Subscriptions and decks of steam

Sometimes it’s best just to talk it out , Seb and George get stuck into some of gaming most interesting topics - why is George still not on steam deck , what’s happening with the current gaming subscriptions ? 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:20

Hello and welcome to the unofficial controller podcast, your weekly gaming podcast, episode number two hundred and ninety-two, with me, George, and this week again, joined by the returning Triple S, Pasta Compound Survivor, to my still mentally checked-in El Paso. How's it going, Seb? It's going well. What about yourself? Oh, you know, it's one of those weeks. I'm moving, I'm decorating, I don't know who I am. I've been I've been I've been executing some very peculiar, but not for me, gaming habits, which we'll get into in a in a hot moment. Uh, but other than that, yeah, all good. Apart from obviously me still being checked in at El Paso, but I'm I'm not I'm getting better.

SPEAKER_00: 1:06

One day you're gonna visit Texas and you're gonna be like, where's this El Paso place we've been talking about for so much?

SPEAKER_02: 1:12

Don't don't break the fourth wall too soon, you know. I'm still getting um sort of donations from people just giving page for supporting us after El Paso. So yeah, so we all won't break that problem. Yeah, keep that quiet. The Pasta Compound Survivors Fund. I mean, it's it's it's it's it's quite the cash pile, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:34

So yeah. And the crazy thing is he's still out there. He's like the nightmare on Elm Street, you know, like he's the he's the Jason. You know he's still out there, you just don't know.

SPEAKER_02: 1:44

I I heard I I heard he's been nominated as a Michigan Republican judge. Uh it feels about right. It feels about right. Somebody like that being in office, it feels about right. Yeah, he appeared out of nowhere, he's got the right credentials, apparently. I mean, I don't know if you remember, but uh there was one of the episodes where he was on the campaign trail with Trump, we believe, and him and Pastor ended up with us having a hot tub.

SPEAKER_00: 2:15

I believe it. I believe it. He wants to make the flock great again.

SPEAKER_01: 2:19

Make the flock great again.

SPEAKER_02: 2:22

The flock. Oh anyway, let's hide that under the carpet, pretend it never happened. Um it technically never happened. The uh what the question I suppose I really want to ask is what have you been playing?

SPEAKER_00: 2:36

Um, yeah, I'm I'm a roguelike sicko, as you probably know. Um, if you don't know already, you you probably should. Watch it. I'm a rogue like why do you do it? I love it. It's I love it. It's my casino. It really is. It's like it is my casino in a way. It's like, you know how like you you hear people who go to the casino and they're like, uh, just one more, just one more pool at the slot machine, just one more, you know, one more quarter, and that's it. It's the You've not jumped back on the Bellatro wagon, have you? Nah, not this time, not this time. That's dead, is it?

SPEAKER_02: 3:09

That's dead to you now.

SPEAKER_00: 3:11

I I try to stay off of Bellatro because I know of its power, but like I'm playing this game called Super Fantasy Kingdom. It is yeah, so it's like uh imagine Super Mario, um, Super Mario, but instead of it being uh it's just like the art scheme of Mario, it's the um it's the level focation of it to where like as you're on a map, you start off as your little kingdom, and you basically have like these little set towels that you can put on whether or not you want to build your tavern or different like basically your different upgrades that you'd see in a like a medieval style kingdom, and then you have like smaller towels that you can build homes, you can build like um you can build like fishing docks and all that kind of stuff at. So everybody you have workers and all these workers that you basically manage your kingdom, and then you also have on top of your kingdom, you have what is called the second phase of the game, and and that's the phase to where it's an auto battler that always goes on, and you have to upgrade your knights and upgrade your medieval champions, so to speak, and they're always trying to keep your kingdom safe. Meanwhile, on your kingdom side of the fence, in this Super Mario style, I would say two-bit art style, you are always trying to add things to your kingdom. And the king the run ends whenever your knights inevitably fail, and your kingdom is basically ramsacked. But like there's this evil witch that's put a curse on your king and he always comes back from the dead. So you always start your kingdom back from square one, and that's the loop. And each time you die, of course, the Hades education of it is like you get a little stronger, you get a little wiser, you get another resource to add to your kingdom. That resource in turn adds to your knights or adds to your like resource management games, so to speak. And it's just like I love I love CD builders, I'm like you in that sense, to where I love CD builders and I love roguelike games. This combines my two sick addictions of video games, and it basically gives it to me in a in a bite-sized format to where even a toaster could run this game. It feels like this game could have been put on a old GBA and it would have ran perfectly.

SPEAKER_02: 5:35

Right, so it's got like a just talk me through the nights battling section. Is that just like a like a slider on the screen, or can you flip to it and see them like pixel slapping each other?

SPEAKER_00: 5:48

What what would what what's oh it's it's real time com it's like it's an auto battler for sure, but like you are in real time, like there's your there's your kingdom. You as you're building it up, you can scroll upwards, and as you scroll upwards, you see your knights, they are there's like a tree line at the very top, and it out of that tree line at the very top, there's all always hordes of like basically all your medieval like um pop culture lores. So, like you start off trying to kill these halflings, these halflings are trying to invade your court because they want to make it to the new Shire. Um, so from there it upgrades, it continuously upgrades to where like you might be fighting orcs, you might be fighting goblins, you might be fighting like um Dejens, which are like genies, you know, you might be fighting like um inference, like from final like that remind me of Final Fantasy. It is very pop culture heavy as well, is why I like it. It's also like it keeps me engaged and it also makes me chuckle a little bit because the story it's like it is surface level, it's ridiculous, but on the top, when you're battling, you start off with a hero, one hero, and you can give your hero like two different attributes, either like raise his strength um twice or raise like his defense twice, or like mix and match, and then from there you um just continuously get like different heroes. Like I got a monk, uh a monk, a I like doing monks, I like doing like archers and all that that kind of like that has my hero's back because he's a regular like knights of the old the knights of the round table sort of knight. He just has like his steed and his sword, and from there, like he does nothing but melee attacks, and then you sort of have to mix and match like melee attacks do better against like arsenal like creatures that have arsenals and creatures that have magic, and then like magic attacks do better against like melee, and so it's like it's a Pokemon rock, paper, scissors, like auto battler that's going on above you, while below you're trying to manage your kingdom, and all that's kind of going on. And it's fascinating.

SPEAKER_02: 7:59

What formats hurt me now? What formats is it on? Say PSP. PSP?

SPEAKER_00: 8:06

That'd be funny. Um let me pull that up. Super Fantasy Kingdom. I this thing could run on a toaster, so I'd be surprised if it's not going to be put on everything, but I played this on my steam. Yeah, I I'd be playing, I'm playing this on the Steam Deck, so of course it's P I'm playing on PC, but like it looks like it has a upcoming Switch edition coming out soon. You said it'd run on a toaster, you weren't wrong. Nah, for sure. No, it's like Switch 1 or just generic switch. It just says Switch. A lot of the times when everything says the generic switch, it's like it runs on Switch 1, and then like it'll probably maybe take advantage of the upgrades that Switch 2 has to, you know, bring as one of the things that we're gonna do.

SPEAKER_02: 8:51

Sadly, like one of my favorite games on Switch 1 looks so awful on Switch 2. It's now oh mate, it killed it. Jurassic Park Jurassic World Evolution on Switch was a tasty little game. Yeah, there was some cutbacks, don't get me wrong, but who really cares on that game? Not me.

SPEAKER_00: 9:12

Is that the one where you're managing the parks? Yeah, okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02: 9:16

And it was actually just nice to have on the Switch, and then all of a sudden now it's drowned in this blue and pink neon glow, everything. Apart from the menus, they look crisp, perfect, switches upgraded, and they look slick. All the gameplays bathed in this almost vicety-like glow. Half expect a Velociraptor to come steaming down the road in a Lamborghini. Uh, probably with a bag of white powder in the boot. It's probably Daz, Purcell, uh, Tide, you know, I don't know, more washing powder. What washing powder's famous in the States?

SPEAKER_00: 9:51

Oh, we got a lot of um, like Tide, that sort of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Like we got a lot of them. Um I was close.

SPEAKER_02: 9:59

Yeah, okay. Sure. But anyway, this this game sounds like my kind of jam, so I'm quite excited for it. Is there anything else that you've been playing?

SPEAKER_00: 10:09

Um, nothing. I'm trying to think of if it's a George interesting game.

SPEAKER_02: 10:15

Oh, don't worry about me because there's thousands of people at home that just want to know.

SPEAKER_00: 10:19

Um, Outer Worlds 2. Oh, how's that shaping up for you? I like it but don't love it. If that's that, if that's like makes sense, I how does it compare to one?

SPEAKER_02: 10:31

Talk to me about like the planetary transitions, etc. Are they still the same or is it different?

SPEAKER_00: 10:37

No, it's streamlined a lot, but um that streamlined a lot. I think the writing is better. I do think like the combat for sure, which was was was my problem with the first one, was like for some reason on the first game, well, it the outer worlds was a like a game that I wanted to love, but never quite got into. It's like I would find myself doing the same intro three times over and hoping that each time I would love it, and for some reason it never clicked, even though I kept like it's exactly where I'm at with it. I kept going back to it every time I upgraded into a new console. I was like, this might be the run. Maybe a new console might do it. Yeah, and it was just it just never hit. It just never hit the outer wars 2. I think it's the combat, I think it's much better. I think it's a lot more deep and layered um in a way to where like they have nuanced um weapons that I think can allow you to get into the nitty-gritty and really play with like the sandbox that is like this weird, wacky sci-fi world a lot better. Like you can make there's a shrink gun, um, a shrink gun that's like amazing. There's like there's little things like that to where I'm like, oh, I wish this feels more like Fallout now than uh Outer Worlds first did, and I think that's better. But then like the other things, I still don't necessarily love the world and setting. I feel like it is Rick and Morty meta enough to where I'm like, I feel like a lot of people are gonna appreciate that, but I also feel like for some reason I it is satirical and to the point to where I'm like some of these jokes don't quite hit, and I know we're evil corporation, evil corporation, evil corporation, and I get the point of the game. But I was just like, some of that I feel like is laid on a little thick. Outside of that, um I feel like this, I feel like this company in particular, especially with the vowed as well, has gone like so hard in not letting you like get old school connections with your companions because like in the all in Fallout, I would probably say Mass Effect, I would probably say like other games of its of its ilk, like you're building connections to these personas well, like you're building connections to these people, some of it is romantically involved, a lot of it's you know, friendship involved. Yeah, like there's no romance options here, which feels weird in in the sense to where like you're building real connections with these people. There's no romance options, you're building friendships. Some of the I feel like unlike Avaled, where Avowed felt like they had characters for the sake of having characters there, like I feel like Avowed's cardinal sin is like no matter what you did and how much those characters disagreed with whatever you did, they were just gonna ride it out with you, anyways. Like they were going to go on the journey with you no matter what. Like, yeah, and ver versus I mean they'd say they would say, Oh, I didn't agree with that choice, and then it was like they had amnesia, like you know, like two stages later, and they were right there with the journey. Yeah, yeah. Versus I feel like this game does a little better with the writing, but I still feel like some of the companions aren't quite as fleshed out as Bioware would probably have done it. But and I'm talking about old school bioware, I'm not talking about Veilguard, but so I'm like, I love it, I like it. Talk to me.

SPEAKER_02: 14:05

May I ask some questions about the speech craft? Because that was one of my in the times that I've dallied with outer worlds, and much like you, I've bounced off it more times than not. But uh, one of the ways of playing it that I really enjoyed was just maxing out the speech craft and uh playing it that way. Is the passive pacifist ability still within Outer Worlds, even with this improved combat?

SPEAKER_00: 14:29

Yeah, um, that's still in there. You can talk your way out of a lot of different things, and also talk your way into a lot of things. So I'm like, yeah, I feel like they went really hard on that, those options. And so I'm like, there's missions to where your speechcraft is better than than my my baseline character, and you might get missions because you talked yourself into certain scenarios. So I that's why I said I think it's more layered and more thought-provoking, but I think it's more of a RPG than the outer worlds was, like, but you also have to have if okay, so like based on the story, no spoilers, people, but based on the story that is told, I feel like if you're an evil character who's just like as evil as evil can get, sometimes the stories in the side quest, where like the side quest by nature wants you to be a helpful person, don't quite make sense for the character that you're role-playing as. But like, if you're playing as a paragraph, the classic paragon, uh, the classic good guy, this game opens up so many different directions based on how you play the game. So I'm like, it feels like by virtue, if you want to 100% this game, you're probably going to need to do multiple playthroughs and also be a good ass good guy in through one of them to where like you're to actually 100% everything. So I'm like, it's not quite as flexible as I would want it to be, as far as like, I don't I don't agree with this choice, I do agree with this choice, so but either way, I'm gonna get to like similar destinations. No, you very much veer to different endpoints and get different attributes based on how you kind of approach the game in a lot of ways.

SPEAKER_02: 16:09

You said before you don't like the settings so much. I mean, there's elements of that that I really appreciated. The uh you know, this the the almost cowboy aesthetic firefly feeling to it. One of the things that I liked was the ship AI and things like that, but there was a there's a lack of customization, etc., in the game. Has that been not really?

SPEAKER_00: 16:33

It's more it's it's just as streamlined as before, but I would probably say like the I wish the writers on the writers with obsidian would have and would have like fleshed out all of the things they did in Outer Worlds 2 and all and been the main composers on Starfield. Because I feel like Starfield has a better setting and better ship system, and but like Obsidian has a better story. I would argue characters, I would argue like I'll I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_02: 17:07

I half convince myself that Outer Worlds 2 would be running a variation of Starfield engine. I just assume it's like, yeah, okay, that's what that's gonna be. That makes sense to me. Maybe they'll make it work, and yet it's not. I don't know, it seems a bit silly.

SPEAKER_00: 17:23

No, uh I think they're so similar, and that's what's frustrating about this. It's like they're such a similar game, but they're so different. They're like micro pockets of space sci-fi to where like it is this is more streamlined, this is more focused, this is more compact, which is pretty much a lot of the complaints I had about like Starfield. I feel like it was too ambitious, too ambiguous, and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, it was like yeah, uh it feels similar in the same way that they're both you can pick up anything in the world and and kind of mess with it and fiddle with it and kind of talk your way into and out of all the lot of situations. This one has better writing, so I'm like, if you're a a person who cares about story, cares about writing, who cares about like the wacky funness that obsidian can deliver deliver. I think like Outer Worlds 2 is for sure going to be for you. But if you want like a space sci-fi adventure to where like I want to go around and just mess with the ships and kind of very tinker with like the customization of my ship and such like that, Starfield's gonna be more up your alley, but like it feels like if those two would have got together, they would have had like a real stellar video game space experience, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 18:38

I think so. I like I say, I thought I in my mind it made sense to me that they would grab hold of the Starfield engine. I know they're different games, but the elements of the interplanetary exploit exploration, etc., just sort of lends itself to just piggybacking off of that, and then all you've got to do is populate the world. But again, we we don't know enough about the situation to be fair. So I'm pleased that the games come out some reasonable SEB reception. I mean, we're talking uh triple A here, not a triple I, so it's it's uh I think it's it's pretty glowing price. Yeah, you know, experience. No, no, no, no, no, no for a lot of people. No, it can't outscore Star Wars Outlaws on this show. I won't stand for it.

SPEAKER_00: 19:27

I don't I haven't played enough of it to say it's a definitively better game than Star Wars Outlaws. You know, like I do think You waltzed in here and slapped an eight on it. That's what I'm saying, but from what I play right now, I feel like it's an eight out of ten, more so than anything else. But then I'm also I I've only put like five to ten hours into it, so I can't really say definitively this is like but I know like from what I've been hearing from other people, um, you know, like in messages and chats like that, they some people have beat this in like 20 hours. I was gonna say what's time to beat, say it's 20 hours.

