Unofficial Controller Podcast
Your number one weekly gaming podcast for all the latest Sony Playstation , Microsoft Xbox , Nintendo Switch and PC News. Retrospectives , Readers Mail and Industry Chat.
Unofficial Controller Podcast
Pokemon Legends Reimagined, Devolver’s Indie Rush, And The PS Portal’s Big Swing
A real-time Pokémon that actually feels dangerous, a breakout-bullet-hell roguelike we can’t put down, and a PlayStation handheld that just became useful overnight—this week goes hard on design, value, and where gaming is headed next. We start with Pokémon Legends Z-A, which swaps turn-based comfort for dodge-rolls, boss-scale Mega encounters, and a day-night cadence that pushes exploration and risk. The world still shows its Switch 1 seams, but the loop is tight, the quests stack well, and a mid-story series callback had us grinning. Verdict: gameplay rescues the tech, and that’s enough to keep us hooked.
Then we gush about an indie masterclass from Devolver: a roguelike that fuses breakout, bullet hell, and twin-stick control into a frictionless loop. Runs feed a cozy town meta, fusions snap into place, and every choice has bite. It’s the kind of design that turns “one more run” into three hours. We also flag Megabonk’s 3D survivor-like spin with constant mini-bosses and objective-led runs—proof that the genre still has fresh lanes.
On the platform front, Sony’s PS Portal just unlocked cloud streaming for over 2,800 PS5 games via PS Plus Premium, no console required. Add credible signs of a PlayStation-to-PC cross-buy badge and a sharper Portal UI, and you can see the strategy: reduce friction, expand ownership, and make handheld play feel native again. We weigh the value math, the DualSense edge, and how this compares to Steam Deck and Switch 2.
Not all progress feels cozy. Square Enix plans to automate up to 70% of QA and debugging with generative AI by 2027. We unpack the trade-offs: faster pipelines, cleaner launches, and the real risk of job displacement and scope bloat if studios lean too hard. The bottom line: use AI for the grind, invest humans in taste, UX, and finish.
And yes, we talk about the chaotic triumph of Amazing Frog topping Xbox’s paid charts. Call it the zeitgeist effect: streamer-friendly mayhem, low friction, and a reminder that small ideas can punch way above AAA noise.
If you enjoyed this one, follow the show, share it with a friend, and drop a quick review—it helps more curious gamers find us. What’s your take: action Pokémon or classic turns, and which handheld are you riding with next?
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Cheers gamers!
Hello and welcome to the unofficial controller podcast, your weekly gaming podcast. And this is, believe it or not, episode two nine three, the seven away from the big three hundred. Yeah. Uh is me, RGT, and I'm joined by, as you've probably just heard, the delectable Scott with the best smile on YouTube, Marathon Gaming. How are we doing, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:I'm very good, thank you, RGT. A lot better now. I get to have a little chat to you about games, so it's nice. It's been a while since I've been on. Yeah, really glad to be back on with yourself, mate. So yeah, looking forward to this. It's gonna be fun. See what news we got, what we've been up to. Exciting. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:See what we're playing. I've got I'm gonna let you know about a very, very, very good game I've been playing on my Switch too when we get to what we've been playing. Yes, and it is gonna be a recommend for you because you'll love it. That's right up your street. Yes. Um, and also um, just a quick bit of housekeeping. Um, for people that are looking out for flashback. Um, flashback is launched. Um, the episode zero, the um pilot episode we done a few weeks ago has gone up. We've done that one first, just so the pilot can go live on there, and also it takes a week or two for all the uh podcast providers to vet and you know do your podcast and and get it uploaded. So it's already on iTunes, but we're still waiting for Spotify and a few others. So we're holding off from doing it weekly at the moment. Once it's all up and running, which we're hoping as a recording this will be next week. Then episode one will be live, and then that'll be weekly two, three, four, as we go from there. Hopefully, we'll uh we'll get Scott on there as well for a bit of the old retro goodness because I know he loves a bit of retro and going back through the old news and everything. So um, yeah, so just bear with us until that's all accepted, it's it's all you know behind the scenes stuff. We just have to wait until the podcast is all officiated and done and and that's all done the checks. But as if you're on iTunes, it is on there now. The pilot is on there, please sub, please give it a download, and also um give us a little review if you can. That'll get the old algorithms up and get us going. Um, but yeah, that's the little bit of housekeeping done.
SPEAKER_03:Do RGT, do people just need to type in flashback or do they need to type in UCP flashback?
SPEAKER_00:No, if you're on if like I say it's only on iTunes at the moment, so if you're on iTunes, literally just type in flashback, search down, and you'll see our little you'll see our little artwork, which is um a real uh retro um sort of synthwave image with a few retro consoles on and you'll see flashback in yellow across the bottom. That is us, um, and it is flashback presented by UCP. Um if you haven't heard of it, or you're new to this show, or if you've only listened to a few of our shows, it's a similar layout to what we do on this show, but it's retro. So we look at what we we just grabbed random mumps and um from random years in game and past, um, and we we look at what we would have been playing, we look at the current news of that era, um, and we look what we were hoping to play. And that's a good little look, you know, little window back in time at where we were in random random, you know, time jumps. Um, but yeah, have a look at that. Um and and hopefully download and that'll be up and running on everything within the next sort of week. So yeah, enjoy. Hope you hope you all like it.
SPEAKER_03:Um sorry, one more question, RGT, because it might it might help the good people to UCP. Is it flashback one word or is it flash space back?
SPEAKER_00:It is flashback one word. So there we go, people. Yeah, there we go. Oh, we have been we have had a takeover on here. We've just been joined by the man himself. It is triple S. Seb, how you doing, my man?
SPEAKER_06:Hey everybody, I didn't really want anything, I just wanted to say hello.
SPEAKER_00:That's it.
SPEAKER_06:That's it. Hey Seb, good to see you, buddy. I didn't know what y'all were talking about today. I was just like, I ain't talked to my boys in a while.
SPEAKER_03:We've just started. I just need to say though, Seb, last week's show, mate, you were firing on all cylinders. I really enjoyed the last couple of weeks you and um George, but listening to your take about Xbox and the gaming, um, who they should have took over with WB Games. Honestly, if anyone hasn't listened to last week's show, it is very, very good. I really enjoyed that. Yeah, your knowledge, mate, and expertise. It's so great to have you back on the show, Seb. Really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, oh well, thank you. Well, thank you, man. How's everything been going with y'all? What's the gaming appetite been been like for y'all? Because I haven't spoken with y'all in a while, so I'm like, what are y'all playing?
SPEAKER_03:Well, we're just about to find out. Yeah, we're now yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We're now gonna jump on and um I'll I'll start with Scott and say, uh, what have you been playing, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:Well, what I have been playing um very heavily for the last couple of weeks is Pokemon Legends A to Z. I did see you on there. Yeah, I've been absolutely really enjoying that. I've done uh over 20 hours on the game. Um, and and I'm glad I have been playing it this week, and I'm on the show this week, and I have been playing it last couple of weeks because I feel like it's been getting a little bit of stick um from I think just maybe not stick, but just there's no one's really everyone seems to have brought it a bit around it, like especially with Nintendo people. So, I mean, every time I speak to a friend that's played um Pokemon Legends, they've really liked it. Um so it'd just be interesting, like anyone on the Discord that's listening. I know I've put in a little sort of mini review of my sort of piece of it, but um, I know everyone's saying like graphically and the aesthetics of the game, the visuals don't look as polished as they could do. And I agree with that with some of the other games um that you play on the Switch 2. For example, even you know, Star Wars Outlaws, that looked really good. Um, and I have got Harry Potter lined up to play, and I'm interested to see um what the difference is between that and obviously its PS4 version. Um and obviously Donkey Kong Bonanza look looks good, but it's with Pokemon and Nintendo, they always go for that sort of they don't go too crazy on the art style, but I get what they mean with it's how it the it's not the colours aren't vibrant and popping. I get that because as soon as I finished playing it last night, I downloaded a demo of um Cattle Country, and obviously I know you've played that RGC, yeah, good. And obviously, that's an old school game, it's retro inspired, but still the colours, like the colour palette choosed, it really was so vibrant. Um, so I've played it, yeah. I've played docked, um undocked, really enjoying the game. Um, I get that it's not as densely populated the world. I know Seb touched on it and said, I think it might have been Seb or Jules SA, and it's not like the Detective Pikachu game, but it should be, it's like it's been made 10 years ago. And they're all very, very valid comments. However, what I would say is as a game, it is really, really good. It's one of my favourite modern Pokemon games, it really is. You've got some really good stuff introduced. Um, so it's in Lemoise City, so it's like a French city, it's based in. There is many different districts um throughout the city, and the main things about the game, which are different to the previous, is obviously it's it's a legend spin-off, so it's slightly different. This is an action RPG, it's not turn-based. Um, now that is really, really fun because it makes the mechanics completely different. For example, if you're fighting, um, say you've got a Pokemon fighting another Pokemon, if you're between those two Pokemon fighting, and like say a Charizard lets a beam off, you will get hit. You have to roll out the way, like a soul's like. And if you take too many hits, just like your Pokemon, you'll blackout, you'll wake up at the nearest Pokemon center. So that's really cool. Um, there's lots of different wild zones as well. So imagine it like any city um with like Pokemon that habitat live side by side. People have got them as pets, they're doing stuff, working, whatever it is. But then you'll get wild zones. You go in the wild zone, that's where these Pokemon are, which you can catch. And there's loads of different zones of those. I think there's up to 20, and they differ in difficulty. Um, so you need to sort of level up and work your way up. Another big difference with the game is there's a night and day mechanic, which is really cool. So by day, there's certain Pokemon, and then at night, obviously a nocturnal Pokemon come, it gets a bit dark. And also, as night falls, what you will find is a random battle area was spawned up somewhere on the map. And if you go in that battle area, you will get anytime you lock eyes of anyone else, they will challenge you to battle. So that is the best way of leveling up, but obviously it can get uncomfortable, so you've got to be bang, you've got to be ready for it with the night time. So that was really, really cool. Um, you can go on the rooftops, it's it's took a bit of a sort of Assassin's Creed Zelda sort of approach. I don't want to ruin anything, but there's a couple of bits like that added on uh with some like secret areas and different bits to explore. Um, I don't want to drop any spoilers, but there was a very, very good, and I'm gonna be careful with my words. There's a moment in it after about 10 hours in or so in the story, um, which is fantastic, by the way, um, which is really, really nice, and it goes back to previous Pokemon titles. I really liked what they've done with that. Um, and then the main thing of it really is the story is there's these energy shards which are dropped around the city, and they're infecting and affecting Pokemon, causing them to mega evolve, and then that's causing chaos to the city. It's hurting people, a bit like Godzilla, yeah. So you're trying to find out, investigate, get these things all sorted out. Um, and what I like about it is I'm not a fan of the mega evolution Pokemon in the Legends series like franchise. I just find it a bit too much, but this is done really well. How I would describe it to someone is now I look at a mega evolution a bit like a boss battle. That's how you play it because it's an action RPG now, it's no different to watching you know your mate play Final Fantasy 16 or whatever it was, where there's a massive boss battles like you have in Diablo and all that sort of stuff. So, yeah, there's a got there's that difference with it. Um, what else have we got that's changed? Hey, Scott, can I ask you a question? Yeah, of course. You know, because like it's oh side quests as well, Seb. I know you love a side quest. There is a lot of side quests, and every time you think you've cleared them, you level up to a certain point, and then bang, another load spawn on a map, and they get progressively harder where it shoots certain Pokemon, evolve Pokemon. Um, but yeah, really, really good. Sorry, Seb, what was you gonna say?
