to be these people. I don't mean to break the fourth wall too often, but it is true. Um my real acting voice, darling. This is me, but I play the character of George. Give me your best Italian. I didn't see that coming, especially not like that, but I loved it. Uh up next, a man who needs no introduction. Uh I talked before about Rose Space Monk having the most eloquent of elegance, but the excellence of execution is certainly tingle tuner. Digital Munkery. No. Digital Munkery is one of those people you don't run a run, you don't want to run the wrong side of because he's one of the Discord sheriffs, as you know, and uh he'll have your legs out. So just uh keep it civil. Well, go crazy, but uh you'll know when you've taken it too far when he appears in your DMs. DMs in your DMs, baby. Uh, which means I get to uh now this gentleman, Bull Border, we've been uh getting a hell of a lot of interest in Brazil. True story this sub. You're gonna like this. So we sent our agent Bull Border out there to further the cause. He went Brandish with t-shirts, he went Brandish with flyers, and he's been walking around the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, handing these things out uh and building quite the loyal Brazilian following. Um now, I don't know if RGT got the memoir. I think he's a bit confused because he said to me, I'm a big fan of the Brazilian, but uh I think we're probably talking about different things. Uh so thank you. Thank you to Bob Borders for your efforts over there and uh to everyone out there, new listeners and the supporters of the great show that is this. You're very kind, thank you very much. Uh this next guy you gotta say going brown in a kind of military style. Going brown. Boba. That was actually really good. Uh wow. Okay. Um, yeah, that was that. I do know what I almost felt Did I take you off guard? Yeah, I felt like that. I felt honestly like I was Aloy, I was sort of climbing a long neck, and all of a sudden silence comes on. It's like going brown.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this is great.
SPEAKER_06:I've only played one Metal Gear Solid voice, but a Metal Gear Solid game. But I was trying to like, I was like, how would how would that work in that universe? And then that's kind of what I was channeling there.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, I either which way I think that's beautiful. Uh oh, next, uh uh a young man that uh I would love to say was my progeny, but he's not. Uh and I tell you what, most people would say a red-headed sepson is the last thing they wanted, but it was the first thing I ever wanted. It's ginge, the the most statuesque. He's got more platinums now than I think, quite frankly, anyone. Uh but you know, I haven't seen a top ten in a wee while. Uh I'm sure uh our good loyal friend Bobby, uh bless you, Bobby and Eva, uh is up there, but ging is I tell you what, if you cut him in half, he'd be made up of platinums.
SPEAKER_06:And next up, we have Harvey of the Future? No, we don't have Harvey of the Future. Do we have Harvey of the present? No, no, neither the present.
SPEAKER_07:We have the greatest Harvey of them all, Harvey Retro.
SPEAKER_02:You don't know it, but that was possibly the best Harvey retro he's ever had on this show. I've never thought about taking it down that road. But let me tell you now, that was pure genius. Someone else who was spin out, I think, down your neck of the woods in Texas, handing out UCP flies and a UCP shirt. We've got we've got the uh what are they called in? It's a very religious show this today. What is it called, the people that you send out? You know, the your messengers, you uh like the disciples? Yeah, the disciples, yeah. So we've got acolytes. We'll call them acolytes, it's slightly less uh uh infringing on people's religious beliefs. We send the acolytes out all over the world now. Brazil, we've got acolytes now in in the good old US of A. We're going places. Um, it might be the year where I could finally just retire and do the show full time. Oh, that's the dream. We would need another uh 200 names on this list. Yeah. But we're oh you know, we're getting there, we'll very grateful for every single one of you. Uh so that's Emma Sharp. Thank you uh for going out to the United States doing doing the right thing, uh, and the good thing and the kind thing. Who's next?
SPEAKER_06:Well, sometimes people like to go here, they like to go there, but they never go, nowhere near Berlin.
SPEAKER_02:I love it. Except you've never been away. Up next, uh a woman very dear to our hearts. She's my mumsy, she's Seb's Mumsy, she's everybody's mumsy. It's mumsy.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you, Mumsy. And next up, we have one person who I didn't know that I needed to experience what is the sensation that is this man's fan club. But once I once I got a taste, I think I became a member of the flock. Ladies and gentlemen, it is the RGT fan club.