SPEAKER_02: 20:04

I'll be honest, that to me, if you're just mainlining it, seems acceptable because let's face it, there'll be a myriad of side content, and also a myriad of side content, depending which way you choose as you go through the game. So there's multiple runs in there. So there's yeah, for sure. I suppose completionists is what, maybe 60 hours, and then on a double playthrough, maybe another 10.

SPEAKER_00: 20:29

Maybe I would probably say like three playthroughs, average each playthrough around that 15 to 15 to 20 hour mark. Maybe, yeah, maybe somewhere between 14, 45, and 60 hours. But I would probably say like you don't necessarily need to do a completionist playthrough on this game either. So it's because I feel like no matter what you do, you know, at least like from my understanding so far, I feel like I know how this game is going to end, and I don't necessarily know if the way I'm playing is gonna change anything. But I know I missed I know I missed a lot of I know I missed a lot of side quests though, so I'm like that could change how I feel about a lot of the game as well. Because Obsidian, even though they've done a good job with a lot of their main quests, especially with like um Fallout New Vegas, I know like I don't I know a lot of people know more so and love and have fallen in love with those side quests more than the main quests, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. Hmm, interesting. What about you, George?

SPEAKER_02: 21:29

What have you been playing? Well, I hope you've brought a sick bag along to this confessional that we've got with us because um I'm in a state of flux, so for some reason I decided to uh get the PSPs out, charge them up, and start playing through some games on there. I spent most of the time really watching Stranger Things and polishing my white white PSP with a you know a lint-free cloth. But you know, within that has been an element of uh quite enjoying the old girl. Um I played a bit of God.

SPEAKER_00: 22:06

Did you say you're a nostalgic gamer? Like nostalgia-driven gamer?

SPEAKER_02: 22:10

Um no. Okay I but I do like to be able to go and pull off, you know, go to the shelf and pull down a classic. I do like to be able to do that, and I don't and I want to play it as it was intended to be played in that moment. So gotcha. I I'm that kind of weirdo. Um but you know, PS5's very convenient, but every now and then, especially what with us moving between two and decorating here and doing that there, and getting a box together here and moving that there. Um the PSP has been quite the distraction, you know, you can play it anywhere. Um so there's been a myriad of games that I've enjoyed. Um Vice City Stories. Uh it looks great on there, great selection of tunes. Obviously, it's an obvious uh pick for going in your PSP ready travel bag. Um, I've also been I I was enjoying The Godfather. I started playing that. I thought this looks great, this plays great. When's this tutorial bit going to end and let me get into the open world? It doesn't seem to be letting me get into the open world. What's going on? I quickly Google it. The PSP didn't get the open world, it just got all the missions stitched together.

SPEAKER_00: 23:29

Oh, that's the rough um that's part of the rough era of like, oh, this is the PSP, this is the portable version of this, this um You got it, you know, this game. Yeah, yeah, you got it.

SPEAKER_02: 23:43

Uh I've been playing I've played it countless times on there, but I've been going through on Ghosts of Sparta. Um fun. Bit of uh Gran Turismo as well. Um a little bit of um is it Jack and Daxter? I think it is. That's relatively fun. It it's like a set between Jack and Daxter 1 and 2, I think, from the clothes that they're wearing and how they're looking and how the levels seem. So that's also been quite an enjoyable little distraction. And I've also pulled down off the shelf uh Ace Combat X, which the fighter player game, right? Yeah, which I'm quite intrigued just to bundle in and have a little play on. As I say, it's just a little sort of something to fiddle with while we're watching a bit of telly while we're in this sort of in-between stage, to be fair, but yeah, it's been quite enjoyable. It's it kind of piques my curiosity to uh not mod it, don't get me wrong. Um last time you accused me of like being one step away from a PC gamer because I put an SSD in a PS3.

SPEAKER_00: 24:50

Hey, I mean the two fits, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 24:53

Yeah, well, I was just about to say if the cat fits, wear it. Well, I was thinking about uh I've been looking at I think 64 gigabytes might be the maximum storage you can have in a PSP just stock. So I've also been and for no reason that bad boy. No, just just going on and buying a genuine Sony Magic Gate 64 gigabyte card to put in it, and then I and then I was sat thinking, well, I could put now you're talking to a guy who's got an iPhone in his pocket where you can just get every song you've ever wanted within seconds, you know. And you you you're now talking to a guy who's thinking, well, I could put some music on there and use it as a little music player. Oh no, I wonder if those movies that I've got in my iTunes folder, whether they would go on there. Oh, that would also be cool to be able to have a little library. And I'm thinking, like, why why why are you doing this, George? You don't need to be you've got every media you've ever wanted at your fingertips, yet you're thinking about using only stock parts to get the very best out of your PSP. There's something fundamentally wrong with me as a person, isn't there?

SPEAKER_00: 26:02

Yeah, I mean, you that is Sony to that is like I am a Sony guy to the D at that point, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02: 26:11

I don't even know I think it's more about trying to have the most genuine of the time experience that you can have. Yeah. Uh what was the best the what was the best experience you could ever get? Oh, tell a lie, on one of the PSP memory cards I found kicking around, it had like some yes, mate, it had some family guy episodes, and I can't remember what film, but I saw it and I was like, I think Matrix was on there, like a rip, and something else, and it was it was so much another 2000s movie like Sahara or whatever with Matthew McConaughey. I was like, this this very card alone is what it's it's something quite special, in it. It's almost like the future. It's almost like the past and the future all at the same time. I'm experiencing this dude's I kind of half expected to find some semi-soft erotica on there, if I'm honest with you. Uh but wow. So brings his own love band with him. Uh wow. Okay, as you were saying. I don't think I can think again now. Yeah, there was there was no soft erotica on there, so yeah. Anyway, these relics of the past that come forward, it's a little bit like finding memory cards and looking at the saves on there, and then then actually finding if you've got that game of loading it up just to see what this little human being had been up to in this window of time, and yeah, some of the stuff you find is absolutely crazy. Uh, so maybe, yeah, please message into the Discord with your best uh memory card or save finds that you found of other people's, or if you've got a confession of your own about a save game you forgot you'd made. I want to see all about that in the Discord. I love hearing about these things. Um in one of the PSP boxes, thinking along those same lines, I did find uh just a like a scrap of paper, you know, with like some kids stupid notes on there.

SPEAKER_00: 28:35

I know, I know, like, I know you're Mr. Anti-PC right now. Yeah, you know, you're you're you're bucking, you're bucking, even though you're you're a PC, you're butting, you're a budding PC guy.

SPEAKER_02: 28:46

I'm a p yeah, I I I'm a PC guy, but I just don't know it yet. I think you're right. I I've been thinking this for a while, but just haven't really wanted to find myself staring at the TV in the lounge playing a city builder for 400 hours. You know, I just feel it would fuel that jet rather than uh sort of leave it bolted on the ground, which I think would be for the better of my family, if nothing else.

SPEAKER_00: 29:14

I think once you I think once you play No Man's Sky with mods and all that kind of stuff, it's like your world is gonna shift. But like, especially you being who you are, where you can like get so deep into a game, not not like RGT Harvestella deep, but you know, you get one of me. But like I think like once that hits, it's you it's game over. But I bring up the PC thing to say, um, you know, there are like things you can buy online, like small little PC, small little handheld PCs now, or like retro devices, retro pockets that have all this stuff that you that gives you the ultimate PC uh like PSP experience without you having to go stock on everything. Is why I bring this up, you know, like You can buy like$89 now.

SPEAKER_02: 30:02

You can have a whole library. Yeah, that that's cool. But will it ever, you know, let's just say I pop into a coffee shop in my local town. Not that I do this, but let's just imagine for a moment I did. I'm sat there and a guy on the other table, he pulls out one of these retro pockets and he starts playing Gods of War Chains of Sparta, whatever it is, and I look over and I'm like, huh, hey up pal, what are you doing here? He's like, I can't just play a bit of PSP. I reach into my pocket and I pull out a mint glacier white PSP stock running that game. Who's the cooler dude?

SPEAKER_00: 30:47

I don't know. I don't I don't know. Like you would probably have the looks department down, but then he would probably have an OLED screen with a device that could charge with a modern with a modern day like control cable.

SPEAKER_02: 31:04

Ah well, well, well I'm not into modding, but I found an adapter that goes from PSP in, baby, to USB C. I am 2025 compatible without even, and I did buy that and I bought one for RGT as well.

SPEAKER_00: 31:24

At that point, you could you're you're like close to buying the new hardware at that point. Because I got£2.99 dongle.

SPEAKER_02: 31:33

I don't think so, Sebastian.

SPEAKER_00: 31:36

You're down payment away from you know buying the buying the new retro console at that point. But I digress. But there's a reason there's a there's like so many of these cool devices now to where like um like a retro pocket. Have you seen like the DS version now to where like it has the 3DS type of like build to it? And you can play it pretty much Yeah, with the two screens and everything. And so I'm like it has the you can make it to where it's you can order it to where it's the 3DS model or the regular model, and then the regular model you can have to the regular screens, oh the OLAD screens, it charges USB Cs, and then like with your memory card, whatever memory card you have, you can um also go all the way up to the switch one library with everything. And I'm like, that's crazy to me. These are ROMs, aren't they? These are these are these are illegal copies. Some of them, some of them are, but you know, it's not illegal if you physically own if you actually own the game. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02: 32:44

And you actually I don't think Nintendo would agree. They they want to see you walking down the street with a virtual boy. They don't want to see it.

SPEAKER_00: 32:52

Allegedly, you know, you know, it's not illegal, but you know, you get what I mean though. You get what I mean. But no, like the reason why I say this is because in your hypothetical coffee, you know, you actually being in a coffee shop situation with you would be able to have everything on the go. And in the traditionalist sense, like I think you would love this because like it's all on your screen in the UI presentation that is so traditionalist heavy of like, oh, I think I have like all these pretty um, it's only separated by the console, so to speak, that you'd want to choose. So you go to your console, Sega Genesis, and click on Sega Genesis, all your Sega Genesis games. Just you scroll down, pick whichever one you want to play, and it just launches like that.

SPEAKER_02: 33:39

I'll tell you the danger for someone like me with that, Seb, and I'll tell you what it is, is I'm gonna take my retro pocket to the coffee shop, I'm gonna open it up, I'm gonna go through every console, I'm gonna scroll through, oh yeah, I fancy choice paralysis? Yeah, I'm gonna be like that. Oh, fancy bit of Mega Drive. I'm gonna hear get my coffee, feel a bit retro. Yeah, I'll do that. And then I get in there, I think, um no, I'm not feeling that. I'll I'll go drink a st and then I go through the games, and I'm like, no, I'm not uh what what's on N64? And before you know it, my coffee's cold, and the guy next to me's finished God of War Chains of Sparta on his PSP and walked out the door, and everyone's gone like wow, what a stud.

SPEAKER_01: 34:18

He has the Chains of War PSP.

SPEAKER_00: 34:25

He has it too.

SPEAKER_02: 34:26

He's double switched me, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 34:28

He's he's walked out with the real deal, yeah. So another question I have for you in this hypothetical situation. Well, this one's not even the hypothetical, it's an actual legitimate question. Why'd you jump on the PSP when you just bought a uh switch to? Has the switch two gotten that stale already for you? No, not at all.

SPEAKER_02: 34:48

I did think this today when I packed my bag. I was like, oh, what I'm gonna lob in here, I'll put the portal in, I'll put the PSP in, and I looked at the switch and I thought, and I don't know why. I thought, no, no, I want to play, and probably should have left the portal out because I'll be honest with you, the only thing that's getting turned on tonight is the PSP.

SPEAKER_00: 35:10

No, I thought that was going dirty. Running dirty, I thought that was about to go dirty on me.

SPEAKER_02: 35:18

No, no, let's awaken this Seb. I want to know more about Dirty Seb. That's a t-shirt.

SPEAKER_00: 35:24

That is dirty Seb 2K25.

SPEAKER_02: 35:32

Oh dirty. Yeah. Oh wow. So we uh we talked off air, didn't we? That the news is very, very light. It's it's it's scant. There's a bit of Animal Crossing news, there was some more rumbles about what the next Xbox is gonna look like. I mean, I've I've never known a console talked about so much, and uh we're still quite a way away, guys. Talking about trying to get the hype train leaving early.

SPEAKER_00: 35:57

Uh let's run through the news because I have George censored questions I want to ask you for this episode. Oh wow. What you want to do? The news? Oh well, is that light touch not enough?

SPEAKER_02: 36:08

Yeah, just light touch it. Well, there you go. I think we've got magic. Animal Crossings got uh got an update for the Switch 2 and a 3.0 update, adding some extra features and all that sort of stuff. Over on the PlayStation world, the drive towards the heretic profit uh begins a reel because they're starting to uh recruit localizers and testers, which sounds positive. Uh, over on Xbox side of the fence, um we've got them further talking about the shape and scale and heft of again, further of what they want the new Xbox to be. Uh they refer to it again being a basically both a console and a PC, more referring to that PC in a box that we've heard about, um and wanting to be everywhere on everything again, reiterating their further dedication to cloud gaming, uh, which was really just to mirror off some of the points we discussed last week. But we realized that it was it was very news-like. And before the show started, I I don't quite know how, but we ended in we we stumbled into, and this is this conversation we have now, I must say so, will only ever be a tribute to the to the highs and lofty, almost academia-like discussion we had about um gaming subscription services. Uh and I kick it back to you, Seb. Maybe give us a bit of a roundup on where we got to, because uh I think I think I was bearing down on the the Games Pass experiment has failed. I think I we talked about pricing, I think I touched on Nintendo being a great deal, but also at the same time, how flipping dare you? Uh Nintendo, not you, sir Triple S. Uh and and PlayStation almost getting dog walked into having to offer up their own service, which I'd say has been about as popular outside of portal users, about as popular as maybe a free helping of syphilis.

SPEAKER_00: 38:18

If I'm all people are just paying for online, if we're being honest. Yeah at that point, you know, like so it's interesting because like I we offline we brought up that um George talked about like you know Xbox Game Pass being a failure. And I said, I think it is a failure, but I think like we were talking about the logistics on why we think um why we think it failed or why I think like it was implemented in the first place. And what I my argument our George's argument was is that the it was a cursed thing from the jump. And mine my my thought process has always been like Xbox Game Pass to me has never been about just the nature of making a profit for profit's sake, it's more about they were getting dog walked, absolutely trampled in the from the last generation after the 360 all the way till today. And this was about them changing the game up, getting goodwill. And this was also in the business sense to where like you do business decisions that necessarily lose money, but you do it for goodwill, and that goodwill can harb you into better financial decisions going forward. Which initially I thought that was fine because the first party lineup was so light, anyways, they weren't really missing a whole lot. You know what I mean? It's like you put out a Halo, a Forza, a Gears of War, and you do that on clockwork, and then you put out a whole bunch of other first party games that nobody wanted to play, just looking at you Redfall. Nobody wanted to play that. So I'm like, you really weren't missing a whole lot. You put out like um Microsoft Flight Simulator, really good game for what it is. It's a simulator, though. Very niche audience uh of people play simulators and then audience, yeah, and then a niche audience wants to be a version of a simulator. We are supposed to get what I mean, pre-ordered, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 40:26

But you're a simulator person, for sure. Mate, let me tell you, I'm gonna get some value out of that headset this gen.