SPEAKER_06:No, no, I I think this is all fascinating because I like the because I think there is like, like you kind of said, there's um not necessarily super stick with this game, but there is a a stigma, I would say. Yeah, it is, yeah. I think it's like um the it is a little bit of a stigma from multiple sides of the fence because this isn't a mainline Pokemon game, so you know, a lot of the traditionalists uh who like the turn-based style and like the actual like progression of like gems and all that kind of stuff are kind of like they're soured on this, but the RCS people really like this, you know. It's like there's two different styles of Pokemon, um Pokemon like fanatics that that kind of like are warring with each other, and and it kind of feels like this is kind of trying to serve both of them, but not quite, you know, it's kind of caught in that middle zone. But I think it's like one of the things that I think is also souring the reception, I think is more outside forces outside of what the game actually delivers, you know, like Pokemon, um, Pokemon, for instance, had the big lawsuit going on against Pow World, you know, about you know, about the copyright and all that kind of stuff. Then you also couple that with like the egregious um Nintendo lawsuit that is packaged um like patenting the the actual pocket monster or catch him mechanics in general. And I think that was a real sour pus on there. And then also like then also not not last but not least, but like is the this is a year that I think like a lot of video games, especially since the prices have gone up and a lot of industries, a lot of people are trying to see what bang what video games deliver bang for your buck. And you know, you look at mafia, which is uh which came in around fifty dollars, correct me if I'm wrong, RGT, like fifty pounds y'all's way.
SPEAKER_00:Uh a little less than that. I think I paid 40 pounds forty, thank you. Yeah, yeah, I think 40.
SPEAKER_06:So I'm like, you look at 40 pounds for that, you look at um, you look at Hollow Knight Silksong, which was 20, you look at like a game, you look like um the game of the year for a lot of people, Expedition 33, a lot of these games are delivering more for less. And then I think like in light of all the stuff that Pokemon's going to, Pokemon is the one of the most profitable franchises outside of Call of Duty. Outside of Call of Duty. Pokemon is like right there is one of the most profitable franchises in the world, and yet they when they deliver when they deliver new iterations, it's always so iterative of like what they're actually delivering. Like we talk about like they're finally going, um, open world. Well, the open world is kind of empty, is what a lot of people's complaints. You talk about like they're delivered a new like landscape, um, which was um in the more like f like based off of the French culture, but then you look at the world, a lot of the world looks the same because like all a lot of the buildings look the same, a lot of the environments look the same. Um, a lot of we talked about like this is a switch two edition of the game, which is great, but the switch two edition only delivered 60 F PIS, and you that's me joking around calling Fpis FPS, but like Fbis, and then you got moderate you got moderate um a resolution boost. You got no really in you no really incentives on what the Switch 1 version versus Switch 2 version delivered. So I think it's like it's it's sad because I think this is a good game, but I do think like there's so many external factors going on that's not necessarily outside of the like outside of the game's control. And then there's also like a lot of people have been putting that microscope to what is Pokemon in now in this day and age, and why isn't it taking this step forward in light of like some of its other contemporaries in the market? Like, um, I don't know, y'all are not PC people, but like for the last month, um, Digimon, for instance, had this big resurgence on PC to where the new game was on top of the charts on Steam. It was one of the biggest stories all of last year in PC gaming, um, all of last month in PC gaming, and then you see what PowerWorld's doing, and then you also see what like Power's new expansion is doing. It's I don't think it's fair because like this game is getting compared to a lot of its other contemporaries, but I do think there is a true like bang for your buck discussion of what Pokemon is in 2025.
SPEAKER_00:I think I mean I'm not a Pokemon player by all means. Um, I've seen mixed reviews, seen a lot of people say the gameplay saves the game rather than graphically. For me, how I see it is there's a Pokemon game made on a Switch 1 engine, not a Switch 2. And the reason it's made on the Switch 1 engine is that's where the market is compared to the Switch 2. So they've they're literally saying that's where most people are gonna buy it, but we'll do a little patched up one for the Switch 2. Um, it's that awkward crossover period, um, but it is very much from what I've seen of reviews uh graphically, it's a switch one game, bit more frame rate, tiny little bit more res, and that is pretty much it, I think. Um I've got to be able to do that.
SPEAKER_06:Make that a free upgrade, you know, make that a free upgrade, then you know, like if that's only the two things, yeah, why charge people ten dollars for that? Or it's you know, like that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:I think there was that sort of period with PS4, PS5 as well, weren't there, where you got free upgrade, free upgrade, and then suddenly, oh no, you can have it now for ten bucks, you can have this for ten, but and whether they're trying to out the gate straight away, um, obviously they are. Whether I sort of think, well, yeah, it's it's an awkward one. I think I think you are right. I think that probably should have been a free up free upgrade. Um I think that'd probably encourage more people to buy a Switch too, because they're you know, closer to Christmas, because you think, oh, I've got my Pokemon game, I can upgrade it to that version for free, you know. So it yeah, it's a tricky one.
SPEAKER_03:But yeah, they can get away with it as well. And that that that is unfortunate. Well, that is exactly what you say. You got yeah, they've got the Nintendo tax, and obviously the P in Pokemon doesn't stand for Pokemon, it stands for premiums. Yeah, exactly. But you're you're spot on, it probably could have been a Switch 1 game, but they get away with it because they can. I mean, and let's look at the positives, they have took some risks. If they didn't take any, you'd be like, oh, they've not changed anything. But they have, they've changed all these mechanics, they have kind of improved it. Um, they will always do a Pokemon game every one or two years, like minimum. They won't leave it three or four years and let it develop. Um, I mean, that would be simply because I mean, what's the biggest selling thing for video games outside of video games? It's not plushies, it's Pokemon cards. Now, every time a Pokemon game gets released, they release they are mental, mate. Now, every time they release a Pokemon video game, they get to release a whole new deck of cards. And to be honest with you, I wouldn't be surprised if there is it'd be interesting to know. I mean, I'll try and dive in and bring it to a future show, but it'd be interesting to know how much profit there is in difference between the video game and the cards, because at the minute, since I know it has been it since COVID, but I feel like this year in 2025, I know so many people which are no, it's the cards for sure. Yeah, cards are going crazy. So that could have a big influence with it as well. And and they get away with it. I mean, it's still I really enjoy the game. I agree with both of your comments, I think they're correct. Um, however, for me, it's still it's an eight out of ten game, it's still a very good game. That's the main thing.
SPEAKER_00:Everyone on CNN said game saves it, you know. And I was watching Switch Up and they were saying, you know, they they've got away with this one because the gameplay is really good, it's a good game. Um, but their concerns are exactly what you guys were saying. Yes, it's you know, graphically it's very dated. If you play on the original Switch, the popping's quite bad, the textures are quite poor, but I said people will still buy it as Pokemon, and it's a good game, so yeah, it's that it's that sort of happy medium, I think. But have you planned been playing anything else, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:Or um, yes, I mean I played a snippet of um Cattle Country just because I saw someone, it was my friend, uh big shout out to Retro Rob if he's listening to this. I saw on Switch that he was playing a demo, and I said, Oh, I didn't know there was a demo, because obviously you talk about it, um, Ed talks about it, so does um Firm Returns, also Rip Returns. So I thought I'll I'll try that, but it didn't grip me straight away. And I thought, oh, what can I try playing? So I ended up playing about 15 to 20 minutes last night of Comic Zone, which um I'm sure we'll cover later on when we do the thank yous. Um but that is our challenge accepted for this month, hosted by Digital Monkery. So if anyone wants to join the free Discord, check the description uh notes of this show. There'll be a link to there. If the link has expired, because it does expire if you're listening to an old show, just message any of us um and we can get you in there. But yeah, it's basically get to the end of the first level, take a picture of your high score. Now, the reason why I haven't put a high score in, I had four goals last night and I couldn't complete the first level.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, don't feel bad, Comic Zone is is tough. I mean, I've got it for I've got the original on my Mega Drive, and uh yeah, it is it's a tough game, but yeah, it's a great challenge this month, but and a great great game to play as well. And good thing is, it's easily available if you've got a switch and you've got online us on there, so you can yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I was playing it on the um Mega Drive collection. Now, if anyone has got a Switch one, that is such good value for money. You can get it brand new for like£15,£20. Yeah, and it has got I know I spoke about it before, but it's got so many big Mega Drive games in there. They've got like Alien Soldier, Gun Star Heroes, these games original cost hundreds of pounds. So the money it's really, really worth it. But um, yeah, that's kind of all I've been playing. But um, what about yourself, RGT? What have you been playing this week?