SPEAKER_02:Uh the thing is, he do you have those crisps over there, like little puff balls, uh like we toes, but done in a ball. And they're called bursts. You have weitos? Y'all have called Cheetos over there? Cheetos, yeah, whatever. We call them caucus. Yeah, I don't know why. But anyway, so you have your weird Cheetos.
SPEAKER_01:That's the weird one, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:It's made of the texture of a Cheetos, but it's in a ball, about the size of, I don't know, a slightly smaller than a golf ball. And they're called burger bites. And they've got this burger flavouring on them. Now, in the world of hot snacks, left, right, and Chelsea, where everywhere's a grab share bag and every cup size is large to go, baby. Do you have do you have this uh delicacy, this little um this chip snack as you would call it? We call it a crisp, but you would call it a chip. Um, but it's like potato froth formed into a ball, but not covered with uh cheese flavouring this time, Seb. Covered with a nondescript burger flavoring.
SPEAKER_06:We do not I don't think we have burger flavoured chips of any sort. At least I'm not I'm not a chicken chips expert, but I don't remember any burger burger flavoured chips.
SPEAKER_02:Ah, okay, because that's the reason why I went down this what seemingly now bizarre subjourney of the supporters list is because RG you said that you'd have a taste of RGT. And he, if you weren't sure, because you've never experienced it, that taste is burger bites.
SPEAKER_06:Oh. Huh. And so when I look at RGT now, I can think of like a sensation of burger flavors.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, a very cheap burger flavor. One that probably only tastes like burger because the front of the bag tells you it is. If that had been in a if that had been supplied to you in a white paper bag, you wouldn't know what it was. Okay, gotcha, gotcha.
SPEAKER_06:Arnhe's gonna hear this and be like, man, that's me right there.
SPEAKER_02:Oh guys, oh no, who knew? I think he's gonna be sat down, sort of nodding his head, rocking backwards and boards a little bit, sort of knowing that he does taste the burger bites, but also knowing that no one really knows what burger bites taste of, and therefore knowing that he's uh he doesn't know who he is now. He thought he was thinking this would make him young mumsy. Will this make him young mumsy or yeah, mumsey?
SPEAKER_06:Like mumsy.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, will it make him yell it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, oh yeah, oh, oh yeah, this is the sort of thing that's gonna rock him to his core. It's a sort of thing that's either gonna cause him to have a stroke or a breakdown. Yeah, absolutely. Pete Brocklehurst, a man who uh plays keepy uppies with Atlas balls. Oh, hang on one bit. Oh no, well, you're getting him either way, so that's that's good news. Uh so I'll take Billy Marmite, and that means you get the but before you deliver it, there's a new way now. Oh no. I want to imagine this is your first ever sang. You kind of you're exploring yourself and you stumble across yourself. Oh but it's a little bit of a strange awakening, and after a little bit of a sort of confusing stumble about, you fat sang all over yourself. And that's the kind of if I was to score Sazy Zi now, I'd say that's where I want this to go, and action discovering myself.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, fair, oh, fair, fair, fair, that was bizarrely exactly why I said the direction and cut perfect.
SPEAKER_02:That's why you that's why you're a pro triple S. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. You take direction, you interpret it, and you perform it better than anybody else in the business. So, you know, as always, full power to you. Now, thank you to everybody that supports the show. We couldn't be here without you, and certainly we couldn't do courageous things like bringing out new content. Uh uh, yeah, I see uh can you believe? I thought we might be able to blend the shows and share the bills between them uh in terms of uh uh platform allowing us. I wanted I want to and will launch Flashback as its own separate channel so it can find its own audience and then the two can cross-pollinate between each other. But for Sprout to allow that, I need to set up a whole new show. I need to pay for all the add-ons separately. I can't I can't piggyback on magic mastering, I I can't piggyback on uh forever holding the audio, I can't piggyback on the uh um AI transcriptions, I can't piggyback on the AI chapterization or any of the good stuff that they've got going on over there, which I'm a big fan of. And it leaves me looking a little bit sort of like, wow, okay, guys, so probably I mean this show is probably in the top tier of their more successful elements of what they have going on on there, and we want to launch a separate channel, but you don't think, oh, that's a good thing. You I guess they're on a 30% price gouge as well. They think, oh wow, more lamb to the slaughter. Look at this guy trying to trying to run a I guess what we're trying to do, I suppose, is run a now something a lot bigger than they ever probably envisaged that it was for. And I I don't maybe they have been actually quite good, so I might engage with them to see if we can sort of wash all the bills together, but I just don't think they've got the functionality for it, which is a shame. But that's what the support's for. We're not gonna be holding nothing's holding us back from bringing you extra content. So instead of just one episode a week, you're gonna get two a slice of retro and a slice of retro.