SPEAKER_00: 40:36

On my life, I'd be damned I will. So you get what I mean, though. So it's like it is one of those things to where I'm like, you're coming out with niche games, and you're coming out with niche games, are your big games, are games that people loosely play. Um, so I'm like, Halo, you know, you had two sh two attempts at Halo where you had Halo Infinite and you had Halo 4. And the Halo the Master Chief collection. So three during that time period. And we know how that all that went. They all came, they all go, they all came and went like a fart in the wind. And not only that, you damaged the brand of your first party, your biggest first party portfolio game. You know, like that's how bad that that little experiment went. Forza, its trajectory rose, but then it's also a racing game. So I'm like, for everything that it's done, it's reached the highs of the highs. It won IGM's game of the year with Forza Um Horizon 5, but it's still Forza. You know what I mean? It has a cat. So I'm like, Gears of War. They kept putting out the they put out Gears of War 1 again, and then Gears of War 4 and 5. You know, they did what they did, they didn't take the world by storm at all. So I'm like, you didn't lose a whole lot putting first party games out there. The first party games that people wanted to play in the portfolio were the games that you already had cross-platformed for the most part, anyways, Minecraft, you know? So I'm like, Microsoft like Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass, goodwill thing going into it. And then so I'm like, to me, I think like what really what really made Microsoft, and I'm talking about like actual like the big daddy Microsoft's eyes on oh, this is actually losing money, is then like, oh, we're now investing more into the portfolio that it will that like the game pass actually is with like the mergers of the ABK acquis acquisitions and then you know like the um Call of Duty merger as well. So I'm like the Activision Blizzard merger and then the Bethesda merger, and I'm like, those to me were like you were creeping under the radar, you were doing good, you were losing money, but still you were getting goodwill for the next generation. I thought that was okay business decision. Then you bought Activision Blizzard and you bought Bethesda, two companies you probably shouldn't have bought in the first place. You if you had an acquisition, you probably should have bought WB, but I digress.

SPEAKER_02: 43:01

We got here. That that would have locked down some really great exclusives for them. Imagine if Hogwarts Legacy had been exclusive. Thank you, thank you. So I'm like, to me, I've always said I hate to say it, mate, but the biggest game in the last three years has to be that game. It's an absolute beer moth. It is in terms of sales numbers and traction.

SPEAKER_00: 43:23

Yes, and then on top of that, you would have had under the portfolio, like just go with me here. Like, imagine what Game Pass would have been like if instead of they bought ABK, which I think like you know, it's Call of Duty, it's the most successful game in the world. I get that, but like on top of that, didn't really deliver a whole lot much else as far as like that, really just set the world on fire. Then uh except you know, Diablo, but I think Diablo has a certain cap, and it's also I think Diablo as an IP past its prime. I digress. So on the other side of the fence, Warner Brothers, you bought Warner Brothers, you would have bought Hogwarts Legacy, what would have the the studio and the game that would have been Hogwarts Legacy. On top of that, you would have bought the Arkham franchise. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 44:12

So then all of a sudden you've got a counter to Spider-Man Wolverine, that sort of jazz.

SPEAKER_00: 44:16

Exactly. You have the ex and you have the biggest counter you can ever have.

SPEAKER_02: 44:20

Yeah, you have the biggest counter. It de facto then becomes the home of DC, the way Sony never could become the home of Marvel.

SPEAKER_00: 44:29

Exactly, exactly. So there's that, and then on the other business portfolio on the other side of the fence, like PlayStation has been the home of fighting games. You would have a one of the biggest IPs in fighting games under your portfolio with Mortal Kombat. Because you would own Mortal Kombat as well, and you would own, you know, the Shadow of War, Shadow of Mordor studio, which means you own the Nemesis system. And the Nemesis system, you could have done anything with like that in your own portfolio.

SPEAKER_02: 45:01

There would just be a lot of goodwill for someone breaking that out of its slumber, wouldn't there?

SPEAKER_00: 45:08

Exactly. So I'm saying, like, I think one, if you had two acquisitions of studios that you probably would should have bought and such like that, Ubisoft was going through a dog walking of a hard time. You probably should have bought Ubi and you probably should have bought WB games. I digress. If you only had to buy one of those.

SPEAKER_02: 45:26

I would wonder though, would WB Games as an entity, as a package in that way, actually come with all those licenses? That would have to be something we'd have to double check.

SPEAKER_00: 45:39

So they could come like they're selling right now. Like WB is trying to sell to Paramount right now, and trying to sell to anybody who would basically offer. Like, and usually in mergers like this, you can basically say, like, I want this, this, and this, and this, and then like a part of that a part of that merger might be like, Oh, we own WB games, which means we own these licenses, you know, or at least we have like these licenses for 20 years, 30 years. Yeah, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02: 46:10

And that's I think that's what I would want to know about the bulk of what I'm getting here because the Hogwarts Mortal Kombat, I think, would be locked down, but something like Hogwarts Legacy that could shift somehow. That license.

SPEAKER_00: 46:21

Even then, even then, okay, so put it like this, George. Like, WB wouldn't have fought hard about Hogwarts Legacy because they didn't know what Hogwarts Legacy was. No, you're right. They did not know what Hogwarts Legacy was going to become, they did not know what it was, and the reason I say this is because before that, how many good Harry Potter games have we gotten? Just good. None. Absolutely none that actually like set the world on fire.

SPEAKER_02: 46:47

Well, one thing I would say about Hogwarts Legacy is it's okay. But it's also it's tapped into a zeitgeist that has just sold gangbusters because it's basically a Harry Potter RPG simulator. And and and in the second game, that needs to be so much deeper.

SPEAKER_00: 47:11

Also, on the also on the other front, you know, like one of the things I think also made Hogwarts Legacy so and Nintendo does this a lot, you know, like they do this to a huge success as well. Like, one of the things I think like aided Hogwarts Legacy success is that Hog like Harry Potter fans were starved, absolutely starved for any type of Harry Potter content, much less Harry Potter games. I'm like, they were salivating for this type of game, and they were salivating for a Harry Potter IP game because there hadn't really been anyone since Deathly Hollows ended. And then on the other side, the ones that don't do come out have always been Lego fied, you know, either Lego games or like the games based on the movies, or even worse, the the Quidditch games, you know, like and none of those have been like gangbusters, and they were salivating for something within the IP. So I'm like, so WB going back to the initial point, WB wouldn't have fought hard for it. They wouldn't have fought hard for Harry Potter because they didn't think Harry Potter would have been anything, you know, like it was in this world, Call of Duty is still easily multi-platform, no question.

SPEAKER_02: 48:30

It still exists as ABK. Yeah, Bethesda's still pumping out everything everywhere. Let's wonder how Starfield performed. Like, yeah, all right, critically it didn't do very well in your alternate universe, but it sold a hell of a lot of units because it was hype to hell and it was on everything at that point.

SPEAKER_00: 48:51

And even then, uh even then, let's just say, let's just say Starfield sold well, Bethesda wasn't doing too hot um initially, and that was the reason why they were on the market in the first place. They were doing well enough to be okay, but they weren't necessarily setting the world on fire, like they had a lot of misses with Wolfenstein, Fallout 76, all that type of stuff. But like, so even if they were going to be on the market, um like they were still coming to your platform, anyways. Like exactly, all those were still coming to your platform, so you could have had your cake and eat it too, you know. Like, if whatever the elder scrolls would have been, it would have been on Xbox as well. So I'm like, none of that needed to happen. I'm like, you bought this, you bought, let's just be real, they bought Bethesda because of you know the Todd Howard centric games. Nobody buys Bethesda thinking we're getting Wolfenstein. That's changing our whole little franchise. Yeah, they were like, oh, we're getting Elder Scrolls because Elder Scrolls is the big boy, and then by proxy, Fallout, you know, we're getting Fallout, and then they're they heard the rumors of what Starfield was. So I'm like, they saw what Starfield could be. I digress. So I'm like, in that sphere, do you think like the trajectory of Xbox and Xbox, what Xbox Game Pass looks like would have been vastly different in our scenario?

SPEAKER_02: 50:14

I I do actually, yeah. Because I think the war chests that they expunged buying these studios could have bought exclusivity for 10-15 years, which would have achieved the same aim anyway, but without anywhere near as much money.

SPEAKER_00: 50:29

And yes, and also with IPs that would have resonated with people on a deeper level. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 50:34

And combat your six month exclusivity to Xbox on every Call of Duty game going forward, boom. Six months exclusivity on every single Bethesda game going forward, boom. Don't matter what it is, that's what it is. Even, bam, six months exclusivity on every ABK game, done. And actually, do you know what? You've still got a hell of a lot of money in your back pocket to go doing that same deal with WB.

SPEAKER_00: 51:01

All of a sudden. Or even there. Imagine if imagine if you didn't do the ABK or Betesta deal at all. Like, imagine if you just did that with WB games, to where like you own WB games and you come up with you come out with two new Batgame Batman games in the meantime. Like, two new Batman games that would have come out around the same time that Miles Morales and Spider-Man 2 would have come out. You have direct combatants to some of the biggest games your competitors are doing. And then like on that side of the fence, you could have done a Shadow of War game and you would have had Hogwarts Legacy, the one of the biggest games in the world, come out in that time frame as well. Exclusively on your platform.

SPEAKER_02: 51:45

That would have sold an absolute metric ton of Xboxes, it really would have. Because once those images started leaking on YouTube of gameplay and people doing it on Twitch, oh my god. Because that drove that game as much as anything else.

SPEAKER_00: 52:03

It was very Zack Guy's heavy.

SPEAKER_02: 52:05

Yeah. So that it's a hot ticket. But I think I agree with you, I don't disagree with you fully, but to go back to the original point, I I I agree that some losses are worth it. And I think Games Pass is in its original form it wasn't a bad idea. You know, for some reason financially, they've hung a lot of their business cred on its performance, which is or is not a more of an extreme example of where Xbox is in general, but they've they've hung their performance on that, or the industry has decided to measure their performance via that. And I think initially, a great USP uh at a great price point that made it very easy to say, why would you go buy that when you can buy this and pay? And and the kind of chat in the sort of bazaars and around the games was you know you know, you're paying about one dollar a month or three dollars a month, and you're getting access to literally every game Xbox has ever had. It was a bit of a broad stretch, but that was a general consensus, wasn't it? Right, and that was an interest spike for sure, and it but it was also more of a reward for your long-term Xbox users simultaneously, yeah. Um, there was a lot of backwards compatibility support in there. Um, and there's people, you know, the most loyalist of people to the Xbox brand have been there since the original console, who went there probably out as a retaliation of the end of the Dreamcast, probably went there as a retaliation of maybe grown up with Ninti and found out that they just wanted a big boys console for a change. Xbox seemed like the perfect alternative.

SPEAKER_00: 53:56

Um, I think you also had the popularity of Halo at that time, too.

SPEAKER_02: 54:00

Like around the world, you know, and you became the first person shooter to you're absolutely right, and with no disrespect to the games either, because I was there day and date with the Xbox original. Uh Halo blew my mind. Project Gotham Racing was absolutely incredible, and an evolution, a spiritual successor to a Dreamcast game, Metropolis Street Racer, as well. So it did have that, it did have that kind of almost legacy nod. If you remember, the Dreamcast did have uh the Microsoft logo on the front of it, almost as large as the Sega logo. So there was definitely some feeling that the at the death on once the death of Sega had taken place, the natural place for those play people to go was to the Xbox brand, or obviously to PlayStation. So those people have come through, it's been a long journey. So I think Xbox having some way rewarded the long-term supporter, but at the same token, literally kicked them clean in the balls as well, Seb, if I may be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 54:59

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02: 55:00

Um, and they've had some fumbles along the way. Uh, the latter part of the 360 gen was a big fumble. Um, Xbox One was a famous fumble. Um, oh yeah, for sure. And and to be fair to it, way ahead of its time in terms of wanting to be the one-stop shop box in your living room, which now all the consoles actually aspire to be, if you think about it, with the streaming app support and all that stuff, it it saw the future, it maybe you didn't interpret it in the correct way, but one thing you've always got to say about Xbox is they're 30 years ahead of everybody else because of the way Microsoft is structured. But what they don't realise is that 30 years ahead is so far beyond anyone's sort of idea of what it could be that their implementation of it in the time is a bit woolly. Yeah, I get I get it, but at the same token, bloody hell boys. Um is everything, sadly. Um, and and to be fair, if that console or of a modernised version of that had come out now with the ability to put your TV channels in the back of it, etc., I still think it would have been received like a dead fish, to be fair. But there you go. And gaming console's nothing without games, though, too. I'm like, well, and and and back to that point, you know. So, you know, Games Pass is a great USP, it offered up a really great talking point that literally started to turn heads of competitor owners, I would say. Certainly, hang on a minute. You know, there's there was a lot, especially in that era as well, there's a lot more free cash around. So maybe being an owner of one or two consoles wasn't such a sin, if that makes sense. They're a bit more affordable. Um the Games Pass seems to have sort of I don't know, it it's brought around an idea that everything I think we talked about before we came on air, with the net Netflixation of everything, and you know, it fits right within that wheelhouse of everything, everywhere, all at once. Love that movie. But yeah, you're absolutely right, but everything I was saying, I love that movie, yeah. I didn't realise I'd said it. Um and that's great, but we also talked about me on the PSP clone with the decision paralysis, and I it generates a bit of that. And I don't think we consume games anywhere like we consume TV shows and movies. We can watch a TV show or movie with our significant other. Yes, I gave in my significant other, I'll still others on you know it makes sense, but not every game all of the time, every time. Some games require you to grind, some games require you to do very repetitive things, some games are you know very sub-genre for the individual, like you and I like city builders. But does someone want to watch me put 350 hours into a city? I very much doubt it. How do you got personality? You're right, you're absolutely right. But I think that's a tall order, even for my beloved wife, who's contractually obliged to like me in some way, shape, or form. So I just don't quite get why that's it it works, but it doesn't work. One thing it did do is it kind of forced the other parts of the industry to be pressured into and investigate the idea of doing their own version of it, which to some degrees or not degrees. I've said before, PSN has also been an absolute disaster in terms of its upper library support. It's akin to Games Pass. I don't even know what it's called anymore. Is it Ultimate? I don't even know or care. Um Nintendo Online, they keep it simple, sure. It's very affordable, it's a good price, but again, as we talked about, you you you you bloody want to be a good price because I've bought all these games with hard cash on previous consoles that I can't get access to. And I'm not about to turn you already bought those games 20 times. I'm not about to turn my Wii on to play whatever. So if that's dead money at$2.99 there, it bloody better be free here if you're charging me XYZ a month for it. I'm willing to work with you a little bit, Ninty, but come on, I want to see more games coming out quicker, and I want to see more of the catalogue I expect to see. Like, where's Donkey Kong Country? Where's Donkey Kong 64?