SPEAKER_00:Um well, I had a not last week, week before. Obviously, I weren't on the show that was Seven George. Um, I had a bit of a I had a period where I was just in I I couldn't figure out what to play. So I was two minutes on this, downloading this, three minutes on it, and I was just that this ain't no good. I'm not playing anything here, nothing's sticking, nothing's clicking with me. Had a couple of days break, then um, I think it was a few days ago as of recording this. Um I thought, do you know what? Let's stop messing about. I played um Resistance on a PS3 and completed it just recently, and I thought, let's just jump in resistance to jump on there and start playing that. Um George said, Don't jump in too quick. You know, it's more of the same, you're gonna get a bit worried. It's more of the same, but I'm loving it because it's more of the same. Um and you can see by playing them that close. Obviously, one was a release packing game for the PS3, and this one's a couple of years later. You can see how they're finding their way with a system. Graphically, it looks so much better, it runs better, even though it wasn't bad before, but you can see the difference, it's a real step up. Um, really enjoying that two or three hours in. Um, I just really enjoy it. That's like as we'd say in the UK, I sort of a little version of Halo. It's it's just good fun. Do you know what I mean? And you pick these games up here in the UK for you know two, three pounds in CEX. Great little games. Um, and then also another game which has absolutely got us grips in me for the last three days, and this is the one, Scott. I said, I don't know if you heard of this, I know Seb will have probably heard of this because you know you're indies. Um but this is a game that cropped up because uh a YouTuber called Dreamcast Guy, I follow him on Instagram, and he was he was on his Instagram stories, it was him in the gym doing bits and pieces, and then he said, I can't stop playing this game. And this game, and I thought, Oh, I like look at that, googled it, was a roguelike. I thought, right Oh yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:His ears are perked up.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, just just just got released. I thought, right, that's okay. Oh, all right. If it just got released, well, it's been out, I think it's been out a couple of weeks, I believe. So not it's not been out long. Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_01:I know it yeah, yes it is.
SPEAKER_00:Get that man a cigar. This goats I I like my roguelikes, um and I'm quite picky with my roguelikes. Uh my my favourite of all time is Hades. Um but this this is close. This is a great game by Devolver Digital. You can download this now on Switch for 13, 49, I think, 14 bucks, um, or 15 bucks. Um basically, I'm gonna show my age a bit now. I would say the game is like a game called Seb will never heard of this game because he's far too young. But I don't Scott might know it. Have you heard of Game Ground on the Mega Drive? Game Ground. Game Ground.
SPEAKER_03:Basically, it's it doesn't ring a bell, but let me look at the front cover because that will my gain.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, game ground is basically you're a you're a single shooter, and it's an auto-scrolling screen down, and you have to work your way up shooting the auto scrolling. It's like that crossed with breakout, crossed with a bullet hell shooter. Everyone's probably listening to this who haven't heard of Bull X Pit thinking that sounds ridiculous. It is ridiculous, but it is so much fun. And basically, it's a roguelike you have to do like you do in Vampire Survivors, you have to collect your jewels, upgrade as you go on the fly, but you can long-term um upgrade your character as you go. But the thing that I love, Seb, about this have you played it yet, Seb?
SPEAKER_06:Oh yeah. Uh not only have I played it, I've lived and sleeped the ball. Tell me, tell me that.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you say that I I didn't want to join in and guessing the game because I've got RGT as a a close friend on my Switch online. And every time I put every time I put the thing on, it just keeps popping up. Same game, same game. Do you know what?
SPEAKER_00:I thought look, I've even been playing it waiting for you guys to come online. So um, yeah, and then it's good, it really and the thing I really like is they've they've they've taken what you think of a roguelike, the upgrades, the bits as you go, the fusion of weapons to you know make them more powerful, all that, which is all brilliant, we all love that, but they've tweaked little bits. So when you're out of the game screen and you're back in your home, you can you have a little village, and then while you're in your little village, you can add to it, you can harvest in it, and then you can you have your little workers and you fire them out like a pinball machine. So as they bounce off and harvest stuff, you then can gain characters and workers, and and I think that's a little mini-game within the game to help you in the game, if that makes sense. So clever.
SPEAKER_06:Um, it is, it is like the cult of the lamb isms of like you build your little community around, they help you in your runs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it it I mean, obviously, it's a I think it is just a switch game. I'm obviously playing on switch to that runs it runs flawlessly, it runs absolutely flawlessly.
SPEAKER_06:There's nah man, this is day one game pass as well. Like day one game pass, and it's been on PC for a while. Um, this is yeah, it is. I think it's everything now because I think it's just got a PlayStation.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I think it's just got a PlayStation everything at the moment, but yeah, definitely whatever system you're on. If you like a roguelik, you need to play this. Vinny, if you're listening in Brazil, I know you like your roguelikes, Vinny, because I've seen you playing your roguelikes. If you haven't played this yet, Ball X Pit, get it, get it downloaded, Vinny. You're gonna enjoy this. So yeah, it's it's very addictive.
SPEAKER_06:Um the publisher, by the way, was the publisher was Devolver's son. Um, the guy who created this initially, uh, initially was a guy named Kenny Smith. Uh Kenny's son, I'm sorry. Um, Kenny's son, and like you can he has this really cool, like almost like story that you can follow, um, to where you can see his evolution of what the game would initially was back in 2022, and how he developed it year over year into like this addicting juggernaut that it is now. And it's like you can kind of see the visuals from what it was at the very beginning, and like based on like the almost like the PowerPoint that he's made, and see how like the game has come together and like these the little patches and the notes he has, and it's such a cool like story to follow as well, if you're into like video game development and to see the journey of these games. But like one of the things I really like about Ballocks bit is like it is I think to maybe to be a good roguelike, I think you have to have like complexity, but with the most simplistic uh gameplay loop possible, if that makes sense. It's like and this has that in spades.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it has. I mean, we've all seen there's there's there's hundreds, if not thousands, of roguelike games out there, and uh just because it's a roguelike doesn't mean it's addictive. You you have to get the formula right. It's like it's like making a pie. If you want to make the very best pie, you need the ingredients to be right, and this is flawless, absolutely flawless. I I was trying to sit here be writing a few notes before recording this, thinking what can I say where there's going to be a negative about this game, and I cannot find a negative about this game. I think it runs brilliantly, I think the graphics are really nice, they're almost like a cell shaped.
SPEAKER_03:I've got one negative. What? If I can pipe up, there's no physical release, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Oh yeah, no, I can see that. There's also like yeah, I love how quirky the story started in the like in the beginning with um Bob Alon like falling and such like that. I thought it was really cool, but they don't really capitalize that on that. They kind of let that story beat like drop as you play the game. It's more about like the the roguelike gameplay in itself. And I kind of wish they would have kept that going because it was so cool to see like they had like ball like themes in every single layer of the game, including like the introduction narrative. Yeah, but yeah, outside of that, this game is like legitimately one of the best indie games this year.
SPEAKER_00:Well that doubt, it's it you know, I've I've played a quite a few games this year. I've this is gonna be in my Ponzi's, and it's gonna be quite high up in the Ponzies, I think. This is this is uh one of the best games I've played all year. It is absolutely fantastic. Bang for your buck, looks gorgeous, plays really well. That's got everything you want from a roguelike. If you play there's some roguelikes I played, and you do uh two or three runs and you sort of think, oh, I can't do this again. Do you know what I mean? They they flatten out, they you know, but this doesn't. This has just got you to go and to go and to go, and you just want to keep getting that that they've done it, so it's it's not brutally tough, but it is brutally tough. It's it's it'll if you can just get that that uh concoction of weapons just right, and you get that bit further, and you nearly get that boss, you are straight back on it. And they will they'll ease you in and pull the bait for you to you know to take that hook, and it's brilliant. Um it's a great game. It really is. I can't offer recommend it. Any system now it's on just have a look at Ball X Pit, but that is. Pretty much sorry, you're gonna say something, Scott.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, can I just ask a question for um just for Seb if that's alright? So obviously, this is Devolver um that have made this game. Obviously, you know he's talking about Cult of the Lamb, and it sounded similar when you said about the story and the way you go out of the list of the published it, they're they're not the original creators, they just published it. Oh, right, okay. Well, I was just gonna say, is there any other big roguelikes from Devolver other than Cult of the Lamb and this one? Is there any others that me and RGT should keep our ear ears out for?
SPEAKER_06:I mean Devolvers, I think, like Devolver, I think this is probably like their best game that they put out lately, but they've um they've been killing it as far as like a publisher this year by putting like sneaky, uh sneaky cool indies, like um baby steps was Devolver. You know, like um did y'all hear about baby steps? It was very almost like that it had that fable, um fable European style humor to where you're playing as a giant man, but he has like little legs.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, I did hear about that. I haven't played it, but I did hear about it.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, it came out like um a couple weeks ago. But it looks really scary, uh Sam. That guy steps, it's it it's freaky more than it's like humor's freaky. I would say it's like freaky. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I would say it's more because I think this is more like when you actually play the game, it's more fable-esque as far as like its like tone and humor, because like you going it goes for a lot of like cheeky jokes. It does talk about like it's also like a lot of like I would say parallels to life and a lot of like these symbolisms that they're trying to like tell in the story. But like um, when you're playing as Nate and you're using the analog sticks, um, I think you should definitely play this on your dual sense if you have one, because like seeing the feedback to where like each step you do is like R2 L2, R2 L2, and like you're trying to juggle out moving your obesely top heavy character with these little baby legs uh right to left, and it's that one's pretty fun. Um, but yeah, I think like um you were talking about Devolver Digital. Um, they put out um Plucky Squire, they put out Neva, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Look, it's some big games that even carry on things you forget about. My friend Pedro, exit the gun.
SPEAKER_06:Gunbrella. They've so they put out a lot. I think like he's oh yeah, yeah, for sure. You mentioned roguelikes though, um, and RGV. I didn't mean to step over you on what you've been playing, but no, no, no. I wanted to uh bring this up since you were talking about you kind of had a little bit of uh um a lapse in your gaming appetite on stuff you might might want to play. Nothing quite caught you until you hit Bollocks Bollock's um pit. But like, have you heard of the good word of Megabonk?
SPEAKER_00:No.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, let me pitch you on this game, and because I know you have a news segment that you want to get to real quick. I'll I'll try to hit this with 60 seconds or less. So Megabonk. Imagine vampire survivors, it's but it's 3D, it looks like Minecraft almost, but it's 3D, and you are going running around, you're smashing through endless waves of enemies, just like vampire survivors. You have these boss fights that look like in those 64 boss fights, you still have that same loop of vampire survivors to where every enemy you kill leads like a little pellet. But in and but like each character, each enemy looks like a I would probably say looks like a retro, um, retro style graphics in 64 graphics. Yeah, for sure. So I'm like I think you would love this RGT, you know, like it's a rum, like what's up that is noted in my book, ready to download. Oh my goodness, make it a good one. Is it on everything's um I played this on PC, so let me do a double check. So, because I was like, I think this is one that you would absolutely adore.