SPEAKER_06:So for the people, so for the people who aren't aware of what your ramblings are talking about, give them the pitch for this flashpoint. Oh, okay. Flashback, which or flashback, sorry.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, let's hope everyone's uh if you if you don't know about this, guys, but you need to get on board, especially Brazilian listeners because there's gonna be lots of fake news in there. So, what flashback is basically is we're gonna take through the lens of various physical gaming media and magazines from the time, use that as a snapshot to actually report the news as if it was that day, the 5th of January 2005. And we're gonna talk through that the top tens of the games, we're gonna probably review a couple of games, quick snapshots from that era, wash and go. And the next episode will be March 8th, 1997. Rinse repeat, go through the magazines. We we much like the main show, we select up the information and we present it back. And we're very excited for this because we did a pilot, it went down tremendously well. Uh, we want to launch as a separate platform so people can have two bits of extra content. We've seen a lot of the listeners like the retro and we see it being as a big audience, and we think we've got quite an interesting take on it. No one else is doing what we're gonna do. So I think from uh from a listenership point of view, it's gonna be very well received. So I would say we're excited, but it's gone beyond that. I think I'm I'm ready to zange fall over flashback, like like the thousandth man at Bonnie Blue. Oh. What are you hoping to play?
SPEAKER_06:Ah man, sometimes, you know, with the cultural differences between America and the UK, I feel like what Captain America feels like whenever he's wherever he was thawed out of ice and he's trying to learn about like all the popcorn culture references in the Avengers and such like that, you know, that he missed over the past like 60 years.
SPEAKER_02:Listen, whatever you do, unless you want to spend all Sunday with the pastor, do not Google Bonnie Blue.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Good to know. Yeah. Good to know. Do not do that. Uh please, no.
SPEAKER_06:Uh, so what are you hoping to play, good sir? So, what am I hoping to play? I've um just got a code for a game that I'm hoping to actually dive into. Um uh you are kind of middle on the like keeping your eyes, uh, like your eyes and ears to the ground when it comes to indie. So I you I feel like you made it.
SPEAKER_02:I'll be honest, mate. I thought this show had gone so perfectly well to this point. You were gonna turn around and say you've got a code for PS5 Pax Pax Anno Remark. No, that new have you do you know Anno's getting a new game next month? I actually played it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh he devil!
SPEAKER_06:I actually played it.
SPEAKER_01:You're talking about the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_06:You're talking about the actual the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_02:Pax Romani Anno Pax Romani, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. This is why I said you would be a good PC person because you get to play all these things early. Just in general.
SPEAKER_02:I know. I've got a dusty old Mac and then everything else. I've got brand new hot cutting edges console, and I I just don't know if I can sync and you listen. Listen. Uh huh. It uh it we're talking the universal dollars, right, for the moment here.
SPEAKER_07:Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_02:But would a 600 gaming PC be enough for me, or would I need to be then messing around with the settings? Yes, I would. Okay. So is the 1200 pound PC gaming PC enough for me? No, no. It's not, is it? So hang on, if that's not enough, is two grand gonna scratch that itch. Are you gonna be happy with that performance?
SPEAKER_06:I I think you would, because like you said yourself that you're not you're not uh like you're not the either, right, Tracy? Listen, but if I So you can pick and choose the things you want to build around.