SPEAKER_00: 59:39

Still to this day. Here's my thing is like when Nintendo, I think Nintendo it has a really cool model, but I think like it executions everything with these sort of things. Like, yeah, I one of the things I dislike about the um Nintendo Shop Online is like they roll out all these games. Um, some of them, a lot of them. nobody wants to play to begin with because they're old as dirt and even in their heyday you know they had a very niche audience but like the the ones that I think people do want to play like and are legitimately older in their catalogs they don't put out you know like I want I would love to see switch one switch one games that weren't necessarily the biggest games in the world like let's say arms I think arms would be perfect just throw it on that service at this point it it's twin it's like that's a good point actually they ought to get a little nine years old at this point you know like throw it on there they could get a bit more free and easy with those games I do agree and there's some sort of relics of the Wii and Wii U that are kind of just left there and you gotta wonder now are they ever going to bother I think probably not but it's an easy brownie point to put a switch one Wii U Wii I mean with the Wii is going to be difficult because you're gonna need the joy console heck they can do it right they can do it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:01:06

I mean they do it already I'm like you just they're port like I think the Wii U um prime example like Wii U a lot of people are reminiscing and saying like that console had like actually a bomber uh like a bomb portfolio because like the Wii U all those games got ported over to Switch you know we in the early days of the show we did an episode might have been in a courtroom you know what we're like so where we actually put the Wii as Switch on trial as the murderer of the Wii U and we used all the games as the exhibits and it and it was true then it's true now it's even more true now the the Switch Nintendo are lucky that the Wii U went under the radar so hard because it made it look like they just had banger after banger after banger for the Switch unfortunately if you'd been in the ecosystem and a loyal Wii U owner you were playing a lot of games you'd already played unfortunately yeah for sure uh you'd already played the wheels off Mario Kart you're gonna play it all over again. Depending on when you got your Switch you'd already started your save on Zelda to start it all over again on the Switch one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:16

As for the rest of the platform yeah so I'm like okay so Splatoon one and Splatoon one and two and put those on there you know like put the put like arms and necessarily have to be your biggest bangers after bangers but like I know I know why they don't want to is because they want to have their King Canadian too by re-releasing these things like re-releasing arms dude no they probably not but like they arms is a good example because if you're not going to re-release it throw it on there to begin with but like exactly also like on the Switch I forgot about it actually it's one of OG Tom's favorite Switch games believe it or not oh wow um I know I know I know I know but like okay so like Captain Toad for instance I don't think that has a super huge audience in 2025 and you released like that game probably like four years ago now like okay the game sold all of that it's going to sell at this point throw it on there you know what I mean like I I personally think they could do uh they could they could definitely get away with charging an extra five to ten pounds a year right here and give you a switch game a month either do a deal with a third party or a double a triple a whatever it is andor have some of your own content like arms boom next week it's the Assassin's Creed double pack three and uh four and rogue or whatever it is the month after it's something else it'd be easy or even if you wanted this to be a pure goodwill thing do it on your own portfolio like your own portfolio like some of your old games that because Nintendo put pushes out a lot of games like I give them credit for that but they push already got a lot of those deep in their online service so they're already there some of them some of them are but then I'm like some of the OG Switch 1 games like I think would have been perfect to just throw on there as a natural like buffer to that service because I think that service is a little lacking in its first part of the portfolio like Pokemon Sword a sword and shield for example you're not like that sold all it's going to at this point you don't necessarily have that's a solid point actually imagine in March 2026 getting that yeah for sure you get or only getting sword yeah so then you might see a bump in sales on shield exactly exactly so I'm like you can have your kink and eat it too is what I'm saying. It's like you can have goodwill nature uh like moments but then you could also like do this for like goodwill equals like good financial stability in the long run as well so I'm like Nintendo doesn't need to do this by the way because Nintendo's selling like gangbusters by being like the penny pinch and Scrooge McDuck companies that they are but like they they are but I'll be honest with you it's the hottest place to be right now. Yeah for sure for sure even though I think like PS5 outsold the Switch this this past month.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:23

But but we're Christmas is coming mate that's a man switch to get the absolute wheels blown off at Christmas time. My goodness gracious me that's gonna be the best selling thing at Christmas that's gonna be Optimus Prime.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:40

I have no doubt but like um Tracy Island baby I have no doubt but no like um so I it's curious though I think like um when we're talking about when we're talking about like this like the subscription services as a whole what values they bring and such like that. Well Xbox I think brought good value initially at the price point they're at but at the price point they they started at at the beginning at the start I think at the start it was an absolute weapon and over that time they disassembled the weapon in front of everybody and laid its component parts out and I do believe they kind of killed it itself. Yeah for sure I think like and here's I think here's some of the the quid pro quo things of like I think like both of us are right in the sense that I don't think Xbox Game Pass was a bad idea. I think Xbox management was the thing that killed it more than the idea itself in the sense that I think like every step they made and I feel like every step they've been making so far I think the management part.

SPEAKER_02: 1:06:48

Yeah that's I was gonna say that you I honestly if someone could have written a business plan to deconstruct the Xbox brand in terms of how its loyal supporters think about it and people might be attracted to the brand you couldn't have written a business plan that could have done it in a better way how how do they I don't know how they keep getting away with it I mean I'm sore and I'm on the periphery if I was all deep in it and only had an Xbox I'd be bruised right now.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:18

I'd be bruised it's it's one of those weird things to where I'm like I I feel so sorry for people who are just Xbox only century yeah that's what I'm saying they must feel so sore mate so sore because they're getting they're absolutely getting dog walked over there but like it is it's weird because like I we mentioned PSN earlier I don't think PSCN is the greatest subscription either even though they do give you a I'm gonna say this now bar the three free great games a month level it's an absolute dog's breakfast.

SPEAKER_02: 1:07:56

The only thing that continues to make me do it is that I bought it a long time ago on a deal and then the portal came along and it's kind of gave me a little window of use of the some of the games they let you play on the play where you want library. If I didn't have the portal or wasn't traveling with the portal and I soon won't be I see no reason whatsoever to continue with that absolute diabolical mess.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08:26

And I think it's also like for the gamers out there who also are constantly online like I think you and I are in a different we have a different gaming appetite to where I'm like PS plus um doesn't quite have like the same breach on us that it does on a lot of people because a lot of us are playing like single player specific games that we're not constantly online for like you and I aren't in the throes of Call of Duty all the time or like just yeah so I'm like or you know I might single player games that PlayStation have got I've completed two times over ages ago and I've gone through and tried to find the odd hidden gem here and there that there's none so I'm like and I mean that in a nice way I've had a lot of I've had a good fill from the games that are on that on that system and I can imagine why people would be attracted to it if they'd never played them before much like Xbox if you've never had an Xbox you turn up and you get games pass free with a console for three months well why wouldn't you continue that payment why wouldn't you think this is the best thing ever you would do to new users these things are absolutely essential sort of entry gateway drugs to the console. They're perfect for that but if you've been in the ecosystem they are they're almost repellent because it's just the same dirt you've already used it's and it's one of the interesting things about like what we're saying about like the ecosystem of of Xbox right now it's like Xbox right now has been so they've gone from one end of the spectrum to another to where like I would argue I would have argued to the death of me like last I would say 14 months ago that they were the most consumer friendly out of the big three major console markets. Yeah because it was like they were so heavily Xbox Game Pass was a lot more cheaper a lot cheaper than what it what what it is now. I think like the the fact that you didn't have to rebuy your controllers over and over and over again the fact that like the uh the go anywhere parts of it to where like a lot of the cloud integration stuff was absolutely dirt cheap free and then like the fact that the portfolio of games that from your old library just swoop carried over and you didn't have to worry about anything like you do with Nintendo and such like that. It was just banger after banger of good wheel decisions it's just in that 14 months it just went to the complete opposite though like yeah Xbox Game Pass is way more expensive than it has any right to be for the value that it's offering um I the controller stuff is still there the backwards compatibility stuff is still there but your consoles your consoles are more expensive than they ever have any right to be there are depreciating assets by nature and now they're stupidly expensive. You're making it harder to develop games for you because you have two um two skewed system franchise like setups between like the Series S and the Series X. You're kind of making it harder for the dev kips to get out there for indie devs and smaller dev teams to get their hands on it. So I'm like everything about this is anti-consumer profess to be the home of the indies as well Games Pass mate yeah I mean Nintendo's kind of taken over a lot of that with they really have yeah with the Indies but yeah it's it's crazy because I'm like I think I'm a you know like I just this is why I wanted to have this conversation with you by the way because like where you're currently at is in the in what your like appetite for the industry is and you're like the way like you've been disenfranchised by a lot of things that have been going on is where I've been at current is what kind of led me to a lot playing a lot more on PC lately and it's like it's seeing the conversations that we're having of like PC on PC side of events and this isn't me trying to convince you to go over for for one of the things this is me but like this is more of a therapeutic conversation this is more of a therapeutic conversation of why I say that take it strike it out the PC is like the precious that I'm like go all over God join us join us but it's mine mine but um no it is it's a weird thing to where like it on PC everything has felt more it's more a la carte in a way that I it's the experience is what I want it to be in a way like like I feel like in a lot of ways PlayStation has forced my hand on what I want PlayStation to be and they haven't delivered on a lot of that this generation to where like they went so heavily into like games as a service that I that the first party lineup isn't quite as as like scrumptious as I like my appetite with their portfolio of games to be like they instead of all the like bombs that they did with destiny with um with Uncharted with God of War now with the new news story that they were trying to make a God of war live service game like why um why would you do that and then you know with um what was the big Concorde and all that kind of stuff I'm like all those assets could have been given to me to make a uncharted sequel like a legit uncharted sequel I'm not even a days gone fan I would have taken days gone to over a lot of these things oh like honestly for all the good Concorde did if that money had just been frisked away on a Days Gone light sequel using the one engine set in exactly the same map it would have done more numbers than Concorde yes exactly so I'm like just give me something give me something like give me more of the appetite that I want for my video games and then that's like I want Sony to be like the big port first party portfolio studio that put out like great single mate the way they wheel Deacons sent John around even to this day is actually getting on for a disgrace man and then like on the single player games though I did get like you leaned heavily uh like you leaned heavily into the Souls games uh in a lot of the ways and then you look like then you Kojima'd the hell out of it and I'm like I I'm okay with Kojima like I only played two Kajima games in my life so like I've I have very little like feedback into that but then I'm like I got Defstranding which I get people like Defstranding and then I got like um Dark Souls and I'm like man I wish I would have gotten like something else something else of that nature but like you get my point PlayStation didn't deliver what I what I wanted personally at the PS5 lineup. I don't think they've delivered what anybody wants in the PS5 lineup which is and I know I'm being hard on them because I do think like genuinely believe like there's been some bangers this year this like generation in PlayStation like I liked God of War Ragnarok I like God of War I like Spider-Man I liked uh I like the horizon games like I'm I'm probably alone in the Yeah I'll be honest with you if there has been some good games but yeah what dampened them a little bit was their availability on other platforms on PS4 as a it didn't feel special no and and I think that robbed it of its I played the original horizon on PS4 and and loved it and if I'd never seen it again until the sequel came out on PS5 and I got to play it exclusively on PS5 I would have thought that'd be a good thing.

SPEAKER_02: 1:16:36

They had a massive installed user base I kind of get why and there was all the COVID goodwill drivel going on about what people can't upgrade. Oh okay then we'll just downgrade this game and make it available everywhere shall we and the mate over there who's just spent 500 bucks on his brand new console probably probably scratching his head and wondering if you should have kept his pro.

SPEAKER_00: 1:16:59

You want your console that you upgraded for to feel special. You want to validate your purchase you know like as far in as far into the lifespan as Gran Turismo and Horizon were you absolutely do yeah and exclusivity for all the people who say like oh exclusivity is a bad thing we want everyone to play all the games well I'm like exclusivity is what kind of makes the world go round like a lot of people buy you know tickets to or tickets to concerts they want to be as close as possible not it's not first come first serve and you you buy cars luxury cars at that because you like the exclusivity features that that car has to offer you buy like exactly you go to the airport and you buy like and you go to your exclusive lounges and such like that. So I'm like when you buy premium items and video games right now and video game consoles have always been a more premium item yes then you want your item that you bought to feel premium and exclusivity with the games comes with that territory.

SPEAKER_02: 1:18:01

Yeah I think aesthetically with the PS5 you get that feeling I think when the well I think when the console launched and we get off the game spa subject here but I think it's all relevant it's all relevant um when PS5 launched the UI was new and it felt fresh Xbox carried their UI over uh admittedly it's a good UI but it felt old obviously for that reason PS5 UI now it's a clumsy old girl isn't it but it's still it's still exclusive to your PS5 it's exclusive to your PS5 so that's part that at the time especially that's part that that's something that they nailed I think when the PS5 launched I think that they did their best to give us some premium experiences. I think Astrobot being included on the console was a premium move and I think it was it launched I was already a fan of Astrobot but I really feel like it kickstarted his career where Deacon sent John dropped Astrobot got picked up didn't he um and and you know that's the way the cookie crumbles for your mascots um and I think maybe when Ratchet and Clank came out that kind of felt premium as well it was within the launch window it was exclusive it did look sexy as hell but it it was ratchet and clank. After that I knew what you're getting at that point but we bring all this to say is like uh I brought up exclusivities and all that and like the PlayStation markup and PlayStation things to say like you know like the reason why I went to why I'm leaning closer and closer and being PC g PC guy and is and bring this back to the subscription model there is no PC subscriptions as far as like well to summarize that let's just say that they're kind of this far into their console lifespan looking at PlayStation Xbox exclusively their report cards are not great they're just getting by Xbox is on special measures and PlayStation isn't far off in terms of sort of goodwill I would say um that leaves Ninty kind of looking fresh but they're just doing their own thing and rowing their own boat um and there you go so it's one of those things to where I'm like I think what's interesting about this whole conversation um though is like with um with like play with like PC and the reason why I was just like the you do have a subscriptions available for PC but they're also like add-ons to anything that you want you're putting you're not pay for online in in PC games it just comes natural. Well to stick it back on the report card I hate to say it but PC and the Steam Deck allies there's a term for you yeah for sure the allies Steam Deck allies they are getting a favorable report card at the moment and to be fair they're performing on every metric there is still and I get what you're saying what you said earlier about the little PC in the pocket being very affordable. You need something a hell of a lot more powerful than that to get these games running these days. So you're gonna need a Steam Deck, a ROG alloy, whatever the fuck else uh yeah we swear now whatever the hell else whatever the hell else that they make yeah there is still a barrier to entry that's what I would say what to people would feel a bit of a leap of faith in terms of we called them nostalgias before I called myself an antique off air maybe on air I don't know at this point. Um that's the traditionalist mindset that goes with PC just any PC gaming well you're taking you taking a leap but at the same token it's kind of a a price that's kind of prohibited from letting you take that sort of ballsy leap if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:08

Yeah for sure for sure and I think like uh so I think one of the things I think Steam has done really well is like as every other console every other console manufacturer has been like raising prices they've been lowering the price of their base model and then also going deep sales so like it makes those to where like I I know over here you can find like a Steam Deck for around that two two one two TN to 250 marker. Really? And this is like yeah so I think like that's to me I think that's a lot less scary but I think 250 dollars but it to jump into the PC ecosystem I think it's but wait what's the Lord Vader Steam Deck?

SPEAKER_02: 1:22:49

How much does that cost?

SPEAKER_00: 1:22:51

I think the highest end Steam Deck would be like 550 if I remember service me correctly but it's always on sale for like 110 off so that's around that 440 430 marker who sent you here the devil or someone else no no you know but like we were mentioning subscription services with with PCs and such like that to bring that back to that point it's like you are a very naughty boy. So if you wanted if you wanted to say like I will I want the Steam Deck but I feel like it is old and archaic there is um GeoForce now one of the the best things I think is like one of the best things about GeoForce now is like GeoForce now you can get the you can get the free version and the free version allows you to play any games that you already own on PC which by the way dirt cheap games so I'm like are and they also give games out for free. So I'm like on that side of the fence any games that you verified already own you can like stream it uh to the geoforce now server and you can play that on the free version I think it's like the 1080 version of that game and you can play for like two hours and go about your business which for a lot of adults two hour session really good session you know like yeah but then like on the paid versions of that plan you can play the ultra version of Cyberpunk for instance play cyberpunk on ultra on your Steam Deck on your TV and it is like playing on a high end higher end PC.

SPEAKER_02: 1:24:22

You get what I mean is it streamed though just for clarification it is it that one would be streamed because you're streaming it from their servers but like this if you have good internet I live in bumble hicks hells nowhere so I can't imagine that good for you yeah I I'm gonna be playing basically but you have a blogger right yeah but there's some witchcraft going on there it's in the house or it's one mile away I I'm not and and when I do do the library of those games I'm normally at Rachel's she's got super fast internet it's not that far away but my internet is is is garbage.

SPEAKER_00: 1:25:02

But at that point you have access to super fast internet's what I'm saying is like if you were to try this out I think like your mind would be blown that you're playing like I think what's a game that you what's a George game that you would play that would be more of the high end market because Anno I feel like can run on a base PS5 and look great. Um flight simulator or flight sim looks great on GeoForce now yeah but I think Flight Simulator Oh that would mow farming simulator down because my my yeah I think flight simul like farming simulator it would look great and it would just be 4K high res all the all the little boost and upgrades plus the mods but I was trying to think of something that would actually be like a showstopper though Star Wars Outlaws for instance like you playing you played that on PS5 right? Yeah on the Pro. So you pay that on PS5 Pro that's already 4K 60 but I think like it's hard to quantify to your eyes how big that jump would be to playing on PC Ultra versus playing on PS5 ultra oh I s I see I would the thing is I want a native experience I don't want to rely on streaming.