SPEAKER_03:It looks like the next craze for kids, it really does. I don't think it's on Switch.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, so it's on it's on um Xbox, it looks like Xbox Cloud, Xbox PC, and Xbox Gaming, and then it's on PC as well. So I think uh I for sure think this will will be like your next big wave of like that big indie game that's gonna get popular whenever it goes to um Switch and PS5 and such like that. But I think like one of the cool things I I think you'll like about this is like it has that same loop, the exact same loop as Vampire Survivors, to where like you pick a character, your character starts off with the intro weapon, you know, you kill enemies, they drop pellets, you continuously get stronger, you choose your path by choosing your uh weapon upgrades or like the different upgrade or the different style of weapons you want to upgrade to, but you also pick like ability upgrades as well. So like um increasing damage, increasing like fall damage fall damage resistance because like you're in a 3D setting now, so that means there's fall damage, you know, like because you have a jump button. Yeah, so yeah, and increasing the damage you do to bosses because like there's like as opposed to vampire survivors, um, vampire survivors, I think, had a really cool thing to where it progressively got harder. But I think like one of the things that I think this game improves on that formula with is that there's constant mini bosses that you fight in every level as well, and each one of those mini bosses might lead you with something that might increase your character on one run or increase your like all your characters permanently with this stat. So it's like, but you also have like very specific goals that you might do per run, as far as like, oh, I might find um this run is all about finding the demon door in this level, and it's uh like I need to focus on finding that demon door, or you could like say, Hey, I'm going to do like these 10 micro objectives that it has in the main menu, and that'll give me like a 20% boost in different categories. So I'm like, I think it's like it takes vampire survivors, it does the same formula, micro improvements, and it does it in 3D. Brilliant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's and that's mega bonk. Yeah, that's a brave shout gun 3D as well. But obviously, that's probably the next progression of these roguelikes, I think, anyway. So that'd be nice to see how that plays. And yeah, definitely looking forward to that. Thanks for that, Seb.
SPEAKER_03:Um, anything else you played RGT this week?
SPEAKER_00:Or no, that's pretty much it for me at the moment. That's just those two games who've got the hooks onto me. So um, I think I'll hand over and see uh see what Seb has been playing.
SPEAKER_06:No, um, I I've been playing a little bit of Megabonk Outer Worlds. Um, if you heard the last show, Outer Worlds is like a game I'm tentatively kind of playing. I like it, don't love it, but I think it's like it's more of the same. So if you like the first one, you'll like Outer Worlds too. If you didn't like the first one, you're probably going to think see the improvements, but not necessarily love the actual game itself. Been playing Ballocks Pit. I'm a roguelike Sicko, so I've been playing that. Um there is a cool little a couple of like games that are coming out that I've been playing that are, you know, I I will disclose as soon as they drop and and you know hit that review for those. But then there's um a couple of nice cool like indies that I've been playing. I've I got to Ghost of Yote as well. Um I think that game's absolutely great. What you liked about the first game, you'll love about this one. I've Kingdom Come Deliverance Um 2 is one I've been trying to slowly work my way through. And it's a game that I'm trying to because I know it's in the game of the year discussion across the board. So I'm trying to actually like play a lot of these game of the year's um nominees. And of course, I've been playing what I think is probably like my favorite sequel of all time, and that's Hades 2. So that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER_00:I haven't I'm waiting for me physical to turn up with that 22nd of November. So good switch to so good. I can't wait. Yeah, I'm gonna have to have a Hades night, I think, with my mate.
SPEAKER_03:So uh who did you order through uh RGT, if you mind me asking?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I think I'm with Amazon. I think I think I'm with Amazon, yeah. No, have you have you ordered the physical of that, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:To be honest with you, mate, I was just gonna hang around your letterbox on the morning of 22nd of November. And I was going to rob the Amazon man.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. So uh please.
SPEAKER_04:What were you gonna wear on your your robbery attempt? Were you gonna have like a link costume?
SPEAKER_03:I'd probably wear a George mask.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a good show, good show. Ring doorbell. George has done it. Yeah, but um, yeah, brilliant. Oh, cheers for that, guys. And I think we have to uh jump onto what we normally say, and it's uh we've scoured the very darkest regions of the internet to bring you this week's news first up. This is over on Push Square by you know who it's gonna be Sammy Barker, good friend of the show. Um this is only dropped, this news is dropped yesterday as recording, but it's gonna be four or five days old by the time the show comes out on a Sunday, and you're listening to this, and that is these are all 2,800 PS5 games you can stream directly to your portal now. A PS Portal, a gargantuan game changing update, is beginning to roll out around the world, allowing you to stream over 2800 games directly to the device. You'll need a PS Plus premium subscription to take advantage of this feature. But if you're a paying member, then you'll be able to dig deep into your catalogue, streaming games directly from Sony's servers without even needing to turn on your PS5. This opens up a ton of new options for the accessory. It means you can play your games while a friend or family member is using your console with a different account, or it means you can access your library from anywhere in the world as long as you have a good internet connection. You'll need to have purchased games outside of PS plus a premium catalogue, um, but with over 2800 uh titles currently supported, you should find a large chunk of your collection covered. And if you're wondering which titles are currently primed for streaming in the US, then we have compiled the complete list below. Do keep in mind if you don't own a PS portal, you can also stream these releases directly to your PS5 as well. Obviously, I won't go through two all 2,800 games, but if you're interested in what games are there, check out the story over on um push square um and Sammy Barker. I mean, this sort of came out of the blue for me, guys. Um, I haven't got a PS portal, it's never really appealed to me, but as it's got better and the updates have been dropping and has slowly got better and better. I thought, hmm, that's quite an interesting, interesting thing. Could I use it? I don't know. I know George loves his PS portal. He's had so much game time with his. I think you've got one as well, haven't you, Scott? Have you got one?
SPEAKER_03:I have, mate. Yeah, I've got a very good deal on it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Have you got a portal, Seb?
SPEAKER_06:No, I I didn't. Um, but there before you continue, there is a part two to this story as well. It just released today. Um, big story in the U um in the US that broke um from hackers um involving involving like this Sony Sony story. So this is kind of like I wanted to read this part out to you because I do think it leads in heavily to what we're talking about right now. Sony reportedly working on cross by feature for unified gamer ownership between PlayStation 5 and PC. Leaked icons indicate Sony's answer to Xbox Play Anywhere is coming, and this is coming from um the New York Times and Tom Um TomsHardware.com, two legitimate gaming um news sites. IGN is reporting on the story as well, it looks like. So it in light of all this, they're bringing a lot of these games to um the portal as well, you know, in their premium membership, but they're also having a new crossby button that they're working for, an icon that they're working for, with PlayStation and I guess PC, or is this a indication for cross by with PlayStation 6 being sooner than we thought, or a new handheld? Um, like what are all this?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, there's been a lot of rumors about the new handheld and whether this is they're almost saying was the portal a test ground for the new handheld? Because I mean Sonia said the portal sold way more than they expected.
SPEAKER_03:Um but that's how I think is because people thought this is what the portal done in the first place. This is uh don't be wrong, this is low-key big news, but the reason why I got my portals so cheap is because everyone was selling them on vintage, which is our second hand thing that we do in the UK. But every everyone was selling them because everyone thought it this is what it did at launch, but it didn't.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's that's a that's a good bit of advice there. Read the small print guys.
SPEAKER_06:Um but now to be fair, you can find it for$80 here as well. Like the resale market was very high on these.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean I I have I've had a go on one, I've tried one, they're very well made.
SPEAKER_03:Obviously, you've got that screen's fantastic, the screen's better than the switch.
SPEAKER_00:Screen's really good, it's got them, it's got a brilliant, obviously, with the dual sense controller, best controller ever made, in my opinion. You know, either end, you know. Um, so it's got all the elements there, but it just sort of put me off with the streaming, and I thought, is that gonna be a bit glitchy? Is it gonna be latency? Is it you know, how's it gonna play? But that's been improved as it's gone on. Um, I know two or three people have got them, and just say if there is latency, you don't really notice any. It's very good, as long as you've got stable internet, it's good. Now, with this option of just getting you know, they're now doing this new home screen on it as well, which has got a scale down PS5 home screen that looks nice now, and you can just click through, click a game, and away you play. I mean it's uh it does look good. I mean, it's gonna really appeal to the people who already got uh a um a PlayStation Premium um subscription. Yeah, and also put some value in that because you don't have to leave that PS5 in in uh rest mode if you're Warn Holiday now. You know, you can play the games on the go and leave your leave your PS5 at home. So um yeah, I I do like this.
SPEAKER_06:I think going back to what Seb said, um cross by button now that they're working on what does that mean for PlayStation?
SPEAKER_00:I I don't me personally, I don't think that'll be for the six, not yet. Um either I don't think it'll be for the six yet. I think the earliest we'll see the six is the 27, 2027. I I still think there was there was a patent a few years ago for that Sony had lodged for um some handheld um um what can I say um handheld devices which people thought would be what this is, the portal, but they were quite different. And I still think this was a the portal is a bit of a test ground for a handheld, which I think may have I don't know if that'll be physical media, but you'll be able to download on it, I'll have a hard drive, you'll be able to play. But I think they wanted to make sure that they can do a really good cloud streaming device. That's where that's where Xbox would go, and I think they wanted one that's gonna do both, and I think this is the test ground for that for that streaming cloud side of a of a handheld.
SPEAKER_06:Here's my my my thoughts on this with the the cross by combining with, and this is why I say that I think they're both related stories, is because like I think with the premium now being able to play any relatively majority of a lot of the games you you own if you're a mainline, I would say like a mainstream you know PlayStation gamer. Um, because this this is mostly catered to a lot of those main mainstream core PlayStation games. Um I would say the crossby on top of that news makes me feel like they're leaning heavily into what they've already been dabbling in, which is like trying to put a lot of their games on PC. Because I like I think we're past the days of any provider across the board having a crossby for a portable version of a game versus having a console version of a game, you know? So I think like with the Switch, I don't think I don't think Nintendo's ever gonna get away, uh get like back to having a portable, um, portable version of a console, like a 3DS or like a th like a DS successor, um, versus having an all-in-one. I don't think Xbox is for sure just gonna have their games everywhere, and going forward, they're gonna be Xbox play anywhere version of those games. I don't think PlayStation is gonna take that step back and say, like, hey, we're doing a handheld version of FIFA versus a nice, yeah, a nice PC version of FIFA. So I think this is like leaning a lot to say, hey, we're making our infrastructure now to where like not just for the portal, you can now stream our PlayStation games everywhere, including the PCs you already own. And now you can also we when you buy a game on whether or not they do a place dedicated PlayStation PC store, or you buy it on Steam, it comes with the cross button and the the cross buy button now to where like you own that game on Steam and you own that game on PlayStation. Yeah, I think so I think that's where they're leaning.