SPEAKER_02:But if I'm walking in the door to the PC, if if I I don't if I don't know at this point whether this was said off air or on air, but if I am the arising Anakin aka Lord Vader, I am not coming out riding a 286 running DOS. I'm coming out of this I am carrying like uh I don't know what the latest graphics card is. I've got yeah, for sure. I don't know. A motherboard that looks like it's dripped in gold. I've got a maybe the towers, I don't know, a gateway PC from 1997, but everything inside it, it's a bit like a sleeper build. It's a falcon, it's a millennium falcon, but inside it, this thing could rip the skin off the universe, basically.
SPEAKER_06:I think outside of you know, uh just to be fair, like outside of your graphics card and then your your actual CPU, like everything you can find is like you choose your own adventure. Like, if you want to you can buy a lot of the other parts for like$40 a piece.
SPEAKER_02:Let's say I I walk in and I just say, no, no, I just want the best of everything. I want absolutely zero compromise on PC. I want to be able to run the game, every game, for the next four years at the very, very, very best it could ever look. Is too grand gonna do that job.
SPEAKER_06:I think so, yeah. I think so. Like, I honestly speaking, honestly speaking, like, I think 1200 could do a lot of what you want.
SPEAKER_03:Hang on a minute, then arise, Lord Vader.
SPEAKER_01:I was like, honestly.
SPEAKER_03:Where is PlayStation? You killed it.
SPEAKER_06:I wouldn't, no Honestly speaking, if you're not sold on ray tracing and such like that, you can get a lot of what you want for 800 at the point.
SPEAKER_03:Hang on a minute.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_06:I'm gonna blow 800 quid.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna blow 800 quid on a machine that's not even as powerful as a pro. And it's the same price as a pro.
SPEAKER_06:Honestly, like I would say it's probably going to be more powerful FPS-wise than a pro, less powerful ray tracing than a pro. That's what I'm saying. Like, you're compromising what you feel like is a compromise. Is that really a compromise to you?
SPEAKER_02:Hang on, hang on, hang on. Hang on.$800. I see you palpatine like Palpatine like now trying to raise me for Vader. You want this Vader, actually, you want this Vader to rise. I need to ask you, what is this code that you've got? Because everyone sat on the edge of their seat going.
SPEAKER_01:Set me out of code.
SPEAKER_02:I believe it was my bat.
SPEAKER_06:I believe it was my bad. Oh, by the way, Anno um um Pax Rama. Please give me this. Really, really fun. I like it. Um, if it's my era of what I actually like, um, because I love city builders. Like, I love a city builder a lot. But you would love ammo. Only because I liked it, did you steer off it, but you would love it. No, no. I it's like I think the combat elements and the RTS elements are kind of what I've been missing from civilization.
SPEAKER_02:Now, question was there on land, did you what slice of ammo did you get to play at whatever event or code? Um it's um the Steam Next Fest. It was Theme Next Fest. Right. So did you get to it? Because I thought the combat was all ship-based.
SPEAKER_06:It is. That's exactly what I'm alluding to. But there's a lot of there's a lot of portion that's actually in the water as far as like in the demo, the early stages of the demo. But like, I just think that's I just think that's part of anno. I think that's what it is. But it teaches you a lot about like the um there's a governing aspect of about it with the economic, um, economic as point uh aspects to it. There's um diplomatic aspects. Um, of course, you know, it's Rome, so they has that you have the military might there. You have to um I liked how intricate and detailed all the landscapes and all the like different like um landmarks looked. Like they have a little part that looks like um Stonehenge kind of like settings and kind of like that, and I felt like that looks pretty cool. I think like the ships kind of reminded me a lot more in a lot more intricate fashion of like what I liked about Assassin's Creed, um not Valhalla, the one before Odyssey, the one what I liked about Odyssey and such like that. But like I feel like if I like City Skylines a lot, that's probably my favorite City Builder. But this is like uh taking a lot of what I liked about City Skylines one and two and really putting on that, I guess you could say that time period skin on it, and I think that's a great thing.