SPEAKER_02: 1:26:20

I know your point with the portal but it's different to me. That's like that's like a little bit of a bonus this a little bit of a bonus a little bit of a Brucey bonus yeah the um if I went PC I'd want it native so I'd have to get the full singing or dancing Steam Deck like the absolute beast the Lord the Lord Vader and then have the dock and then have the would I need oh god I'm sat there thing is though right and I know you're gonna say oh no no no no it's not like that it's gonna be like this okay if I get access to a Steam Deck I'm I'm more than likely gonna use it to revisit PC games from the late 80s early 90s and then going to end up with a keyboard a Bluetooth keyboard on my lap you don't have to no this is what this is what will happen. Okay gotcha and a mouse on the right hand side on the couch screwing around doing whatever it is you do with a mouse it's not a good look whatever it is you do with a mouse yeah it's not a good look you know you have a mouse natively built into that thing right no it's docked uh okay or if it's not tell me I want the big screen baby okay so I'm like if you I have I have a doctor I am I'm like I am not willing for my PC experience to be a cupboard under the stairs. I don't want that for me. You don't want to be Harry Potter? No I don't want to be a Harry Potter PC gamer kind of shoved up against a metal grid with a couple of controllers hanging off of it while I'm smashed up against a 19 inch monitor with a PC blaring beneath my legs making my genitals warm.

SPEAKER_00: 1:28:04

I don't want that I want to sit on the no I no I don't I want to be cold I want to be a little bit shivery I want okay catch it I want the big screen experience I want the fire on I want the surround sound okay that's what I want and I don't think PC gaming can give me that I think you're wrong um so because a lot of people are playing PC gaming like that you know like they're the towers aren't necessarily like the big towers that you think of anymore a lot of them are small nimble throw them behind the TV and forget about them it's devices now and then like on the other side of the fence like a lot of PC has controller capabilities with every controller now. Like if it's a Bluetooth enabled controller it has it. So I'm like you can play on your PS5 your PS your Xbox um your switch pro whatever you feel like playing and then it's like your library of games besides the quote unquote switch exclusive games it's just there like everything you can think of and then you're playing all you're playing a console experience just on your PC the only the only difference is it's like the only difference is is like the Switch UI is a little different. But once you get over that you're fine it's the same you it's like it's like your mind whenever you go from like the PC I mean the Xbox UI to like the PS5 UI So basically you've used this episode to convince me to finish now go buy Steam Deck OLED. I think if you buy Steam Deck OLED I think you your expectation should be like I think I need to know what games you're playing before I tell you go buy a Steam Deck OLED. You know what I mean? Like I don't know what games I'm playing and the I don't know I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:00

Though. What am I missing?

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:03

That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:04

I'm like, it's the little mousey mouse games, isn't it? It's the games like Hano, and it's the games like that that I miss out on, probably on PC. There's probably loads of little city builders, there's probably loads of little little big workshops. There's probably loads of like little things like I get on to them, by the way. I want a sequel to Little Big Workshop. I think for you, I want it now.

SPEAKER_00: 1:30:28

I think for you, what you'd be missing or what you'd be experiencing is like I think like a lot of the hot games that are the ones that you like in your wheelhouse, I think you'd be able to play them early. Yeah, you'll get to play them when they actually come out personally.

SPEAKER_02: 1:30:47

Quite often there'd be some PC games there that were hot tickets to me that maybe eventually came to PS5 or PS4 or whatever it was. But by the time they got there, the candle had burned well out on them.

SPEAKER_00: 1:31:00

Because for you, like right now, like you have access to Hades 2 because you have a Switch 2. But if you're um if you weren't a Switch 2 gamer, like Hades 2 would only be accessible to you like through PC right now. Yeah. You know what I mean? Or like the Gurrent game that we talked about, dispatch, it's only exclusive right now to PS5. It's a PlayStation 5 exclusive, you know, temporarily, but it's also PC exclusive because it comes day in date on PC.

SPEAKER_02: 1:31:28

Oh, hang on a minute. No, I'm confused. You're confused me. What's up? So if I want dispatch to stay where I am.

SPEAKER_00: 1:31:36

Yeah, for sure. But that's not that's not the case. But the through line there is like every like Hayes 2 limited time console exclusive to to switch to. Um dispatch limited time console exclusive to P like to PlayStation 5. The through line, both of those games are on PC. And like both of those games day and day on PC. Half-Life Alex, I think is a game you you would probably really enjoy. The Half-Life series and such like that. Um Yeah, but then I need a VR for oh could use my PS VR. You have a VR, you have a VR. You gotta buy the adapter from Sony. You get some use out of your VR, but then like then you have like games like um your simulator games, like a lot of those simulator games, day one PCs, like um movie theater sim simulator, um R V. The R V simulator that people are talking about. Like that looks good, probably it is so fun, and I'm not you know me, I'm more of a single player gamer, but like it is so fun. Um and it's absolutely blowing up the world for some for some odd reason.

SPEAKER_02: 1:32:47

Like, it's just the indie that just like some of these indie are very streamable, but not that great to not that great to play. They allow someone to be able to play a character, and I think those games stream incredibly well.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:02

Yeah, that's why they call it role-playing, right? Exactly. Yeah, so I'm like, you get to play all these role um like role-playing experiences, uh, especially on simulators like that. You're a simulator is nothing but a role-playing experience. So I'm like, you get to have these really cool role-playing experiences, and then have your cake and eat it too by playing some of the bigger boys or bigger girls out there that you want to actually like dive into, like Expedition 33. But then, like, but then I'm walled off from the Sony exclusives. No, no, man. You're not, you got um I've got a white. No, I have to wait though. But you're you have a PlayStation 5, you're not walled off. You just play those whenever you want.

SPEAKER_02: 1:33:44

Like, oh, right. So I keep everything else and I find more room behind my TV for another console.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33:51

You've already did that with a PlayStation VR too and a switch to. You need to get rid of your OG Switch.

SPEAKER_02: 1:33:58

Yeah, but I might have to get rid of one of those to get a Steam Deck in there or a gaming PC.

SPEAKER_00: 1:34:05

Which hand? Oh, it's a handheld.

SPEAKER_02: 1:34:07

You just um buy a buy a it's not just a handheld though, is it? It's one of the most obnoxious looking bricks you've ever seen in your life. It's nice. It is nice, but then like for you Dude, it's it's aesthetically, it's more an Atari Lynx than anything else.

SPEAKER_00: 1:34:25

Man, I get that, but like for you, uh for you, it's like uh on the VR front, like on the you asked about the PlayStation. Could I plug my VR into the Steam Deck? Your VR into the Steam Deck? I've never tried. I don't know the answer to that one legitimately, because I've never tried. Hmm. I'll have to get back to you on the next time we record together.

SPEAKER_02: 1:34:48

That would because dude, that would need that would need some C colon backslash going on. There's no way I'm jamming the VR2 up the back end of the Steam Deck and it's going, oh, I'm okay with this. Yeah, no worries. It's gonna be searching for drivers, it's gonna be off on the yin-yang collecting this, it's gonna tell me it's not compatible, it's gonna be You'd be surprised how quickly like Steam Steam does a lot of the back work of like the drivers and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:16

You don't never normally have to like because like plugging in a Xbox controller or PlayStation controller is like seamless, and then like a it reads like a hard drive that you plug into like the the dock seamlessly. And like, because for me, like I have a um I have a micro US USB plugged into it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:35:36

I have a hard SSD that I talk me through your setup because I want this to be like the confessions of a Steam Deck user. I want to know what I want to know what Steam Deck you got.

SPEAKER_00: 1:35:47

Hold on really quick. Right one second. Field in time, it'll be like 20 seconds.

SPEAKER_02: 1:35:52

Okay, I want to know what Steam Deck you've got. I want to know what it looks like, I want to know about the docking situation. I need to know about the the visuals. Uh am I gonna am I gonna notice a difference between a Steam Deck? So, okay, questions. Okay. Is this the dock? This is the dock. Okay, this is one dock. Yeah, this is the document. Let me describe this. This looks like a just like a small dock. It's about the same size as uh biscuit's front paw. Uh it's is that genuine or is that like some sort of third-party Steam Deck?

SPEAKER_00: 1:36:32

This is a third party. The the first party Steam Deck dock is a little bigger. I would say it's a little more switch one like, but except without the front, um, except without the front grille, I would say that like you have to like like put the thing in, put the switch in like exactly right. Yeah. So like this one is a little um a little different. It comes with um USB, uh, like two USB Cs, um, like 3.0 ports in the back. It comes with um or USB 3 3.0 ports in the back. And then like so you can charge up super quickly. Um, it has um USB 3s, it has about three of those, two on one side, one on the other. And then from there, you can plug in your anything you really want. Um, from your hard drives, your SSDs, your you can plug plug in your like, let's say you had an adapter that is a SIM card, uh, not SIM card, but um SD card adapter. You can plug that into it. You just basically put the Steam Deck like right here, it sits right there, and then if you wanted to plug in like a wireless mouse and keyboard, it's right there as well. And it takes up like you see how big it is, it takes up no room in front of your little setup.

SPEAKER_02: 1:37:53

So I plug this in. Okay. To my TV. Yeah. This is your setup, you've got it plugged into your you could I don't know if you do, but you could have it plugged into your TV.

SPEAKER_00: 1:38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:38:05

You you come in, you dock your Steam Deck in it, you pick up your Steam controller, because you know, I'm gonna keep it on brand, because that's the sort of cat I am. So I picked up my£80 Steam Deck.

SPEAKER_00: 1:38:15

This is an unofficial controller podcast, but he wants to keep it on brand.

SPEAKER_02: 1:38:23

You get the RD there? Oh, absolutely. I'm I'm a walking, uh, I'm a walking contradiction, to be fair. So then I've sat down with my official steam controller, and I'm I'm on there, I'm browsing through the menu. I want to I wake up and suddenly decide I want to play, I don't know. Twinson's Little Big Adventure. Actually, that that got remade, so that'll be easy to find. Oh, that's a real thing. Yeah, hell yeah. Okay, how far back in time does Steam go? Um, what's the name of the game? Twinson? Yeah, that'll be on there because it got remade. But you know, generally, how older games can you find on Steam where that you can play on the Steam Deck no bother? Or are there only games that are specialized for the Steam Deck and they're the ones you get access to with the Steam Deck, or without being too specialist, or can you then therefore run kind of any PC game from any era on the Steam Deck?

SPEAKER_00: 1:39:23

The older the game, it's almost the better because it can run pretty much anything that's old as dirt, because this is like anything that's from But how do you how would you get to running say a game that you an old game?

SPEAKER_02: 1:39:36

How far back in time does Steam go? Is it just to 2000 or have they got games on there from the 1990s? Could I go on there and play a 16-bit Mortal Kombat?

SPEAKER_00: 1:39:50

Um, MK. Well, you can I know you can play M MK because they have collections, but um um let's see. Mortal Kombat, yeah, you can play the retro Mortal Kombat games, it looks like. And then for how do y'all say it? Three quid. Yeah, y'all say three quid? Yeah, so I'm like you can play them retro mortal combat games, you can play Tetris. Um I'm trying to find I don't know how to put old ass games into the search. Retro. Normally you search retro. That's a good that's a good little marker. Um Pixel Pixel and Retro. Um so they have retro, yeah, they have tons of retro games you can do, but like you can also they have a Steam, they do have a Steam verified list that is like for this is like this is the grade I'll give this game. So like they a lot of the games because a lot of the the catalog will be playable on Steam, uh like on the Steam Deck, they give it like a grade. Like this will get a gold grade, um, which means like it's pretty great playable. The the like but on the handheld experience, this like the text might be a little small for the device. It's still readable, a little small. So that gets a gold grade. They have a platinum grade that's above it, which means like the perfect experience you can possibly imagine is what pretty much platinum means. They have silver below that, and so on and so forth. But like type in Horizon, no, type in Last of Us Part 2 and tell me what grade that gets. Last of Us Part 2. I don't think that did very well. I don't think that port in general was very well by PlayStation on Steam, was it? No, but what grade did Steam give it for compatibility? It is verified with gold. Though the gold marker being the in-game interface text is legible on Steam Deck, but a bit small. So it's gold. But it says like Steam Deck compatick compatibility, all functionality is accessible. Um, this game shows um Steam Deck control icons. This game's default graphics um configuration performs extremely well on Steam Deck. So gold. Hmm. Interesting. So like you let me.

SPEAKER_02: 1:42:12

So what I've learned today is through a conversation about subscription services, you managed to corner me in a room and basically made it for$21. Basically make me wow, basically make me order a Steam Deck on Amazon now, or you'll kill me. I don't want you to. I thought, I thought, I thought no. I thought you'd left the compound. I thought you'd left all this kind of like mental chicanery behind. I didn't realize you'd stepped up as one of Pasta's lieutenants.

SPEAKER_00: 1:42:44

Here, here's my thing, though. It's like I don't want you to buy a Steam Deck because I pressured you. I want you to buy a Steam Deck if you feel like you want a just intro to PC gaming, and that you feel like that you want to see what PC gaming is like in this day.

SPEAKER_02: 1:43:02

I'll be honest, but you don't want I'll be honest, a little bit like uh a little bit like a bottom wiping experience gone wrong. I've been circling around the idea of a Steam Deck for quite some time. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00: 1:43:17

Wow, oh wow, wow, so here's where we've gotten. I have worn them down, people.

SPEAKER_02: 1:43:25

We've worn them down. I have been circling around the idea for some time. Now, when I got the switch too, I I can't remember who put it to me, it might have been you. Why did you do that? Because you could have got you could have got Steam Deck for that money, and it's like, well, yeah, I could, but I want the switch too. Cartridges at all. I know where I'm at, I know I'll get my Nintet exclusives on there, I'm happy. But and I love the Switch, it's so compact, it's it's almost cheeky how thin it is. Um yeah, it's not a cyberpunk on a yeah, it's but it's good and like I see the Steam Deck, and I what I like about the Steam Deck, the thing that makes me circle back to it and keep sort of raising the thoughts about it or PC gaming in general is the flexibility and and the way that maybe technology has come forward enough where I don't need to be doing the C colon backslash. Now that interests me. That interests me. It does. Which which part interests you how the depth of the catalogue is the starter, the lack of uh seeming refri the lack of res restriction, but I think that that would come with a level of friction there. There would be some friction where I'm trying to get an old game working on a Steam Deck and I can't, and then it all gets a bit it all gets very PC from 1996, if I'm honest with you. And that's the experience that scares me.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45:00

You're on a computer like every day, though. I think you're more computer savvy than you give yourself credit for.

SPEAKER_02: 1:45:05

If you could see how badly I wheeled round on Excel as an example, uh you would be shocked.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45:13

I think actually, no, I think you'd be appalled. Okay. So this to me is like I think it's right along the side, like right along the lines of like it's as friendly as you want it to be, and it can be as in-depth as you want it to be. Like, if you want just a streamlined experience, the Steam Deck, like native Steam Deck without you having to go into the thing is like as friendly as you could want it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:45:43

Yeah, but you know, you know I'm trying, I'm gonna try and get the spatial simulator for the Atari ST from like 1989-99 running on there. You know I'm gonna try that.