SPEAKER_00:I think I think you're 100% there. I think you are right. Yeah, I did see I was looking, um I can't remember what site I was reading this story on yesterday, and there was a few comments in the comments section underneath, and a guy from America on there, he put it in perspective for me. He said you can sign up to PlayStation Premium, which I think is uh in in the US is at 20 bucks a month, I believe, or 18 bucks a month.
SPEAKER_06:PlayStation Premium, I think adds up to yeah, I think around 14040, or so around 144. So I think that is around 20, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and he said you can you can sign up for PS Premium and buy a portal, and in the first year uh it's the same price as having games pass Ultimate for a year.
SPEAKER_06:You can actually buy a portal and probably even cheaper if I'm being honest.
SPEAKER_03:That is the market in there.
SPEAKER_00:And I suddenly thought and I thought, no, surely he's not right, and I worked it out and I thought, no, he's bang on for what you can buy if you bought a brand new portal and you signed up PS Premium, what that adds up to in a year is less than what Game Pass Ultimate is.
SPEAKER_06:And I thought, oh just yeah, just it being 360 now,$360 for Game Pass Ultimate.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's yeah, and that's even more where I started thinking. That's not like do I need a PS portal, I don't do I want a PS ball? I'm starting to think, oh but then I've got the switch to, oh I don't know. But anyway, here it is.
SPEAKER_03:I was just gonna say, out of those 2,000 games, obviously like RGT sip, we can't say them all, but I'll just drop half a dozen in case anyone is interested. Because they have they have dropped some bangers, it's not like Game Pass Indie games. We've got Astrobot, Ghost of Yotai, GTA 5, Res Evil 4, Cyberpunk, God of War, Ragnarok, Hogwarts, Last of Us Part 3. There is some no GTA 5 bit, there is some big games on there. It's not like they've just put on loads of sound games. These are big blockbuster hits.
SPEAKER_00:And and a big game.
SPEAKER_06:I would say outside of those PlayStation exclusives, like all those are on Game Pass, though, too. So I'm like, I I do think like the PlayStation catalogue is what really makes that shine because I'm like, I feel like they put out the best games of the generation outside of you know like the Switch.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, well you got two now, but yeah, you've got you've got the Rogue Rogue Ally. You got the Rogue Ally Xbox edition, which is I know it's certain games you can't play on that, but it's yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It's it's but on the streaming side you can play everything. It's the you can't only certain games you can't play natively. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but I do think George was right the other day, this is all a bit doing a full circle to when they released the Wii. PlayStation panicked, Xbox panicked, Connect come out, PlayStation Move come out, and this seems again they've done the Switch now that with the Switch, now done Switch 2, selling like absolute hotcakes at the moment, and then they're thinking right, copy Nintendo, we need handouts, we need handouts quick, and it just seems this it seems a similar story, just with different tech, but you know, we'll see. We'll see what happens, see what happens with the portal. I think this is this they've dropped this November ready for Christmas to see if I can get another push on portals portal side.
SPEAKER_03:I was I was thinking for Christmas from the last show, listening to George and Seb, I was starting to think, do I sell my Xbox and uh get a Steam Deck? Because I never use my Xbox. Like if I was gonna go from Switch, I've got a PS5 and an Xbox, I'll just choose one. I don't need both, and I just feel like obviously, with the premium subscription stuff being cheaper and in the dual sense controller being better with the feedback, um, all these little things just edging me now towards PlayStation. I've done that. There is gonna be no future console for Xbox. I'm thinking now's probably the time to sell it because soon it's gonna start to devalue.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've done a similar thing. I've been very, very close to trading my Series X in because I just haven't been using it. Trading in, getting myself a Steam Deck. Uh, a friend at work's got one and he he loves it to bits, even uses it as his own PC, he's got a dock for everything.
SPEAKER_04:It's good.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and I was just thinking, not only then, I've I've moved more from AAA games to indie games over the last couple of years. And where do indie games launch first? They launch on Steam.
SPEAKER_03:So basically, we're all slowly converting into Seb's children of the Corn. That's what it sounds like.
SPEAKER_06:Oh, join me, my children. Join me. We'll follow. Together, we're a rural gaming.
SPEAKER_03:That'll be the law for 2026. We'll be children of Seb's Corn. That's what's going on.
SPEAKER_00:But it's I'm very close to it at the moment. So uh, yeah, I'll over the next few weeks I'll think I'll have to make my decision on that. But yeah, we'll see.
SPEAKER_03:I'll be close, but me and Retro Ed were talking about it. It's literally the same story on the way back from Play Expo. We were saying, do we bite the bullet now? We're looking at where the best place to sell it is.
SPEAKER_06:Honestly, between you two, y'all are y'all are similar in your gaming palettes, but then y'all have like differences as well. So, like I would say for RGT, I would say if y'all were to do the the Xbox training in for like a handheld PC of any type, I would say for RGT Steam Deck, and I'd say for you, Scott, based on your palette, since you already are so um switch heavy, but you also like playing in that ecosystem with like and you're used to the switch controller layout, I would say the MSL MSI claw might be better for you as well, because like it has detached um Joy-Cons as well. So I'm like, you get that kind of feeling, and also like so many of the cool, like retro, retro style, like EA specific boxing games are like really good on that claw.
SPEAKER_04:Really good.
SPEAKER_06:So I'm like, I think I think like for you, you might actually like that claw RGT, whereas you are now leaning so heavily into like the ethos and like the ecosystem of like indie games. I would say like that Steam Deck is like you know, it's goaded for that. And plus, like if you were to get rid of your Xbox, stop paying for Game Pass, there is a we there is like a subscription I was telling George about. They have a free tier and then they have a premium tier for PC gamers. A lot of PC handle gamers are using this, and it's basically GeoForce now where you can basically have a high it streams a high-end version of a PC to your house and to your like hand and handle.
SPEAKER_00:I never knew that.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so like say you want to run Cyberpunk on max settings, it you can do it on very high settings, and it's like a high like a high PC version on your on your Steam Deck. That's brilliant. So I'm like that Steam Deck, even though it's now older and starting to show limitations to its hardware personally, with that like software, it allows it to basically run like a I would probably say like a thousand dollar PC in your house without you having to spend like the thousand dollars outright.
SPEAKER_00:Super So it's really cool. It's definitely food for thought that definitely. Um but yeah, we'll move on to you know, Scott, what you got there? Something from Nintendo, I I would imagine.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we're all playing our part in this uh play. I'll be the villain with the Nintendo as always. So I think you're awesome. This is from NintendoLife.com from Oli Reynolds, and this again is fresh um news, so it'll be just about 72 hours prior to you guys listening to this. So Square Enix aims to automate 70% of QA with generative AI by 2027. Um, so let me just get this article up. So Square Enix has laid out plans to automate 70% of QA and debugging tasks with generative AI by 2027. This comes via a progress report on the Company Debouts and Awakens business plan, in which it hopes it turns its fortunes around and becomes a true industry leader. It states that it has initiated a partnership with the Matasuo Iwasawa Laboratory at the University of Tokyo aimed at improving the efficiency of game development processes through AI technologies. So, as part of this, Square Enix are looking to do the 70% of QA, and that's debugging tasks with AI in hopes to improve its efficiency and establish a competitive advantage in game development. So the partnership is currently comprised of researchers from said U Tokyo uh laboratory. I won't try saying that and butchering it again, and engineers from the Square Enix group, resulting in a team of over 10 members. Now, promoting AI utilisation Japan. Initiation of joint research from this laboratory at the University of Tokyo, aimed at improving the efficiency. It keeps repeating the same blimming thing here, company wide business idea contest held under the theme of AI with several um selected ideas developed into projects and currently being so. This is all just business uh and boardroom talk. So, I mean, let's get down to the nitty-gritty of it. I mean, personally, for me, this isn't something that I'm massively shocked on. I think this is just something that everyone uh which it will go to, I think, inevitably for most industries, and uh obviously gaming, of course, it's gonna get there sooner than later. Um, the fact that this is made a news, I suppose Square Enix are a huge company. Um, they're banging out a lot of games, probably a lot of staff. So I guess that's an understatement. Is it is that an understatement?
SPEAKER_06:I was gonna say Yeah, they bang out like 20 games every quarter, it feels like.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, there's so many of them. So I'm just wondering, is it because they've got the resources to do so? They're like flexing on other developers, like they're trying to take a lead in it, or are they guinea pigging it? It's just fast task in it. I mean, if they're already dropping 20 um RPGs every quarter, I mean we might end up seeing 50 now, yes, if it's speeding things up.
SPEAKER_00:I think this um I think they've sort of took the step where they've sort of been a bit more open with it, where a few companies have been a bit this isn't a popular decision, so people aren't gonna like this. AI is what's out there, but people aren't like Square Inks thought, well, look, come on, let's be the first one to put her feet in the ring and say, Look, here we go. We're we're gonna be doing this. And it looks like from the I might be wrong, obviously. I've never had no history in development. Um, but those tasks look like the grindy, time consuming tasks that yeah, it's it's a tour at the end of the day, to take those.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, if you're not gonna use it, I mean it'd be foolish not to, because why would you think that's it?
SPEAKER_06:I think the argument against it in the industry is like you just took away five jobs from like one for like five jobs for like you so you had QA testers and QA um regulators and like QA developers as well, whose sole jobs are to find bugs, layouts, uh like UI bugs, and all that kind of stuff that you took basically, you wiped 80 to I would say 120 to 80,000 on the low end, maybe even like$60,000 a year jobs, and you took like five of those off the board, makes your help shit makes shareholders happy, but then like you put five people on the unemployment line, I guess, is the other thing.