SPEAKER_02:Uh so I don't think I don't think the difference between them is I don't think you can make them as like they look pretty anno games do look pretty, but you can't make it as aesthetically pleasing thing of your own as you can in City Skylines, which is so sculpable compared. It really is, it really is. Anno's really working on a very much like a tile system in a way. When you when you played it, yeah, it's very gritty. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, it is gritty, and I think like I think my favorite parts of the demo were like were the parts where I got to explore the roaming governor side of the fence. And that to me was like seeing some of the um diplomic uh like aspects and then that coming into play. There is a little bit from my understanding, I think there is a little bit of like matching armies on land. I didn't get to that in the demo though.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I've not seen any of that talked about, so I'm quite interested because it obviously in Anno, I wish there was on land combat, but there wasn't. And I assumed there wasn't going to be any in this, so I don't know whether it's like you just have to have a certain amount of troops garrisoned and that counts or not.
SPEAKER_06:In the in the um like in the demo part when you're loading up the game, there is a grayed out tutorial. You know how you go to like the right side of the screen and you see like the the tutorial codex and all that kind of stuff? Yeah, I think it's on the right side on this one, but yeah. Um there there was a part where they talked about land battles and army battles. Oh wow I'm not sure we didn't get to that in the demo. We it was more focused on like just generally laying out things, the um the water battles and the Coliseum. And then the governance part. So demo was meaty. I think it was about I think I played about two hours. So um, but it's not bad. It to me, I like chunk. That is a really good chunk. It is a really good chunk. Um, the game I was alluding to earlier that I um that I can't wait to play um later on this week is Dispatch. Um it's like the superhero telltale type of game. Oh, really?
SPEAKER_02:Like, yeah, I didn't know I didn't know I I thought it was gonna be summing out some what you just said, so I was like, oh hang on a minute, this could be my wheelhouse, but it turns out that he's summing out completely. So yeah, give me the give me the gen on this. This is hot take.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, so dispatch is like a superhero workplace comedy. So like it is It is, it's like a superhero workplace comedy. It's almost like the office and parts and rec meets like um meets like superheroes. So the main the main like I would say Is it more like would you say then it's more like Star Trek's below decks? I would say it's more like a mixture between below decks meets like Telltale The Walking Dead, because there are real hard-hitting moments, evidently there are like so it's like the boys, it's like a soft version of the boys. Yeah, in a way, that that's a very good, that's a very good comparison to where like imagine if like the boys had like that comic book, almost like that hi-fi rush art style, like that type of art style, like like a soft comedy, like soft um cartoon art style, but then like it br it hits you hard with like there are alerts that pop up on the map, and in each alert you have a superhero, um, a superheroes, a league of superheroes, and you're the dispatch officer, and you have to like manage office politics, you have to manage their personal relationships, you have to manage like their also like choosing the right person to send to a send to a SOS call is like important as well because like certain heroes that you send have. certain you know strengths and weaknesses then they also have certain phobias and all that kind of thing so do you do you deploy them in um what's the other game you've been playing that I keep meaning to grab on Switch I kind of like the idea of it you played another superhero XCOM style game was it suits is it suits no um dang it was been so long ago um capes yeah it's capes yeah is it do you deploy them like capes or or no capes is more like capes I would say is more like XCOM this is more like um this is more tale tale of the walking dead to where like but when you send these different heroes out do you send them out in a cape style or is it more like you sent Brian to go find supplies style Walking Dead is that what it's more like it's more like that you you're sending like you're seeing on your screen what a 911 what a 911 person would see of like oh I got a call I got a 911 call I um I can send um let's just call her devil I can send devil out to a 911 dispatch where a supervillain that is made out of water is messing up things devil's devil's proficient in fire um she has this chance of like really making an impact here or um she has this this chance of really failing here also devils has this phobia of like of people like seeing her in public so I'm like I have to advance that as well. So I'm like also do I send devil and Khalise out there oh no they both are fighting because they like in real time because there's an overarching story in real time they're fighting over a boy right now or they're fighting over a guy um oh okay yeah so I'm like it's it's like a telltale choose your own adventure style but then like you play as um Robert Robertson who's like who used to be mecha man and the he kind of has like the he really had this like really cool bad bad a um merc suit and the merc suit got destroyed and so you take a job after your superhero career went into a nosedive as a not as a hero but as a dispatcher you're in charge of rehabilitating like supervillains so a lot of the people you have it's like you are on the supervillain division and you're trying to like manage the superheroes you're in charge of and the supervillains that you're trying to rehabilitate and you're trying to this is great premise.