SPEAKER_00: 1:45:55

Then if it's that's on you, then if you want to actually do retro, uh like if you want to add your retro catalog to it, which is like really it's that's on you, and it's like if you have two hours, and this is why I say two hours, you can get every game possible from 1990, I would probably say 1985 to now, like to now being like now retro games going, and I think like you would just be in just slop heaven, like a pig, like a pig on slop, just eating all these retro games you can only imagine, like and I think like the UI is customizable in the way that I'm telling you, like in in the way that you're probably going to go about it, like is so like customizable and is so like really cool, and it's so satisfying because you like, oh I customized this and I made this more like PS3 because I want I wanted the PS3 presentation, and I made like all this, but I'm it's the PS PS3 presentation, but it's like the Switch, like the Switch games outlines on it, and it's like and but it I also wanted to bring in the description, so I did this and I made this little extra step and brought in the descriptions. Oh, but I also want to see what its metacritic score is like, so I brought in this data and like two hours of little tinkering like that, and you get the like most perfect experience imaginable, but then like it's all on you, and it's legitimately all on you if you really want to do that. Because like if you don't want to do any of that, if all that sounds like, oh, I'm actually going into the because like it gives you a it gives you the big big Steam mode, which is the regular screen, which is I would probably say the most switch-like experience possible. It's just the regular overlay screen. You go into your game, you play your game, you go, you go about your business. Then it gives you desktop mode. You go into desktop mode, that's where you can go into the back end and bring in, but then it's like a Linux computer and it's like Linux Windows to where you bring in your files and you can say, like, oh well, I downloaded allegedly the NES um Super Nintendo, like the um Genesis library. I just want all my all these games, all 1300 of these games on here. I brought those over, you bring those over, and then there's a little thing. Um, one launcher, you just basically say, Hey, I brought this, I want this launcher to basically read all of my games on this SD card. And the launcher says, Okay, I register all those games on the SD card, I'll go ahead and sort them for you. I'll go ahead and um bring that up to where like I I can tell you what platform those are, I can even tell you runtime and all that kind of stuff, and it just does everything for you. And your only thing is like I had to drag I had to drag those games to a folder. Does that make sense? Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 1:48:57

That's possibly the most tempting thing. It's it is but um you could have told me uh in fact that's the worst thing you could have told me about the Steam Deck, if I'm being honest with you.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49:14

That's what like for you, that's why I asked, like, I asked the question when whenever we like deviated from our other conversation to this, it's like, what games do you want to play? Because I'm like, if you want to play retro machine, I think I think at that point, if this can be a retro box.

SPEAKER_02: 1:49:30

If and when I get a Steam Deck, it would literally just contain my whole library plus some of those sort of pyramid titles that I've never been able to afford.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49:44

Oh, gotcha.

SPEAKER_02: 1:49:45

So then I've got everything I've got and everything I ever wanted up and to a point where I can just play it in one place in one go. It feels dirty though, mate.

SPEAKER_00: 1:49:58

It it it is, but what I'm saying is like I'm gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02: 1:50:03

I think my problem with that would be that it would cheapen the experience to where it'd be almost a bit too throwaway.

SPEAKER_00: 1:50:11

Oh, because you didn't work hard to to get grabbed authentic experience? Yeah, kind of. It's I get that. I mean, but that's on that's your mindset, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 1:50:22

Like, for me, like I would probably say like I for a lot of people it would be a great it would be a great toy, it would be a great distraction, it would be a great tinkering box, it would be a great experimental machine, it would be a great little indie darling, it would be a great sort of as you say, the sim games, the city builders.

SPEAKER_00: 1:50:44

Uh yeah. If you know what you want for and from it, like it can deliver what you want. It's like, but I don't think I think for one, you have to have a idea mindset. So, like, of what you want, what you wanted to deliver. Like, for you, there's a game called iRacing that I think would be perfect for you. It's a motorsport um simulator. I've heard a lot about this, yeah. So I'm like, motorspulator, you can be as it's very interactive, it's very hands-on, it's very VR. I could have my wheel involved, I can have my VR on. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 1:51:21

So I'm like, for you, I think like Steam Deck though, not gonna be literally melting its plastic casing off doing all this. Don't they run hot doing you know, I'm I'm making it do it depends on what it is.

SPEAKER_00: 1:51:33

Like, you're playing iRacing, which is like a game that was that is still played by a lot of people that came out in 2015. It can run a 2015 game just like a Switch can run a 2015 game. You know what I mean? Yes, I understand. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm like, it depends on what you're doing. If you're playing, I would say I my Steam Deck can play Horizon Zero uh Horizon Zero DOM. It's not gonna look like a PS5 Pro, it can run that thing for like three hours. You know what I mean? Yeah. It depends on what you want.

SPEAKER_02: 1:52:12

I think I think I would want it for a myriad of things. I think I'd want it for sort of the temple PC games.

SPEAKER_00: 1:52:24

I think I'd want it for definitely what is tempole PR PC games for you?

SPEAKER_02: 1:52:29

Oh for you though.

SPEAKER_00: 1:52:31

That's that's the question for me.

SPEAKER_02: 1:52:33

If I could switch farming simulated to PC, I think that would be a big bonus to me. I think I'll get more I'll get more functionality from the mods. You don't get them all on on um on PlayStation. I think I think the game also comes day and day, too. Yeah, of course it does. Um and and maybe more functionality for the peripherals as well, which would they're kind of nerdy, but it's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00: 1:52:59

Um, I think that the more act is 25 the latest simulator, like farming simulator, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:53:06

The quicker quicker access with actually better controls to city builders, i.e. a mouse.

SPEAKER_00: 1:53:12

Um, that's so much fun though. Like playing like CD Skylines 2. Like, I'm not a b I mouse and keyboard was so hard for me to learn. Like, and but I it is really hard for me to like now go back and play CD Skylines without that mouse like being exact to where I want it to be, versus like the controller where I have to like zoom in very zoom in and then press A and then like figure out oh, like do I hold A to like do all that? It's it's so convenient, it really is.

SPEAKER_02: 1:53:46

City skylines on a console will always be this battle between how you want it to look and a compromise on how the controller's working, where you just end up like, Yeah, do you know what? That's just gonna have to be good enough. Uh, there's been a few times where I've just cursed it and just wished for a mouse. Uh because you your city ends up just with like dead end cul de sacks and things. You're like, oh god, why? And then as soon as they start moving in, you don't want to knock it back down again because you feel sorry for these non-people.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54:17

On PC, on Pharma Simulator, like it evidently you can play that with the dual shock, um, the dual shock, the Xbox, the mouse, and keyboard. I don't think switch it doesn't have switch listed, the switch controller listed, but it looks like everything else is here. It works, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 1:54:33

Um, and then as I said before, I would then use it to be the repository of everything else, and I mean everything else. And from there I would sit down and probably end up with a hell of a lot of um choice paralysis.

SPEAKER_00: 1:54:51

Yeah, I mean, yeah, as one does, but like the cool thing is is like you get so like your library feels like for one, it feels it feels like to me I appreciate my Steam library now more than I do my Xbox library because like Steam has for the most part been very consumer friendly as far as like that goes. And they also like it also like Steam and GOG, GOG especially, because they're um like I don't know if you've heard, but GOG has been trying to um make sure that your license for your game, if you get the game, you if you get the game at any capacity, you permanently have that game. Like it is it is yours, even though it's a digital good.

SPEAKER_03: 1:55:35

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 1:55:36

There's a there's a lot to be said for that. That's yeah, that's one of the things as we I mean this is a different conversation. We must wrap it up and give our subs a shout out and probably but um the transition to a digital world does leave lots of questions about ownership of product. It is only if you get real deep on the terms and conditions of these digital purchases, I do believe you'll find it is only really a lease. Yeah, the game's not yours to keep forever, and there's definitely no guarantee as consoles change and develop that it'll be compatible going forward. PC is probably about the only place where you can guarantee that some form of compatibility will exist. Um to hear someone doubling down on that whole no, you own this, don't quite know how the legality of that works out.

SPEAKER_00: 1:56:30

Um agree with that and add it to their GOG terms of service as well. So I'm like they said it's been an uphill battle with a lot of them.

SPEAKER_02: 1:56:39

I guess it at that point, yeah, it might be an uphill battle with a lot of them. I can understand the friction, but it's really the same as if you'd sold at that point the physical copy. You never get to return that play that pleasure again, and worse than that, that physical copy is often traded six or seven times, ten times over in secondhand stores, GameStop, CX in the UK, etc., where they never get to see that return of the monies again on the second hand purchase. So I think locking you down and saying, Alright, that's your copy, keep it forever. I don't think that's an unfair exchange to the world of the digital ecosystem. Yes, you can't trade it, but you do own it. That value is yours to keep until the end of forever. Um it'll be interesting to see how long GOG would actually support the download of that game through several different ecosystems, etc. Because at what point they they can't make it available, are they then in sort of uh void of contract? It's interesting.

SPEAKER_00: 1:57:40

I'm not sure. It is a lot of legality, legality like based on like what's going on there, but like it is like I'm saying, none I don't want people to think um I think PC is perfect, because I do think like again it comes with its own set of downfalls. I think there's I think in the landscape of where we're at currently with like the way people are kind of being more conscious about like what companies are doing versus um and what they're also presenting as a value composition processing.

SPEAKER_02: 1:58:10

I think PC Yeah, I think the blind ambivalence loyalty of the 90s and early 2000s is very much in question now.

SPEAKER_00: 1:58:20

Yeah, it's it's a rough go right now. Whereas like I think like especially and also making the case is like everybody else is like trying to double dip and also go into the PC landscape. It's like watching you double dip and and go into there as well. You know, like you can still have your kick in each two by being a combo supporter. If I did that, I would have quad dipped.

SPEAKER_02: 1:58:45

I'd have had four fingers three knuckles deep in that pie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:58:52

Because I'm like, for me, that was that is not healthy. The big selling point for me right now is like um I can I can support, I can have this game on my PS5, and I've been a PS5 and a PlayStation guy since day one, or I can have this game for almost 80% off, very close to launch, because it's on multiple storefronts, and I can, you know, as mods come, I can add those mods to it. I can still have some controller support, and I also have it right underneath my TV, so I don't have to feel like I'm stuck uh uh like at my PC. It just that part really made it feel less like a PC and more like a console anyway. So I'm like, it just felt natural for me to more so like feel like I think I'm leaning closer to getting this game on PC versus I'm getting it on my traditional console. How does it feel to you now when you say because you've got a PS5, right?

SPEAKER_02: 1:59:50

Yeah, I have a PS5 Xbox. I have everything but the Switch 2 at this point. Okay. So maybe I should do a sales gimmick on you to get switched too. Good luck. Good work. Um, when you switch to playing on PS5 versus Steam Deck as an as a prime example, what are your takeaways from the PlayStation 5 experience? Do you what what do you sit down and go, oh I'm glad that's here. Oh I'm glad I'm playing this on PlayStation because of this. Oh, I really like that. Oh yeah. What what are those moments for you?

SPEAKER_00: 2:00:24

I love the DualSense controller, it's my favorite controller in games right now. But I the George, I'm gonna be 100% real with you. Like as honest as I possibly can be. I've only played my PS5 one time this year, and it's for Ghost of Yote. Wow. And and it's not because of like I dislike my PS5, it's just like I again the first party lineup has not been Sebastian friendly lately.

SPEAKER_02: 2:00:50

So and I I'll be honest with you, I don't think it's been called PlayStation gamer friendly for some time.

SPEAKER_00: 2:00:56

Yeah, so at that point, at that point, I have I had to ask myself like a genuine question of like, okay, what games do I want to play right now? And when I asked myself that question, it was like, I'm playing these little indie experiences. Oh, I can get that for three dollars on uh three dollars, or I got a code for PC. Let me get that code for PC. It's right there. I can either play it with my Steam Deck or I can stream it from my P like Steam Deck also allows you to stream from your PS5, from your PC and your Xbox, by the way. So I'm like, I so I'm like, okay, I can do that, get that experience there. And then when I go back to my PS5, I do think it is it feels like a grand experience, but the games that I'm playing are also catered to that grand experience. Like most of you.

SPEAKER_02: 2:01:44

Where do you get the where does the grand experience come from? The game, the UI, the feeling of the cost.

SPEAKER_00: 2:01:52

The duel since I can play on PC, so that kind of indicates that, but it's the game. It's like when I'm playing Ghost of Yote, I'm playing a quote unquote play st like Sony PlayStation, like what they say, Sony brand experience, or Sony, what is it? Um PlayStation Sony presents, you know, you know what I'm talking about when you play a PlayStation first party game and it's that, and you see the all the like that nice PlayStation logo, and it has like all the characters in the logo, like it's a Marvel movie now. It does, it feels ult, it feels premium, like it's it feels like it's a premium experience catered towards a premium, like a premium console. Like, so that's why I'm like I the Spider-Man 2s of the world, the like the horizons, the play state, like the Ghosts of Yotes and Ghost of Shoshima's, the god of wars, like I'm now PlayStation in my PS5 has now become my exclusive box, and everything else is like I'm still gonna play my exclusives there, but for everything else, I'm playing if if it's third party, PC or Xbox, because like it's more convenient for me for me personally. It's like and Switch, you know, I don't play that thing at all. Like you, I don't the first parties, and it's not me. This is not me being be kind to it. Yeah, it's not it's not for like touch it gently. Touch it gently. Touch it gently. Okay, I will stroke it. Switch's first party lineup is not Sebastian centric in the sense that I only I for a lot of the games that I want to play, I am not a Mario person, I'm not a Zelda person, even though I tried to be. Like, and I'm just like j just sit down for a minute, prepare yourself for this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:03:38

I I've downloaded Madden on the Switch too.

SPEAKER_00: 2:03:41

Oh, um 2026? Yeah. Oh, what'd you think? I haven't played it yet. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02: 2:03:50

That's probably what I should be playing tonight instead of Vice City stories, but I'm I'm such a sick weirdo. Uh that's the sort of thing I'll do. So I'm gonna let's draw a line under it because yeah, for sure. For sure.

SPEAKER_00: 2:04:00

We've been in the group on long.

SPEAKER_02: 2:04:02

Uh what do you hope to play, George? No, no, no, no, no. Get your Discord up, baby, because we've got a list of wonderful, awesome people to thank for supporting the show. That is absolutely true. Um, I don't know which way this is gonna go. I think I'm gonna go first, which may end up with uh Seb directed Fat Sang Geef at the end. But first of all, I want to say thank you to everyone that's listened. Uh if you're about the rambling episode, everybody. No, I think this is great. This is a part two follow-up. There was no news, and we we talked about a myriad of things that have bothered us. Uh touching points, uh almost trigger points for both Seb and I and gaming, modern gaming. I think we Seb's touched on a few points. It's almost like my gaming counselor, really. Disenfranchised, yeah. That's probably why I'm finding myself playing PSP. Uh I love the Switch 2, but for some reason I'm I'm just I just want this casual throwaway experience right now. And the Switch 2 still feels quite special, I don't know why. Um but generally gaming definitely feeling a little bit disenfranchised. I've got a few big bangers on the backlog that I'm gonna get to, so that's possibly why I do feel a bit robbed at the minute. But generally I just don't like the the wind of change in the hair of gaming that I feel right now, Seb. I would say it's it's it's always been about the money, but there was like it's all about the money now, yeah. And before there were lots of like distractions and things going on that didn't make it feel like it was all about the money, and I'm like a prime example, uh and I I've bought all the tat that could have possibly come out this gen, Series S, Series X, VR2, Portal, Pro.

SPEAKER_00: 2:06:01

God, you you you ain't lying.

SPEAKER_02: 2:06:02

You when you bought that VR2, I was like, he's committed in this in America, he's committed Switch 2, all the official tap that goes with all that ephemera. Uh uh controllers for the Xbox, controllers for PlayStation, not yet double dipped on another controller for the Switch 2, but no doubt will do because I don't like to get up and press the on button because I'm a fat slob. Uh I don't think I'm fat.

SPEAKER_00: 2:06:28

At least you know it though, you know, like you know who you are, man.

SPEAKER_02: 2:06:31

Yeah, I'm not I'm not fat, I'm probably just a little obese. Uh, but I am lazy. So that's why I'll spend 70 bucks on a genuine Nintendo Switch 2 controller so I can sit in my gym jammers and not get up. Simple as that. Not the unofficial controller, though.

SPEAKER_01: 2:06:47

Nah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:06:51

I refuse to get it. I'm the big I'm the big brother. You have to play with the unofficial controller. I get all the good stuff. Oh, I gotcha. And as I say, I've dipped hard this gen. Um uh and it with a switch too, one would say I've got a foot in the next gen as well.