SPEAKER_03:No, if you look at it, there's two there's two sides of that because you could say, right, so they're saying 70% of um the QA is gonna be done with AI. So you could let's just say it's one for one. So let's say 70% of people in that in that department have lost their jobs, and it seems if you look at it from that point of view, yeah, it's terrible and we hate when things change, right? But yeah, uh I mean, I don't know, surely it's gonna just make things better because I mean, how many times, how many times do we have games come out, right? We complain they're broken, that they're buggy, they have to patch them, we say it didn't used to be like this. How many testers do they need and they still can't get it right? So if this is yes, it affects those people, and it's sad if there is people that lost their jobs. However, look at the wider community and the wider audience, like really it's Be the consumer that we're worried about and caring about. If we can deliver a better product and improve the service, then let's do that. Yes, some people might lose some jobs, but if it's effectiveness, and I also think that's how it's worded as well.
SPEAKER_00:I think they've worded this cleverly because one of the big concerns of AI in gaming is you're taking people's artistic license away. People have these artistic stories and graphics, what they want to put and put their put their artwork basically into a digital game. Um they've worded this as QA and debugging, so they're almost saying, look, we're gonna be using AI, we're not gonna be taking away from the the dev guys there, you know. They're all right, we're just doing it on this side. We're not, you know, it's cleverly worded, not to say overall, it's just in that area. Um it's there's two there's fours for both. I see it from both sides. Yes, people are gonna be losing their jobs, but then if it makes Square Enix more efficient and the end product even better, is it actually a system? Can you put then more people on another side of the you know, artistic side? Yeah, you know, it's it's you might be shifting people over, taking them off these jobs which could be done by AI and putting them into where you need them more, so it could work that way, but I I don't know. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Had to be a Japanese studio do it first, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_06:Well, Microsoft announced they were doing it as well, you know. Like they announced, but then they're trying to, you know, basically nullify a lot of the pushback by saying, Well, we're gonna start on non-gaming essential tasks, like minimal task, many, yeah. So like they're trying to like push push this as well, but then like on the other side, I do get what you're saying, Scott. Like, you know, like it's gonna happen eventually, job loss is sad, consumers, this might be better. If but like I think the other side of it is is like the main comp complaint for a lot of gamers is also like okay, so you had cr you put these guys on crunch because you move you stuck with a development cycle for a game that felt bloated to and to begin with, and then like instead of making that game a smaller, is smaller, more insular game, you added more and more and more and more, and each iteration you add more, add more, add more, but then you keep the timeline the same. So I'm like, there's more work for like QA and all that kind of stuff that they would have never gotten to, anyways. So, like for Assassin's Creed, for instance, with like Assassin's Creed Shadows, um, for instance, you had um two iterations of like open world Assassin's Creed games that came out with in this latest iteration. They added a day-night cycle, they added um two protagonists, they added the ability to have like 18 weapon types, and then you also added a hunting system and a you know, like a bounty system that you didn't have in the previous games, but you you tried to keep the timeline of that development relatively the same. Like is that how does a QA like how does four QA keep people keep up with like the bloat of like a higher ambitious scope in the same in a similar timeline? You get what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And so it's like, and then when you file you like you try to reassign like a QA person in into like another part of game development, but like they're not software developers, you know, like they're qa testers, they're not software developers, they're not marketing, they're not UI UI designers to where they're designing like the different UI screens, like in persona and stuff like where you see all the menus and such like that. Um you have no choice but to lay them off, you know. So it's like it feels like all this could have been nullified if like maybe your scopes were adjusted, or maybe like the project instead of like it being a grander project, if maybe it was more streamlined project, which is kind of like why Expedition 33 this year is being so celebrated for a lot of people, because like this is it was such a like precise vision, it was so it's a smaller scale. It's what Final Fantasy and what people have been saying we want in Final Fantasy. It's like former Ubisoft developers coming to make this very, very precise vision, and they didn't blow the scope up, they just kept everything in line. And it's also people who were laid off from other places saying, Hey, we want to do this and do this in a cleaner way, to where like there's not a whole lot of loss, that we have like our eyes on the ball, that we're not expanding more than we need to, and we're trying to prove ge uh gearma, like ease gearma, like wrong in the sense that games don't need to necessarily be the biggest thing possible, they just need to be the best thing in a vision, you know. So I'm like, there's a lot of ways to look at it though.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, definitely. And I'll just hope uh AI don't start doing podcasts.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, they already are. Did you see the um AI girl girl who's like uh taking over the billboard charts? Mate, I it's coming.
SPEAKER_03:Is the music's going soon? Yeah, I mean, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I just think also final statement on this. I think some say I always good, some say oh it's bad. Yes, it's it helps the business in some way and developers in some way. You know, I know there's lots of jobs. That's just hope, like anything else, use it responsibly. Because I think if you then start thinking, oh hang on, we can get rid of them and use it there, we can use them personally. I think the I think the product and the quality will drop. So use it where you need it and sparingly for now. Don't everyone go all in, because I think AI games compared to you know a well thought out, as you say, Expedition 33 streamlined, had a vision, made that game, smashed it out of the park. If if AI can do that in a few years, then yeah, I think people will be in trouble, but I don't think it's there yet, nowhere near. So yeah, we'll see. We're gonna see this mark hot under the colour.
SPEAKER_06:One of the one of the biggest AI releases to come out, like, is where winds meet. It's that have y'all seen heard about this game? Yeah, yeah. It's yeah, the game that sort of looks like Ghost of Ghost of Tsushima and Ghost of Yote meets like Assassin's Creed, and that's heavily gonna see how like the winds are gonna blow because that's also free to play as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that's just almost sort of an experiment in it to see see how it's accepted and how it plays. But yeah, yeah, we'll see. So uh yeah, watch out and see what happens. But yeah, final bit of news then over to you, then Seb. I believe you got a bit from uh pure Xbox there.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, um, so looks like we got a news that is kind of zany, kind of crazy, and over the top, all in one, you know, like all in one. So um, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are going to Pure Xbox for this one where they are talking about a GTA clone about farting frogs that has reached the top paid charts on Xbox. This is absolutely crazy. Um, it's amazing frog. Um, if you've seen the trailer, you you would know this is absolutely mind-boggling. But like this game sort of looks almost like a version of Frogger meets GTA meets like Saints Roll all in one, and it's absolutely mind-boggling. Like, you have major games out here, by the way, people, from Battlefield 6 to Arc Raiders to EA Sports and like EA Sports 26, and all those are on the charts as well, but none of them quite have the high of this frog-like game. Everybody, so what is this? So, well, Amazing Frog is a GTA clone and it's set in Swindon, um, UK of all places. Is that a real place, by the way?
SPEAKER_00:Swindon, yeah. Yeah, I don't know that. Oh, I'll be honest with you, I don't know why you'd set a game Swindon. No, no offense adds to the comedy, yeah. Yeah, no, no offense to people, Swindon, but that's either Swindon or Slaugh, I think, and that would have been a bad hit.
SPEAKER_06:But that is crazy. So it features farting um ragdog frogs. This game has been in early release for 11 years on Steam and is finally making its Xbox debut. You might be questioning what's led to the impressive climb up to the up the paid, top paid charts on Xbox charts, but we think it we think we have the answers for you. The charts seem to have to take a free trial downloads into account, and Amazing Frog has one. In other words, it may not be selling as well as the chart suggests, but it's still generating interest without a doubt. Um, that means you can try the game for free if you fancy it. Just go to its um Xbox store page and hit free trial button. Alternatively, this is available for$22.99, aka$22.99.
SPEAKER_03:This is a mobile game, Seth. I thought that was a cheaper mobile game, or am I talking nonsense?
SPEAKER_06:I don't know. I've only I've only known this from Steam, and the only reason this was on my radar like early prior to like this new this game blowing up on Xbox is because like do y'all remember Schedule One that came out earlier this year that took the world by storm? It was like that GTA clone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. With um so this game sort of felt like when you played Schedule One a lot for a lot of people when is Steam will like say, Hey, you played this game, you want to try out this game, and this is one that popped up underneath it.
SPEAKER_03:So it to me, I think like sorry, it's$7.99 on the Apple store if you want it home. Oh wow. Yeah, which isn't bad at all.
SPEAKER_06:No, not bad at all. I think this game can run on anything, including a toaster.
SPEAKER_03:So it's one of those I thought you were gonna say a switch then. I was about to lean through that monitor and grab you.
SPEAKER_06:No, no, no, no, no. I I'm I'm not trying to downplay the switch too much in this episode. I matter of fact, before we continue on Amazing Frog, I want to give you, I want to take this moment out, give you some give you some sweet nasty love with a switch. I think Nintendo did a very good decision this past week when they announced Animal Crossing New Horizons Switch 2 edition, where they basically said you have the they added the new camera updates, they added the new um, you can talk to the villagers, you can um you have a new hotel that you can manage, and all they did all this for five pounds or five US dollars. Yeah, and so I'm like, that's one of the rare instances to where I feel like I need to just stop what I'm doing, give Nintendo some credit. I feel like they made a good consumer-friendly decision by only making that five pounds for the switch to update. And they also made 4k upgrade, 4K um 60 F piss for the Switch 2 version. So shout out to Nintendo for that. I think, but back on the Amazing Frog, uh, what do y'all guys think about this? Do you think like these type of games, Schedule 1, Amazing Frog, are blowing up because there's such an appetite for a GTA like game right now?
SPEAKER_00:I think I I'm sort of in this I find this this is why I put this news in here because yes, it's it I haven't played it. You know, hit me up in community corrections if you're gonna say, Oh, GT, you're missing the hidden gem here. This game is absolutely superb. I'm thinking I am I'm not, but I don't know. The reason I find this uh a strange story is with all what's going on at Xbox at the moment, and they're saying they're not selling enough games, but then they've sort of butchered their own market with Games Pass and all the rest of it, and all what's going on, then suddenly it comes out as their best selling game is a mobile game about farting frogs based on a GTA game, and you're just like what is going on? I don't know if this says more about what people are playing, whether it's people's budgets, or it says more about Xbox that this is top of the charts as the best selling game on Xbox. I just find it odd, and I mean seems quite steep money-wise for me. You know, if this is a mobile game, I think 28 bucks seems quite steep to me for that. But I don't know, I haven't played it. If you have, let us know on the Discord bits and pieces. I just found it a strange story. You didn't expect, you know, when you've got like PlayStation at the moment with you know, Ghost of Yotai, and all those games are going to be up there in the charts as they're best selling at the moment, yet on Xbox you've got fart and frogs. You know, what is going on? It just seems just seems strange. But I mean, have any of you guys played this or do you find it a strange story? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think it's I've I personally, I mean, I might just be having a stab in the dark here. I just feel like it's a trending thing. You get these random games that I just see from I've got some friends with uh you know sons and daughters at a certain age, and there's always a hot topic or game they're playing that everyone's playing at the school for a month, then it's another one, and every time I see them, I go, Oh, you're still playing that? No, I'm playing this one now. I just think sometimes you have streamers playing a particular game and then it ends up trending on Twitch or whatever they're using to stream it on, and then everyone jumps on it. And I just feel like it'd be interesting to check, make a note to ourselves, and then look at the charts of this in four weeks' time and see if it's plummeted. Because I just wonder if it is it one of those things that's just rose to the top and everyone's just playing it for a hotel.