SPEAKER_02:Oh my god I'll tell you what it's got shades of like something like papers please it's got shades of yeah um capes it's got shades of as you say telltale like I like the sound of this I think this could be like a fun I wish it probably I think from what you're saying it it doesn't have the sort of deeper management layer it actually evolves as a storytelling mechanic rather than a sort of rocks paper scissors stones type mechanic but I still quite interested by it and I think I find there is like mini games in it too there are slight mini games but it's not as deep as I would probably say like real-time combat elements there's not a whole lot of that it's more like you are trying to manage relationships manage like manage people in situations that pop up and I think like I I kind of think it would be this game could succeed just as like this almost like green screen thing almost you don't even need to flashy graphics and you're just running it like a call handler where it comes in like accident sixes between six and ninth avenue and like all right okay and then dispatch as you say devil and then it comes back up like oh not report from the police officer on the scene sending devil's not the greatest idea she's just flamed like six police officers and does it that and the other oh okay I'll I'll I'll I'll I'll send fire pole you know I don't know what else to do.
SPEAKER_06:And it is a lot like that you know like um um what was the game I think you and I both played it this summer where you're um is almost like a policeman simulator. Oh um RGT played it yeah precinct precinct it's a lot like precinct except like instead of you being uh in instead of you being on the world and actually it being like a Grand Thefato style you see a lot of the real-time combat elements and I use combat in quotes when you're not doing like the narrative of like building relationships with people you have like this overlaying map and you can see the entire city in that map and you can see like when the call is coming in you can see where people where like incidents are happening on this 3D grid map that you are looking top down on. That's cool on that yeah and on that so what I guess that's what on Steam Deck it's on I know it's coming for Steam but it's also I think going to be on all platforms. Let me make sure I'm gonna pull it up real quick.
SPEAKER_02:Is that mainly what you're gonna focus on?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah for sure I think um that's probably that's probably what I'm gonna focus on I love the the characters so far from what I got to see on that and also is that out now or coming out soon?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah it's out it's the today's the 23rd it was out yesterday it's late last night yesterday oh it's PS5 it's PS5 as well what now as we speak right now I think so let me make sure because Google says it's out on PS5 in Windows right now but let me check okay well while you're doing that I'm gonna let you know what I'm hoping to play so I'm gonna dive more into the PS3 some games I didn't touch on Rage played a little bit little big planet um played some Transformers War for Cybertron always a favourite played a little bit of Castlevania Lords of the Damned or something like that equally enjoyed that I know absolute bangers and I look back we played a little bit of saboteur um we played Infamous 2 and that stuck so we played that all the way through Rage kind of stuck but the the loop is awful awful okay um in the definitely now as well that it's kind of okay the story's okay but now as the story broadens out he goes from Mad Max more into the rage universe and what a weird universe that is the sequel attest the sequel attest to that my good God it was like all the Gordy elements dialed up to 11 and I just want to see the Gordy elements style down to maybe one but anyway um so there's a bit of that and there'll be some more of that um I keep pushing on with a playthrough when we're here of Death Stranding one as like a reminder for the story for us both before we dive into two which we're really excited about. But we've dabbled in this previous obviously I finished it and dabbled in it many many times so this is just a a rough quick dirty playthrough to get the story done um because it's one hell of a story and I don't want to go into two and miss a single I I don't want to miss a single reference at all. I want to go in fully deep on it so that's why I'm taking my time we'll get to it when we get to it don't worry listeners I'll tell you I'll tell you what I think I'll tell you it's worth the wait uh we'll do it properly and that's probably that'll be it for me oh tell a lie once we complete this I'm gonna go in and dominate the television space and start another the new breach expedition on No Man's Sky because they saw well they they saw that I'd probably got cured and thought well hang on why's Georgie boy not playing and then gone ah I see he's collected has he collected everything yeah you still don't have the platinum but he's got everything um I was looking into this I need to do much like gaming gram did I just need to land on a planet and probably leave it on uh to get the achiev uh the trophy or whatever it's called achievement that's crazy and then go pull your switch while it's on the basically that's what I probably plan on doing um so there'll be a little bit of that um you have a little snippet more for us yeah for sure I'm be playing um it's three other games and I'll just run through them really cool fast Furthest Frontier is the one I'm I'm also gonna be playing it is Furthest Frontier is Anno but it is Anno that is in like the olden middle age times and it is you protect you protecting guys God I I'm playing I've become more of a PC gamer this year so I know it's on PC.