SPEAKER_00: 2:07:08

You could argue. I mean, you do because I'm like, that's already what$2,300 minimum.

SPEAKER_02: 2:07:14

Well, there we are. So I've got my foot in the future, I've got my foot in the past with my PSP memory cards with some guy's Matrix movie on there. I'm a guy who's everywhere, but I tell you what, Seb, I do feel a bit, as you say, it used to be all about the money, but now it is all about the money. Uh I touched on it before. Only the hardcore are keeping these consoles alive. Am I that hardcore guy? Maybe I am, maybe you are. Um, without us, the gaming landscape would look a hell of a lot different. So yeah, strange. I don't feel like they support the people that support them as well as they should. But hey, how can they pick us out on a pile set? They can't, can they?

SPEAKER_00: 2:08:00

They don't care to, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:08:01

And they don't and and most of the point, they don't care to. So yeah, there's a lot of sort of disadvantages. And I feel like that's why, you know, I look on the Discord and people are getting great fun out the uh sort of RGT games in the past section where they're all playing through some bangers from the PS3 era. I'm picking up the PSP when I really shouldn't be. I've been playing.

SPEAKER_00: 2:08:21

I mean, did you hear that story that came out on um from New York Times where they surveyed uh they looked at the like the chart of um games and of for game sales, and then they surveyed people. They did a whole litany of different, like different quantifiable data that shows that you know most modern day gamers are only buying one to two new games every year now.

SPEAKER_02: 2:08:42

This was the information I I talk about, and it's the right at the other end of the skew was like a hardcore gamer that was buying like 12, 20, 30 games, yeah, for sure, just going knee deep into it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:08:53

Yeah, and like a pig in slop.

SPEAKER_02: 2:08:55

Yeah, and those pigs in slop are the only thing propping up these uh house of cards, and you've got to think to yourself, I don't I don't see the love and support to those, and they're your early adopters, they're your day ones, they're your they're your crazy guys. Yeah, you're and I see a lot of support at the other end of the market for the casuals that come in and do a lot of the they're doing a lot of the microtransactions, which actually provide a hell of a lot of the wealth to these businesses now, but then at the other end of the spectrum you've got people chucking down hard cash, like real chunks of change. Uh and they're getting so I mean PSVR2 as a prime example, that's a huge chunk of change, and I'll be honest with you. That's a bigger kick.

SPEAKER_00: 2:09:41

I wonder what I wonder what the ROI is.

SPEAKER_02: 2:09:43

Mate, that's a bigger kick in the balls than any game spass the price increase.

SPEAKER_00: 2:09:49

Oh, that they didn't support it at all?

SPEAKER_02: 2:09:51

Yeah. I mean, the best support that's ever come to the PSVR 2 is from Microsoft.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10:01

I, you know, I I do think this is a lot on PlayStation, but this is also on y'all PlayStation VR Siccos. Like y'all enabled them to do this because y'all went out and supported them not once. Y'all supported them one time and they did this to you. They gave you very minimum support, and then y'all sickles, just like just like y'all fiend for it again. They were like, We're gonna get them, we're gonna get them again. We're not listening to this thing again.

SPEAKER_02: 2:10:25

Listen, mate, I supported them with the VR1. I did, right? And I had I had some really great experiences on that system. I actually used it and I enjoyed it. Maybe I didn't use it as much, admittedly. Now it's framed in nostalgia. But when I first got it, I mean that thing, that thing got the wheels kicked out of it. And I went back and I played all the way through Blood and Truth with the move controllers.

SPEAKER_00: 2:10:49

Uh won't they give you all Mouse uh Moss, Blood and Truth, and what what was the other one? There was like four big games.

SPEAKER_02: 2:10:56

Oh, Iron Man, but mate, I if I had to review that game, I'd be giving it a three. It's one of the worst. And Batman, maybe? Yeah, Batman, I would, as an experience, I'd give that a seven. Still to this day. I think in your if you're in the right environment and the tech holds up, it feels great to beat.

SPEAKER_00: 2:11:14

You invested in the wrong VR, is what you did. You should have gone meta. You should have gone meta, because at least they would have given you like Alex, you would have got Half-Life Alex, you would have got um the what was it, Arkham Shadows, which I actually heard was phenomenal. Mate, I'll tell you what, Zuckerberg's getting nothing from me. I get it. Uh that's where you draw the line, yeah. Bear. Nintendo's gonna get you for 10,000 copies of Zelda, but Zuckerberg, you like nah. Yeah, nah, nah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:11:45

Oh, Zoyberg gets nothing from me. Right. Zoyberg, like Victorama. Listen, guys, thank you. Oh my god, he's here. Thank you so much uh for listening. The show is free, it'll always be free, as is the imminent to launch flashback. Maybe a slight delay on that, guys, because we just need to pin down one whole day, and I mean probably eight to ten hours to record every episode for a month to get that done. Yeah, it's a big commitment. But we're doing it, but we're just obviously our moving house. RGT's changing his tampon. Um, I don't know whatever else is going on. Seb doesn't really know about retro. No, just I'm not a retro guy, so yeah. So you can't help us out in the studio with that. But you know, um, we've got a lot going on, so flashback. We're gonna try, like I say, it'll be every week going forward, but we just need to break the back of it with the first four, then we're a good we're good to go. So anytime in November, so keep your eyes peeled for that. I think we might put the pilot back out as a tester for the for the channel and the hosting tech to make sure that's working as we want it to. Um, but in the meantime, enough back news, backroom news, you don't want to know what we're struggling with on a weekly basis. You just want your content. God damn it, you've had an absolute slice this week, so thank you to S. Uh, so use the catchphrase, and if the AI is going to pick up and name this show anything, I think it should be called Pigs in Slop. Uh I'd said that like four times my bad. You guys no, I like it. Another t-shirt, please. I won't see you as a farmer pouring out feed as all of us sort of pigs come and trough at the triple I train, triple I triple S train.

SPEAKER_00: 2:13:35

There needs to be like a um on the shirt, it needs to have like one guy, and it has like a Nintendo head with a PlayStation body and Microsoft like arms on the like a logo on each part of them, and he and he's just pouring something into the trough, and it's and it's got like a controller on the piggy, the controller on the piggy, and it's like unofficial controller presents pigs and slop.

SPEAKER_02: 2:14:00

I love it, I love it. Well, you know, you've been like pigs, the aforementioned pigs and slop, and uh keep an eye on the downloads section for the latest t-shirt uh featuring Seb's almost 1984 vision of what a gamer feels like. I love it. Well, to be fair, guys, thank you very much for what you've done. As I said, the show will always be free. But if you do want to support, just look at the link at the bottom of the show, wherever you found it, and you find yourself a little link to a nice secure area uh where you can support us from as little as three dollars a month, which is less than a coffee, let's face it. One month, one day you just spend the extra three dollars, goddammit, you've got it, right? And do you know what you get straight away? A t-shirt. Do you know what you get every year? A t-shirt. Can you believe it? Unbelievable. Right, let's get stuck into it. So, proud supporter, retroed, thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00: 2:15:01

Alright, next up we have Carlos.

SPEAKER_02: 2:15:06

He's my one man George Fan Club, by the way. Oh, did he commit to this? He did, he put a ring on it. Oh, it wasn't under duress. He he mate, he didn't circle round it, he just dialed zero, boom, straight in. So, not like a shotgun wedding or anything. Oh, well, I'll be honest with you, I'm up for it.

SPEAKER_01: 2:15:26

Oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02: 2:15:30

I don't swing that way, but if he bowled up to me with full of confidence, I don't think I could turn him down. Not if he looked you right in the eyes. Not eyes, or what did you say?

SPEAKER_00: 2:15:41

Not if he looked you right in the eyes. Oh, I thought you said ass. Oh no, no, no, we went PG, we went away from PG hard. Oh, it's my bad.

SPEAKER_02: 2:15:52

Oh, dude, no, PG's a distant memory. We're in the attitude era. Up next- Oh, I love it! Yeah, oh yeah. Oh, you didn't know? Oh, you didn't know? That's why I dropped the F-bomb mid-show, stopped myself, and then carried on. Uh, because even I forget that we we abandoned that some time ago. Um, but we, you know, we're good boys, so we don't normally get too carried away. Up next, I'll tell you what, if you were thinking about making any sort of investment, crypto, you know, you name it, if generally you just wanted to get involved in broadening your financial circumstances. Here's a man who supports us that supports you. He's firm returns. Hunt him down on X, he's on there, he's talking to the crypto bros. To be honest with you, I heard they go to him for advice. Just saying. Oh, wow. Yeah. Oh, wow. Deadly serious. I know you're a man of the world. You've probably got some Bitcoin sitting in your back pocket. If you want to turbocharge that Bitcoin and be on a yacht in Monaco by this time next week, you speak to firm returns, so okay.

SPEAKER_00: 2:16:53

I like it. I like it. All right, take take the UCP paycheck. Invest that. No, it's a bit like one day I'll pay for put it in. Who's next? Alright, so we're going from Monaco all the way to my neck of the woods, the states, everybody. We're going to Trestles, New York.

SPEAKER_02: 2:17:18

The finest wings in Queens. Next, he's a man. He's a cosmos. He's a religion. Throw space monk.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17:31

And next up, we got my homeboy himself, all the way down with the Italian accent. Do I do do I say it right, George?

SPEAKER_02: 2:17:39

Uh you do.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 2:17:42

Bada bada bada bada bingsta. Now, if you say Stammy Benny. Stammy Bende? Yeah, that's it. Just take care. That means I get to wrestle with a man that, to be honest with you, he would be an icon. He'd be like Chris Jericho. He he's a he's got a list, right?

SPEAKER_00: 2:18:06

You only just made the list.

SPEAKER_02: 2:18:07

Yeah, I just made Engel Junior's list. Uh, and he's up there, he's got me in the walls of Jericho, to be honest, and while he's doing it, he's playing a very rare but expensive Don't Tell His Wife. RPG, J R P G. That's the sort of guy he is. Yeah, he's a multitasker. Okay. That's it. I was like, what did we have?

SPEAKER_00: 2:18:38

I thought we got cut off for a second.

SPEAKER_02: 2:18:40

We maybe did. Oh, next I'll take it. Uh it's Digital Monkery. He's one of the sheriffs of the Discord. I w I popped in there the other day and and hit and him and Boba Lobo were talking all tech talk about keeping the Discord, doing this, doing that. I was like, I I don't know what's going on. It was like it was like listening to Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo talk about Pythagoras. I thanked them for their time and I ducked out quick. I was like, I I don't want to get exposed to being an idiot. So the best thing to do in a situation where that could happen is leave.

SPEAKER_00: 2:19:11

Back it up, back it up.

SPEAKER_02: 2:19:13

Get out. So thank you, DM.

SPEAKER_00: 2:19:17

Alright, next up we got ball ball.

SPEAKER_02: 2:19:20

Well, okay. Which means I get the other sheriff of the Discord. He's a slightly bigger boy, he's tall, he's been dressed as Ghost from Call of Duty. I'm guessing at that because I'm not a proper COD fan. He's been also the Scream guy walking around with the beautiful um Kerry, Kerry's World on Instagram. It's his bow, it's his squeeze. It's okay, it's beautiful. We see you play out across all these geeky events. And he he's now in the cosplay. He's been a scream, now he's doing gold.

SPEAKER_00: 2:19:56

Bobo's a cosplayer?

SPEAKER_02: 2:19:58

He is now. He is. I know that's so cool. This is the lore of the show that Bob has now taken on his own new lore and he's out there. He's on the cutting edge of Comic Cons. Collectibles, he's everywhere.

SPEAKER_00: 2:20:11

And then I was drinking cosplay.

SPEAKER_02: 2:20:13

And you know the bonus about it is he does his haul like shots on Instagram. So you get to see all the bits have been buying.

SPEAKER_00: 2:20:23

That's really cool. Mobile was a legend like that. Oh cosplayer. Oh yeah. He was a full cod cosplay. That's really cool. I can name you four card people right now. Oh, is that a real person? Yeah, Captain Price, he's one of them, isn't he? I feel like that. I feel like it could be. I I couldn't name you. I played the last campaign and couldn't name you anybody. That's that's how bad I am, but the campaign's good.

SPEAKER_02: 2:21:00

Um can you can you if you had a stepson and he was ginger, how would you feel about that?

SPEAKER_00: 2:21:05

I'd say ginge. Let's go get some soup. Ginge, ladies and gentlemen. Ginge, I would feel very well about it, by the way. Ginge. And then you already did too, so I'll I'll go ahead and do the next one. Hot me retro. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02: 2:21:23

Okay, well, next up. Back from a world tour promoting the show. This is what fans do for us. It's unbelievable. Uh bull border's also just uh I think he might still even be in Brazil for all I know right now. Uh but Emma Sharp's back from a world tour, so thank you very much for representing us the world over, and thank you to everyone that listens in the over 100 countries and over 4,000 cities now, SEP. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER_00: 2:21:48

Nah, man, that's great. That's absolutely great. We're we're worldwide now. Oh.

SPEAKER_02: 2:21:54

Worldwide. I I heard we're the only station being played on the Tesla that's currently rocketing through the solar system.

SPEAKER_00: 2:22:02

Oh are we anywhere um in Europe, like in the Germany area like area?

SPEAKER_02: 2:22:09

I I I think we have some German listeners, but I'll tell you I don't think they're anywhere. What's the capital of Germany?

SPEAKER_00: 2:22:18

Um, I'm not really sure, but I don't think it's anywhere, nowhere near Berlin, which is our next subscriber. We should try and sync everybody through like that. Because I tell you Oh, like like making me paragraphy. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02: 2:22:33

Because I tell you someone who's never been to Berlin, and that's the very sweet mumsy. But I tell you, someone who does get involved in RGT fan club is his mumsy. So thank you to the RGT fan club. But someone who's not in his fan club, but is very strong, so strong that he could probably lift the entire RGT fan club on his shoulders, is Pete Brocklehurst. But I tell you one there, I tell you one breakfast item Pete Brocklehurst will not tolerate in no way. He won't eat it. He won't eat it, he wants nothing to do with it, and that's Marmite. And that's our next contributor, Billy Marmite. Which brings me on sadly to a situation where I think quite rightly, seeing as you you took a whole Zangeef in the mouth last week. I'm not even joking. Or maybe I did. Uh I don't even know which way this went down anymore, but I'm gonna take the Zangif.

SPEAKER_00: 2:23:29

Oh, you're gonna take it.

SPEAKER_02: 2:23:30

You're gonna take the challenge? Yeah, for the team. So how would you like me to deliver the Zangeef?

SPEAKER_00: 2:23:36

Oh, okay. I want you to do this like you stubbed your toe on one of your children's toys, but then also at the end of it, say it with elation. Like uh from pain to elation, if you can. Alright, and everybody, he's composing himself. We're getting the scene. I'm dying. We're getting the scene ready, everybody.

SPEAKER_02: 2:24:05

I've never ever had one like this before, so just give me a minute to think about how I might want to portray it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24:11

He's getting his delivery ready, everybody. This is the magic here. This is the magic. This is what a director has to do. He has to bring it out of bring it out of his act door, if you will. So George. So I stub my toe, boom.

SPEAKER_02: 2:24:24

You stub your toe on one of the kids' toys. I would probably say. So I'm using an empty apple ties. Yes. To stub my toe, because I'm a method actor. To stub my toe. And then the the what? But what do you reckon? The just the geef is the elation?

SPEAKER_00: 2:24:39

Yes, and at the end you're elated, you know, like um almost like you stubbed your toe, but then the family's walking through the door and you've seen them for the first time that day.