SPEAKER_00:Maybe it's the certain demographic. You have an Xbox that these certain Twitch streamers have been playing this, and that's the demographic just hit, and they got loads of followers.
SPEAKER_03:You know, like Goat Simulator, where it just everyone was playing Goat Simulator streaming online, and that's a break point, and then everyone's threw it to one side, and then yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, maybe what do you think, Seth? Surely it's got been one your indie hidden gems, isn't it?
SPEAKER_06:No, no. Um, no, there's there's a lot. Like Scott was saying, um, I do think like we're in an era right now to where there's so many um, I would say zeitgeist moment games, like pop culture, Zeitgeist moment. Everybody wants to be there for the latest and greatest things, and I think that's great for indie games, you know. Like um, one of the major games I think that's taken over over the last couple of weeks is a game called Are We uh Like Are We There Yet, which is a game where you're just uh where you and a couple of friends are just driving RVs.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but you know, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06:And it's like it's a sensation game to where like you're there, you're um there for a moment. I don't think like this game is just gonna take over the world for like the long haul, but it's like it gets in, finds a good niche and a good audience, and then gets out and does what it needs to do. And I've like, I I wonder, you know, with um this fart and frog sensation, I wonder like what Scott's saying, if that's a thing to where it's popular because like it's um it's one of the things that's hitting a very niche audience with the Xbox audience, because like I'm looking on Steam right now and looking at the top of the charts. It's not here on the top of the charts, but that's because like it's a murderous row of like there's so many cool like trending games right now on Steam. So I'm like, it might be like a it's hitting at the right place, right time for the right audience on the right platform. Um you know, and or it might be one of those things to where like it's just everyone right now is has an appetite for a lot of people have an appetite for smaller, cooler, more defined experiences as well. We're in that type of era as well. So I'm like, it's really cool to see see this game take off, but I don't necessarily know how long if it's here for a good time or a long time, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Can I just say RV there yet looks like a proper RGT and George game to be fair? Because you guys love that snow runner and mud runner, and I tell you what, it looks like that, but with a bit of co-op I think they love it.
SPEAKER_04:I really do think they'd absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00:That's like you say about that game. I mean, I only knew about that game, Seb, because I think I was watching GameSpot on YouTube, and they said the presenter said to the other presenter, What are you playing? Oh, I'm playing RV there, yeah. Oh, that's really good fun, blah blah blah. That's how I knew. So you just need a presenter on a game show, or you need a Twitch streamer to stream it, and suddenly it then becomes that that game that everyone wants for them month, two months. Do you know what I mean? Gets in sells the swappies it needs and it gets tagged.
SPEAKER_03:That's what's great about indie games is you can take a punt on it because you're only spending 10 bucks, you haven't got to commit and think, right, I'm spending 50-60 quid. You know, you can take a punt on a game and then you can play it for four hours, or you can play it for 20 hours, it doesn't matter. Yeah, so that's the beauty of indie games.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, and it's like it really is. It's like, and it's really cool to see like all these people like get behind certain smaller experiences with this. Like, um, one of the games that I I mentioned to George over the last couple of weeks, Dispatch, that superhero workplace comedy game. Where that's that's really cool. Yeah, so that they've just put out episode five and six, and you know, this this past week, and it's one of those zeitgeist games to where I think like it's number two on Steam right now, and I think it was in the top 15 on PlayStation, but it's like a game that feels like it's hidden at the right place, right time, and it's also like it's a word of mouth game to because people are like, I want to hear about like what's going on. This game sort of reminds me a little bit about The Boys, which is a show that a lot of people love, myself included, and one of the spinoffs just ended, Gen V, and like and people still want that kind of feeling of that kind of like comedy that hits home with like these characters that are in like raunchy but like realistic like situations, and it's just right place, right time, right fan base, and all that kind of dispatch is amazing by the way. Y'all should play it, but like it's amazing to see all these cool little smaller experiences getting their shy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, definitely, definitely. Um, well, that's our take on the news. I mean, have we missed anything, or do you think was anything else we should have said? I mean, are you listening to this thinking Seb RGT Scott? You're talking about fart and frogs, AI, and a P PS portal. Are you guys on Magic Mushrooms or what? What the hell's going on? But if there's any like I say, if there's anything we missed, go to um questions unofficialcontroller podcast.com, slips an email, and to say, look, fart and frogs, it's the best game ever. Have you not uh how are you not talking about this? You call yourself gamers. Well, those that game game, those that don't, they do a podcast. Um, so talk a good game, don't play one. Um but yeah, so uh like I say if there's anything we're missed, hit us up. Um jump on X or Instagram or jump over to our Discord. Um if you if you can't get a Discord link, same again. Jump onto Instagram messages, we'll send you a link. Come and join the family. Um, I've had a few new people join lately, it's been really good. Um, and really good sort of community on there, um, which leads us on to our subs list. Um if you wonder what a subs list is, these are the good people that put their hands in their pockets every month, contribute to the show to keep the lights on and uh pay the bills. And we're uh yeah, we're over the moon for everyone that contributes, but you don't have to contribute because the show's always going to be free. But uh we have a little tier system. If you ever want to know what that is, jump on the Discord and come and find out. But we have we have a four-list tier system, so you can start from three bucks, Scott, to ten bucks. But you don't have to give any bucks, you can just just enjoy the show and listen to it. But these are the people that do. So, do you want to start us off there then, Scott, with your good friend?
SPEAKER_03:Yep, my uh my lover, Retro Ed UK. Big shout out to Retro Ed.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, good big shout out to Ed. Thank you, mate. Great YouTube channel, check him out. Um, I'll go next and I'll go with the one man George fan club. It is Carlos himself. Thank you very much, Carlos. Oh, and I loved your uh Lego Christmas train you built this week. Looks very, very good. But yeah, who we got next, then Teb.
SPEAKER_06:Um, let me make sure I have the right little list. Um, is it firm returns?
SPEAKER_00:It certainly is. Okay, correct.
SPEAKER_06:Cool, make it sure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he is ripped and all, yeah, definitely. But yes, thank you very much.
SPEAKER_03:He has just picked up uh a nice little game from Play Asia for Nintendo Switch, it looks very good. I was just checking out on Discord. Um big thank you to Trestles New York. Apparently, the best bagels in all of NYC.
SPEAKER_00:Not apparently it's true.
SPEAKER_06:They're partying hard in New York today.
SPEAKER_00:Oh god, yeah. They are and then the next next one, Roast Space Monk. Yeah, the Dreamcast legend himself. Thank you very much. Um, then we have Badabink Star. Thank you, my man. I keep seeing on Instagram these PS3 games you're putting up. You know, I need to see a picture of your PS3 collection, Luigi, because I'm thinking that it's quite a substantial collection. I'm quite jealous of that. I'm a bit envious. So uh yeah, put a put a picture on uh Discord. Gritting your teeth there, RGT. I am, yeah. I want to see your collection. Um, yes, here we got next to Scott.
SPEAKER_03:Um from gritty your teeth to gritting your radio dials, it's tingle tuner.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you very much, my man. Digital muckery. Yes, our challenge accepted boss and sheriff of the Discord. Um, and like Scott said earlier, um, Comic Zone. You know, if you if you're a a gentleman of uh older uh place like me, you'll remember Comic Zone and Omega Drive, yeah, an older place. Um it's uh yeah, really good game. Check out, he does these challenges every month, he gets a little prize. Uh did you guys see the prize that Boba got for the Rocket League competition? Yeah, did you see it on Discord?
SPEAKER_03:Re rem refresh us, RGT.
SPEAKER_00:He got he got a uh toy car like matchbox car.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yes, he did.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, unofficial controller podcast back in the card sealed, yeah. Got a one-off, yeah, unofficial controller podcast matchbox car. Brilliant. Uh, yeah, well done, uh, Digital Mongery. You the prizes are just superb, and it's a great bit of fun. And he always does these challenges. So, one, the game will always be accessible to everyone. He's very clever at doing that, and two, they're always done, so you can just have 10 minutes in, half an hour in, just jump in, have try and get a high score, post on there, have a bit of fun. Really, really good. Um, but yes, so thank you, Digital Monkery. Um, next up, we have Paul, yes, freshback from his travels in Brazil, and uh yeah, he is uh he's Tony Hawks' sexy cousin. Tony Hawks ain't Tony Hawke's ain't got hang got a bloody touch on him, I'll tell you. No, no, no, 900. No, he did do that one footed. But yeah, thanks, Paul Border.
SPEAKER_03:And next up we've got cosplay boba, the number one cosplayer superstar. I just want to call him cosplay boba now, because every time I see a picture of him.
SPEAKER_00:I think he's a bit like Fart and Frogs, he's top of the charts now.
SPEAKER_03:He is top of the charts.
SPEAKER_00:These two cosplays are very, very good. Is it you have to bear with me here because I'm not a call of duty player, but is it Ghostface from Call of Duty he dresses as?
SPEAKER_03:I thought Ghostface was from screen running. I'm not calling the guy either. Yeah, he was in yeah, you're right though. He was the tactical look.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, and then and then he does the screen run as well, don't he? Yeah, yeah. Very, very good. Yes, but thank you very much, Boba, who we got next, then Zeb. Oh love it. A bit of scratching there. Yeah, brilliant. Thank you, Ginj. Then we have the gorgeous Harvey Retro, who has had a new haircut. No, he hasn't had it all cut. Off them lovely locks, he's had it cut, but and now with his glasses, he looks like a young Gary Oldman. Seriously, I messaged him on Instagram and said, You look like Gary Oldman. Absolute spitting. But yes, thank you very much, Harvey Retro. Have we got next to Scott?
SPEAKER_03:Then we have the sharpest Emma in a box. It's Emma Sharp.
SPEAKER_00:Bless you. Thank you very much, Emma. Then we have well, we still don't know where he is. We've been looking every week. I mean, we've tried to track him down. I've tried an idea. What?