SPEAKER_06:I do not know if that one's on console. To answer your question oh but I think this game is going to sing on console because it it has like control I'm playing this on controller. So I'm like I know this is it's not far from a console port. With that said though it just came out yesterday or it came out today and um you're basically harvesting materials you're um hunting fishing farming surviving and then you have like bandits you have other kingdoms and you're trying to build your your little village into a huge kingdom. A realistic art style or a or like a uh more a like a cartoony artistic take on an art style I would say it's a mixture between Anno and I would probably say mixture of Anno with um a little bit of a little bit of a cartoony overlay but I think it's more like I'd probably say it's more leans towards the realistic side of the fence. Okay and what else? Yeah um I am going to be playing a game um that I don't necessarily know if it's going to be in your wheelhouse or not but I it's another superhero game it is a Marvel a Marvel's cosmic adventure like game. It is the Marvel beat em up game that what's that called did you hear about this? Yeah I've heard about it what's it called um give me one second um Mars Marvel Cosmic Invasion that's yeah you're gonna be on that yeah I'm gonna be on that a little bit and then I'm going to be on um dispatch that I told you about and then the last one that I'm going to be playing and it is a weird weird game that I that I'm not really a fan of the the like the actual IP so that's that's a little weird. I'm going to be playing the Star Trek demo for the new game that's coming out it is a it is a almost like a civilization version where you are managing your star um starfleet ship and you have to kind of rearrange everything and try to make that work and I I like sci fi a lot and I've never gotten into Star Trek I've always been a Star Wars kind of guy and for some reason like this game this game looks like it might sing to me outside of Hades 2 because Hades 2 is the game I'm always going to be playing what are you what do you have to do in this Star Trek game is it like you're managing the ship from outside or are you managing like a side section of the ship or are you managing like it from a third person point of view or so the game is called Star Trek Voyager across the across the unknown so basically it is yes I've seen this actually yes yeah so it is you take the helm you manage the ship the resources and all that kind of stuff and you're trying to bring the ship home and its crew home and so it is almost like you are going through space you are trying to um navigate through tough decisions as well as trying to manage your the internal fleets and keep them like happy under control and all that kind of stuff. So it's kind of feels like it kind of feels telltale ish but it also like because it is very story driven but it's also has like survival and uh like survival elements where you're trying to like manage resources and all that kind of stuff. So outside of Hades 2 because I think Hades 2 is the game I'm like I can't I cannot not play Hades 2 at this point. So like those are the kind of the games I'm I'm gonna be trying to juggle but I looked the game up Star Trek game just to go back to that I mean it does look quite good.
SPEAKER_02:I I've seen little bits of footage across it on like uh YouTube shorts and things like that and and kind of seen how the gameplay plays out and thought well it's not my cup of tea but I assumed just off the gameplay shots that shared and this is a disappointing that it looks like a s an it looked like a spin-off to me of those sort of mobile captain ports you see blanded across all and it was like oh well not another one with the Voyager franchise like what why uh but now I've and I feel that might impact its ability to penetrate the wider masses but reading a bit more about it is actually kind of interesting to me. I see it's had a little bit of a hard time in some of the previews but yeah if if you're not a Trek fan then it would seem strange.