SPEAKER_02: 2:24:49

So you're elated to see them, but you also just I'm very nervous because in many ways, up until now, Fat Zan Geef has been a very sexually oriented thing. And you've tied you've tied into things that I probably wouldn't directly really relate to that scenario. So this delivery You're not really elated when you have sex. Yeah, but the emotions you're the emotions you're giving me are having a Zangief whilst while stubbing my toe, whilst simultaneously my beloved family walking through the door and see me at my most almost sexually exposed, Seb, if I may be so bold. Um, I didn't mean to take that direction, but yeah, well, just buckle up, right? Okay, so but you at the same token you want me to act pain, which I can understand, but then elation.

SPEAKER_00: 2:25:47

Absolutely elation. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02: 2:25:49

Like, okay, so but the scene is set, okay.

SPEAKER_00: 2:25:53

So you know what I mean? You gotta set it. Yeah, okay. I know, okay. So all right, and everybody, we're we're ready in three, two, one, action. I like it. I like it. It will slab stick into uh into a little bit of election there at the end. I like that. Really as well. I I didn't I I didn't do you've got method with it.

SPEAKER_02: 2:26:23

Well, that's how these things happen. Uh yeah, for sure. That's that's why I was a little taken aback by your effort last week, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_00: 2:26:33

I think I delivered.

SPEAKER_02: 2:26:35

Yeah, oh mate, I'm still wearing half of it. Uh with that done, all the subs have got their wishes granted, they got their readout, some in the way they wanted, some necessarily not. Uh, and apologies to those. No offense, mate. All given. Seb, what are you hoping to play this game in week?

SPEAKER_00: 2:26:54

I'm gonna play the next two episodes of um dispatch, which dropped, um, the superhero um telltale like game experience that I told you about. Tasty. Uh yeah, so I'm gonna play a little bit of that. Um it's delivered episodically, or is that just what the is that just what the levels are called? No, no. Um, so yeah, they they decided they wanted to do um not it not just episodically, they do a two-parter because they're coinciding with like um what they call the superhero Halloween like experience. So I'm like they have like one of the things that coincided with I think the ending um like marketing-wise, the what they emailed is like the ending with the boys all the way to like Halloween, and they because they have like you know different themes that are going on in the game, but then yeah, it is ending um November 12th, so I'm like the ending's right around the corner. Right. So yeah, I'll be playing the next two because they drop them in twos as well. So I'll be playing the next two chapters. So that was the first two chapters I think were magnificent. Are they linked? These episodes, yeah. Yeah, everything's linked. Everything's linked. I if you if you want to get the full experience, I would say wait till November 12th. But I think if you like I I almost like this and this little thing because it feels like it feels Saturday morning cartoons meets the boys, it feels like that that kind of vibe to where like, oh, every week I'm getting like two banger episodes and they're both treats and they keep me on my toes.

SPEAKER_02: 2:28:26

As far as the main story, I think that's actually quite what I like about the delivery, and I actually hope that kind of delivery method almost sees its way through to the full release. Yeah. That would be special. That would be cool.

SPEAKER_00: 2:28:40

Yeah, it it really it's like it's an innovative idea. The delivery method keeps you engaged enough to where you want to keep coming back to it, and then like the story is good enough to where you think about it throughout the week. So like at the end of the at the end of every week, you're like, oh snap. It yeah, it's dispatch time. I can I finally get to know what happens next, you know, on the decision, the big decision I made. So I'll play that. I'm thinking maybe if maybe if this continues the way I want it to, I'll play the Outer Wars 2. If not, I can't I might drop that one. But outside of that, um, I've been playing Ballocks Pit, which is an indie that's been taken the world by storm, and then um I might I'm feeling footballsy, so I might jump into college football again. So, what about you, George? What are you playing?

SPEAKER_02: 2:29:27

Um I'll be honest, probably take a walk on the wild side, probably a little bit of PSP, probably buy city stories. Um I don't know why. I'm having a nice experience there. Other than that, uh probably set the switch up. I think we'll see some Persona 5 over the weekend, hopefully. On the Switch. The Switch.

SPEAKER_00: 2:29:49

Oh, baby, it's great. It's great. It's a turn based game, too, so it's not like it's the same experience or anything.

SPEAKER_03: 2:29:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 2:29:55

Uh me I say that.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30:00

It's a full fat experience, but it might not be quite as jazzy.

SPEAKER_00: 2:30:05

Um, that's unfortunate because the jazz is one of the best parts of Persona. At least Persona 5. No, it's still there, but it maybe it's not quite as quick, you know. Yeah. As quick as far as like the load times turn based.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30:18

And maybe if you probably crawled up to the screen and started counting pixels, you'd be like, well, it's not like no, anybody doing that. It's totally playable, yeah. Uh, and very enjoyable. So hopefully a bit of that. As I mentioned, I've got Madden. I hopefully start giving that a whirl. Um what are you doing, Madden?

SPEAKER_00: 2:30:37

Like, how do you play Madden? Uh I'm like, I'm a franchise guy, I just pick up my team and go go with that.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30:46

The way I've played it recently is I tried to get a similar experience to I am my MLB experience where I played as the pitcher. The only real way I've been able to replicate that when you play through as a career as one player, which takes away the fundamental sort of joy of Madden for me, is you kind of play as the quarterback.

SPEAKER_00: 2:31:07

So you can I my advice is play as the running back in that mode. Do you think? Oh, because you get the ball. You the quarterback, you always have the ball in your hand, but then like the quarter, like the running back reading like the lines, reading like the offensive lines and figuring out where the gap is, and then bursting that through, and also combining with running routes as well. And it's it hits that dopamine a little bit more so than just the monotony of like monotony, I should say.

SPEAKER_02: 2:31:36

Yeah, I get that, but I'm also I'm also a big passing guy. I like to see football played in in the passing style. I don't like to see the ball run, and it's a bit weird to say this because it's probably the most boring way of playing it, but I don't like to see the ball run all the time. I like to see I like to see the air dominated, and I like to see that you know the first downs are coming from real successful passes and and those runs you talk about, but I like to know that I'm threading the ball, and that's the kind of that's the experience I want from it. Um I get your running back thing, maybe maybe this time.

SPEAKER_00: 2:32:15

You probably picked the wrong game, I think, because I think like for what you want out of that experience, I think you probably shouldn't have gone college football because you would have walked on, um, you would have been like a recruit. You also have the portal to think about and such like that. And then like you have different, some some of the mechanics are interchangeable, like the the leading the quarterbacks and such like that, the actual like bar meters now that they have in the passing game. But like the on the quarterback side of the fence, though, you also have the quarter constant quarterback competitions that I think add to the game in college football that that they don't necessarily have in Madden. Because I'm like, once you're over a certain ranking, uh a certain overall, you're automatically there. In college football, it's like matching the schemes with like the quarterback, with like the actual offensive coordinator. And like there's a whole lot more, I feel I feel like gap in the franchise mode playing as a quarterback in college football than there actually is in Madden. Versus where I feel like in Madden, the wide receivers and running backs, and also I'd probably say the offensive line feels like more in-depth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:33:25

Interesting. So I might just sat out on the switch. Goodness says I'm expecting that to look off decent, mate, if I'm honest.

SPEAKER_00: 2:33:32

Um, I mean, the switch too, it'll I it I hear it runs pretty well.

SPEAKER_02: 2:33:37

Yeah. Um I've been impressed with it to this point. If it could run Cyberpunk, it'll do a pretty decent job of a Madden. Uh even if it's like the PS4 Pro version, I'd be happy with that. Um other than that, I can't, yeah, maybe a bit of MLB. I keep going back to it to be fair. It's a guilty pleasure of mine on PS5, it's just a nice way to while away a couple of hours. Uh 20 minutes a game. Normally, at the minute, I'm still struggling with the sliders, it does my head in. It's just so hard. And I actually knocked it down the other day on purpose. Like I knocked the slider, I knocked it down a difficulty level, then turned the slider back on.

SPEAKER_00: 2:34:21

Just so you can go ape, you can go ape and just go ham on a couple of just so you can feel like a god in that game.

SPEAKER_02: 2:34:28

Well, I only knocked it down once, one setting, uh, to be fair. And it it made barely any difference. Like the pitchers, I've no and it's true of real baseball, like the pitchers just having such a tough time in a modern game, you know. The the pitch clock, everyone seems obviously the sport loves it when people hit banger after banger. And like sometimes in MLB especially, you tend to have them kind of run ragged on you as a pitcher. Like you'll lock them down for a long time, and then someone will get someone will get a base or two, and you're like, Oh, you get sweaty, and then the bases are loaded, and then someone will just come in, and even if you've like pitched it in the dirt, boom, home run, done. Oh, that's rough. That's real rough. And and it's that the difficulty is at that stage where I'm constantly and I think I'm pretty good, but I'm constantly fighting this sort of battle of like, oh, there's one on base, okay, ground ball, try and get him out, try and get a you know, then try and get a double play.

SPEAKER_00: 2:35:40

It's hard, it is hard in that difficulty. There's also no competition with uh that game, there's no other triple A level baseball game out there, so you're not really you're not seeing any innovations into the year-by-year versions of that game.

SPEAKER_02: 2:35:55

And as a kind of long-term commitment to that now, I am starting to feel and I think this, I love the game, but I feel a bit burnt out. I don't know how people keep doing the FIFA's year in, year out, and the Madens year in and year out. I dip into Madden, but I don't buy it yearly. I can't. I'll get the next demo, but I will won't on the switch. You've already told me.

SPEAKER_00: 2:36:18

I mean, you're a sicko, so you you're a sicko, you're gonna get it. But no, um you are. I'm like, you are you you know it. You're you bought the PSVR, you get you get um MLB every year. It's just who you are, it's ingrained in you. What I sometimes get it twice. Oh, that you're double dipping, that's crazy. But um, what I do is that I like to whatever sports game that I because I only play a couple, um, whatever sports game that I played one year, uh next year is my off year. So like, and then by the time I pull it pick it up again, you know, like the year after next, it feels a little more like coming back home. It feels home cooked, like a home cooked meal.

SPEAKER_02: 2:37:01

So I'm like, and I think that's a really good idea because I've noticed like I haven't ever really extracted like the full value out of the MLBs. Like I've had some deep careers within the 12 months of the game's release, but never really as deep as I fantasize them going. You know, I'm talking like a 10-year career and you're like, yeah. And maybe that's on me because I I play as a pitcher so the games are longer. You know, if you play as a battery, you go bam, bam, bam, and you're out, bam, bam, bam, and you're out, bam, bam, bam, and you're out. And it's it's quick, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 2:37:32

You can do two seasons uh really quick, as opposed to a pitcher where you're feeling like it is one season feels like it took you four months.

SPEAKER_02: 2:37:40

Or mate, genuinely, you know, and as you come in, and nowadays, like I started the latest MLB. You can start from the college and then play up into the leagues and then up through into MLB. Mate, I am still only just in triple A.

SPEAKER_00: 2:37:58

Yeah, so yeah, you got a journey ahead. By that time, I'm like, the next game is on your horizon by the time I've got it.

SPEAKER_02: 2:38:03

And that's what and that and and that's what I found with last year's iteration. I just scraped to MLB, and it was like, boom, the next the new one's out next month. It's like, damn it. What do you want from me?

SPEAKER_00: 2:38:16

So in that case, I would I would definitely recommend you do the uh every other year concept like concept. Okay. We'll start from next year. Yeah. And then like start from next year.

SPEAKER_02: 2:38:29

And then I'll never and then I'll pause for a while.

SPEAKER_00: 2:38:35

Yeah, and then I think like that'll give you some fresh perspective on like who you are as a gamer, and also like it when you come back to it, it feels like home cooking. You know, like what if I fall off the wagon and then don't come back? Just play the old game you already bought if you fall off the wagon. Instead of buying the new one, commit that money, like instead of buying the new one and committing money to that, just I fell off the wagon and I can now return safely into the safety net that is the last version of the game that I already own.

SPEAKER_02: 2:39:09

Or I'd probably give you the wagon. I'd probably go back to MLB 22, which was maybe the service is still active, you know. Like I own it. I own it. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't need any of the online stuff. And mate, I was playing MLB 14, 30, 14 on the Vita. It it was still sort of what I love about picking up old sports games is they're recommending some of them are still tapped into the online, so they can recommend the latest game, but those that can't kind of recommend the one up from it.

SPEAKER_00: 2:39:43

Yeah, they're like, have you played 15 yet? It's the hottest new game. And you're like, oh, the 15 from Twitch from 10 years ago. It's exactly what it's like. Have you played 15? Oh, it looks nice and shiny. It's waiting for you. And you're like, I would have to sc scounge the internet right now to find 15. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02: 2:40:07

You would as well. I think it's uh, unless you do the illegal route, it's uh it's a physical impossibility on the Vita. So that would be Yeah, for sure. That's dead and done. Um, so only really left for me to thank you so much for your time. I want to um get everyone pointed round to your content. Uh, one day I'll get you fully on board and everything released under the UCP banner, but he's still. Yeah, you're just gonna buy me out at that point. I am, I am before the end of the year it'll happen.

SPEAKER_00: 2:40:36

Um, but until then, where can they find you, Seb? Man, you can find me at the single player experience podcast. Um that's uh podcast where I talk about like some single player games that you need to keep your uh eyes and ears uh out for, like the ones that are on the horizon and the games that you should currently be playing, or at least having your backlog. So um recent content. We um I dropped a I dropped the top games that you should check out from the Steam Next Fest, um, which is basically like um basically like a quarterly thing that Steam does to where they put out like small little bite-sized demos of games that are going to be big on the horizon or games they feel like are gonna be absolutely bangers that you need to play. Anno was on the list. Um that was one of those games that you um not on my list, but it was actually on a list of games of on Steam Next Fest that you should check out. Like, so if you like games like Anno, like Yakuza, if you like roguelike games and such like that, hear all about that on my um on my podcast, The Single Player Experience. We also talked about like recently um Halo going to PlayStation, which feels like blasphemy. Everybody saw that clip, it was good. You're right, it just feels like blasphemy.

SPEAKER_02: 2:41:49

It feels like we're in the dark timeline. But um I'll tell you what it feels like. It feels like I'll tell you what it feels like. It feels like Sonic on the GameCube.

SPEAKER_00: 2:41:57

Yeah, it feels weird, it just feels wrong. But yeah, it's like one of those things. Um, but yeah, you can check me out over there, and yeah, if you like what you hear here in the the show, you can get more of me and just all of me. It just right over there in the single player experience podcast. It is like on a show. Oh, yeah, yeah. You can catch it on OnlyFans as well. But anyways, yeah, you can get uh no, I'm joking, but um just a below desk webcam version of it. Eyes up here, everybody.

SPEAKER_02: 2:42:26

Eyes up here. Played absolutely straight top underneath, yeah. Well, magic happens.

SPEAKER_00: 2:42:32

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then I got like I got controller logos like on my chest and everything, but no, um, but yeah, you can find that on YouTube or your favorite podcast. Sponsored by Huel going up your thigh. Oh, yeah, for sure, for sure. The naughty boy, Sebastian, but um, as opposed to sexy voice shot Michaels, the naughty boy. But um, I'm just the naughty boy. Wow, I'd pay money to see that. Well, but would I yeah, everybody, you can catch me over there, George. What did you say what you're hoping to play? Yeah, I did. Yeah, you mentioned MLB. Okay, yeah. Yeah, outside of that, everybody, thank you so much for listening to us, Ramble Eye.

SPEAKER_02: 2:43:16

Yeah, honestly, it's been a great episode. I think a great counterpoint to the last one. Hopefully, got some gaming news to discuss next discuss next week. Hopefully, uh, we'll see a rotation of the other boys as well. We'll see uh we'll inject a little bit of it's just a good old boys. Never meant no harm. Never honestly, we never meant any harm. Uh, and that's all we have time for this week. Listen, as always, thank you for your time. 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 that that counts. See you step. It's a both your George.

SPEAKER_00: 2:43:49

Bye.

SPEAKER_02: 2:43:52

Very true. Gotta be official.

SPEAKER_00: 2:43:54

Yeah. True.