SPEAKER_06:It seems like a bit of a survival I don't want to say a roguelike but definitely it's it it looks like a bit of a grind one you'd have to commit to but it'd be interesting to see how the Star Trek franchise works I want to see it make it made I want to see Star Trek get a win even though I'm not a fan of the IP it's like I want IPs like that to flourish because I want I want those that fan base to be happy and I also think like if that game flourishes other s other like IPs like that will also get a chance.
SPEAKER_02:I think they this is way off topic but let's go here when they brought out Star Trek bridge simulator for VR and then made a flat screen version as well there's elements in there where you could play it in like a procedurally generated way where you could just continue meet up with your mates and do mission after mission after mission. I think if you could get the ship as a 3D explorable space have your character now I'm I would verge towards having this as a single player experience rather than multiplayer because if your mate's not online this week then there's no one man in engineering and that's going to do your edit right so let's have a single player experience. But with reasonably intelligent NPCs as well that you form relationships along the way and then it could just be procedurally generated where you're on like a five year mission and it's like okay go this planet got to do this got to do that got to do the other okay beam up beam down pick your people for the away team a little bit of phase run in third person great little bit of diplomacy as well very interesting back up do this do that do the other bit of space combat but seen through the lens of the captain sat in his chair not the exterior of the ship I just yeah it might work for gameplay elements great it might look good it might give you that sort of fast gameplay but no Star Trek's about talking Star Trek's about taking it slow. Star Trek's about lining up for a photon release it's more like 18th century battleships wheeling across a Caribbean sea than it is about you know fighter jets engaging at max six on each other it doesn't work like that. That's not Star Trek logic so this game could be perfect. I hope it works out because we need to we need more Star Trek games like that and less mobile to just throwaway games microtransaction dribble you know it's 24000 golden points for Kirk well everyone's gonna try and get that aren't they and look out you can buy a set for$799 on the iOS marketplace oh great I'll get 7,000 Starfleet dollars what's the point in it all absolute nonsense the last one uh the last update no no the last update I'll give you because you asked the question earlier um dispatch available right now on PS5. Oh hold up Mumsy don't put the No Man's Sky simulator down start building me a call center do it now I don't care you've got no seller tape make it work okay perfect I would say first of all thank you so much for rejoining us after your uh PTSD session uh post pasta uh yeah you you popped in and out but you know I think it really hit you hard once you'd like the dust has settled and the smoke cleared uh but yeah absolutely great to have you back on the insights and everything it's good to know that the codes are still working out and that you're living the the lifestyle we all want to lead on the show uh one of us has got to be the rock star and it's you triple S. So thank you for coming uh and joining us today. We've had a great time I've had a great time and I know everyone listening has had a great time uh and I think well first of all let's let no let's let people know exactly if they've gone I've never listened to the UCP before but I like the sound of this SEB character. They can get more of you let them know exactly where, when and how that can happen.
SPEAKER_06:Everybody check me out Mondays and Thursdays it is the single player experience podcast the premiere podcast for single player games to find out about good single player games that you should be playing you want to know about the hottest indies I got your back you want to know about the games that you should be playing in the the space whether or not you should skip it that you want to know what the metacritic is on a weird game like the Outer Worlds 2. Let me let me tell you also you want to know about a game that you probably didn't know you need to be playing that you absolutely should be playing and why you should be playing that game I got your back. Ladies and gentlemen check out the single player experience the premiere podcast where you can find out about all the dope games in the single player space that you have to check out. Ladies and gentlemen I've been Sebastian Maldon I'm out that's why it's triple S ladies and gentlemen Microp moments.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely and when he's not there he's here uh absolutely wonderful uh gentleman his insights and his takes on the business are absolutely fantastic this this hand reaches so far into the indie space he's getting codes for games that the developers have yet to pitch to themselves that's where this kid's operating right on the cutting edge of where future is I don't know what it means I just nod and smile and hope the cool kids think I'm with him. Anyway either which way thank you so much uh Seb thank you to everyone for listening that's all we have time for this week listeners as always thank you for your time we look forward to the pleasure of speaking to you again next week until then happy gaming and remember there's nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller it's what you do with it that counts see you triple S. Hey bye everyone