SPEAKER_03:I've got a new I've got a new lead. Okay. Okay. So you know I was describing um Pokemon Legends A to Z earlier. Um it's Z to A, by the way. I was I knew you were gonna correct me on Z. Um I was wondering, I was like, Am I having a moment? Well, you start off from Z, you work your way to A, so you're correct. Okay, um well, anyway, in um in that game, so in Lemoise City, which is meant to look a bit French, Lemoise, Lemoy, um, you made a statement, it doesn't look very French. And do you know where it honestly looks like? It looks like Berlin. So what I'm thinking is is he trapped inside a Nintendo Switch Pokemon game in Lemoise City? That's what I'm thinking.
SPEAKER_00:But the problem is if it looks like if it looks like Berlin, then I'd say no he isn't because he's nowhere near Berlin. So thank you, Greg.
SPEAKER_03:It looks like Berlin, but it might not be Berlin.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, so very very true.
SPEAKER_03:Very true. Yeah, you know, like when you stand in front of a mirror and look into a mirror with a mirror behind you, it's like infinite mirrors. That's where he is right now.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Well, let us know if you need help, Greg. We'll come and get you.
SPEAKER_06:Um Black Mirror. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Who we got next, then Seb.
SPEAKER_06:Um, we have let's see. Mum Mum Mumzy It's quite English, very good.
SPEAKER_00:Then we have the R G T fan club. The only fan club. The only fan club. Thank you very much. That's very kind of you. Who we got next then, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:Then we have got the legend that is a Pete Brocklehurst. Big shout out to you, my friend.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant. Then we have Love Him or Hate Him, it's Billy Marmite. Thank you so much, Billy. And this leaves Seb to do the Zangief.
SPEAKER_03:Do I have do I have a direction or anything? Yeah, we need to give him a direction.
SPEAKER_00:Go on then, Score. Give him a direction. Come on, I want I want someone else.
SPEAKER_03:Let's let's let's let's have a think here. Okay, we need to work together on here. We need we need a place. We need to do this by improv. Give me a place.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I'd say nowhere near Berlin. Definitely not.
SPEAKER_03:Nowhere near Berlin. Give me a give me a thing.
SPEAKER_00:A thing?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, just give me a thing, a random thing. Look around the room. A desk. A desk. Oh yeah. I don't know where I'll go with this. Imagine you're in the top of you're in the top of a building in Berlin, right? Now, you've left your Steam Deck on a tablecloth on top of this table and the top of a tower. It's very windy. You're very high up. Now, RGT's the other side of this table. He's sitting there having some nice food. Then all of a sudden, Fat Zangiv comes along. He goes, I've got a new magic trick. I'm going to pull this tablecloth straight from underneath this steam deck and it's going to stay there. And you're watching in slow motion. RGT's got carbonara sauce dripping from his chin. And then as he pulls, as he pulls the tablecloth, a gust of wind comes, the cloth comes, your steam deck, which costs it's very expensive 999, 999, including tactics and shipping. Flies off this is limited edition mint in box. It flies a one-of-one variation. It flies off the edge of the building. And you're just about to see if you can quickly grab it. It slips out of your grasp, and then you turn to Fat Zan Geef, and you need to let all your rage out, and you've got to scream his name because he's just lost your steam deck.
SPEAKER_02:Oh that was like a mega mega evolution evolution Pokemon.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, my screen wobbled in. That was powerful. Powerful.
SPEAKER_06:I tried my best, guys. I was channeling my my inner Dragon Ball Z from back in the day.
SPEAKER_00:You definitely were. Um but yes.
SPEAKER_03:And they say you can't make a table, they say you can't make a story out of a table in a in Berlin. And there we go, I just did it.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely brilliant. But thanks, Fat Thank Eve. And thanks everyone on the subs list. Um, you've all been long-term supporters. We've had a few new ones, uh few people rejoin. Absolutely brilliant. It really does mean the world to us. Well, I know we say it all the time, it makes a massive difference to this show, and we'd just like to say thank you very much, and also thank you to anyone who is listening. If you download the show and you're new listener or regular listener, or you've been passing it on to your friends, or even when you mention us on Instagram, it really makes a difference, it helped the algorithm. So just thanks to everyone, thanks for the subs. Um, yeah, and uh we really appreciate it. Unless now I think we need to head on to oh, I'll just say if anyone is interested, uh not say jump on our Discord or message us or anything like that. Let us know if you if you're interested in joining the tiers list. If not, just come and jump on Discord, join the family, and we'll all have a bit of fun and join UCP. So it's uh it's it's a brilliant little Discord. Um, great people on there. Um, right, and then we'll head on to now what we're hoping to play, and I'll start. But this time with Seb. What are you hoping? Oh wow.
SPEAKER_06:Um, I'm gonna play a little bit more of Disc um Dispatch, trying to get the latest episode five and six out of the way, and really loving the story that's going on there. Um, I met the zombie superhero. Ah, so good. Um then I'm hoping to play a little indie game, y'all have not heard of it, called Whiskerwood. It is basically you're establishing a home in an industrious mice-led world against the oppression that is the cat overlords. And it is a city builder, it features complex like simulations, intricate like um production chains. Like if you played Factorio, you kind of like it. Um, it has um this old school rivalry of cat and mouse kind of elements to it. So there's like a true like Tom and Jerry-ness to it. Imagine if you um George, I'm talking to you specifically now. Imagine if Anno was run by mice, and these little mice created their huts, their valleys, their like um farms, their um relationships. Imagine if they created like a train system, and imagine if these cat people were just trying to mess you up along the way. That's pretty much what this game is. It's CV Skylines mixed with Tom and Jerry, mixed with Anno, and that is Whiskerwood.
SPEAKER_00:Ooh, brilliant. That sounds interesting. Yeah, what about you, Scott?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I am gonna check out this little pinball roguelike that you've been playing, RGT, because yeah, I'll go, I'll go. Um I yeah, I want to dabble in a few um, I do want to get into a few little indie games. Um yeah, I haven't got into a good roguelike for a while. I will be playing a bit more Pokemon, but I'll probably put it to bed this week. Uh regardless if I finish a story or not. I would like to finish a story. Um, but I just want to get into some new games. You know what it's like, it takes you a while to find one, get into it. Yeah, um, and then the wife did say, I know I keep banging on about it, and I still bloody haven't played it on the Switch. Um, I still want to play Hogwarts Legacy on the Switch. And my wife mentioned it last night. Um, but I had some, we were talking off there, I had some news at work, and that was took my mind elsewhere. So I do still want to play that just so I can play it, see what it's like, then move on to the next thing. So that's probably what I'm gonna be dabbling this week. What about you, Mr. RG Tizzle?
SPEAKER_00:Um I will be more resistance to um it's only 10-12 hours, I think. So I'll hopefully get that wrapped up in a couple of weeks, get that done.
SPEAKER_05:Um, you know, is this your first time playing the resistance games, or is this like a replay?
SPEAKER_00:No, this first time. Um okay, cool. I I went I went many years without being able to play first person games, just got motion sickness, because couldn't do it. Oh yeah, gotcha. Uh but I've managed, I sort of um I think it was Bobra a few years ago said to me, start with the older games where they're not quite so graphically intense and chaotic, and then work your way up and I've started doing that and uh touch wood. I've been okay and um been playing the halos and I'm up to Halo 4 and been playing like saying I just fancied you know resistance on the PS3. Really enjoyed the first one, really enjoying this one. So I want to crack on, um, get that done. Um, and then obviously you know, the main game is ball X Pit at a minute. Every every minute I get a spare minute that switch to we're gonna be playing that, really enjoying that. Um, I think that's gonna be there in the background quite a few times.
SPEAKER_06:How many characters have you unlocked?
SPEAKER_00:Uh one, two, four, I believe, I think so far. Four.
SPEAKER_06:Have you gotten to level three or four yet?
SPEAKER_00:I'm on level one, two, three, four. I think I'm on the one with the mushrooms. I think it's the fourth one. You're progressing pretty cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'm playing it right now. I'm gonna go play it afterwards.
SPEAKER_00:It's so good. Like I said, if you think breakout with bullet hell shooter with a roguelike sounds crazy, it is crazy, but very addictive and great. And it's also a twin stick shooter, so you'll be uh yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It sounds a bit like um devilish. Did you ever play that on a Sega game gear? Seb, you won't know this one, but it was basically it's basically like a pinball game, a bit like breakouts. You've got to paddle at the bottom like Pong, um, and then you control the ball, the level continuously moves up, enemies come towards you like demons and devil stuff, and you've got to kill them, but you go work your way up and kill them before they get there.
SPEAKER_00:If if you like devilish, you will like this. Put it this way, you will love this. So, yeah, this is very, very good. Um, so yeah, it's gonna be plenty more of that. Um, whether I'll start anything else, not sure. I mean, I bought EAFC26 every year the last four years. I fell more and more away from the EA games. I've hardly put any time in this, and I'll be honest, although I've enjoyed the game, I love the career mode. I think I'm just washed up with it. I just got no burnout.
SPEAKER_03:Can I mention one thing to throw in the mix of it, RGT? Because it's funny. You said that it's reminded me of something. I I want to go back to, it's been many a many a year. I want to go back to a football manager game. Have you tried one of those recently?
SPEAKER_00:The last one I tried was on the Switch, which was Football Manager 23, I believe. They're quite intense now, they're very time. It's come a long way, I've yeah, it has, it's quite tough. I mean, if I was you, I'd get yourself an A500 mini and uh and play championship manager.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They're great fun, and they still there was a guy on YouTube who was still streaming his original game. He's been playing. Well, I heard you can get it. Yeah, he's a planet for 30 years and he's still playing it. He's like in 2094 or something, but that's but brilliant. Um, but yeah, I'd I I I do quite like the older football managers. I think they've the gap, I think you've had to play them regularly a bit like football games to get on with them now. I think you have to go with the progression because if you have a time away and then you come back, and this was the switch version, so it was more of a mobile port. And I was just like, This is left me behind a bit here. You're trying to sort the stadium and bits out and wages and players or anything.
SPEAKER_03:Last time I played one was 2003, I reckon.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, they've come a long way since then's gone. But yeah, give them a go, you might be able to get one cheaper. But yeah, so I think that's all what we're playing. Um, like I say, anyone's got any questions or anything that you ought to ask us, or anything you you think we've missed, questions at Unafficient Controller Podcast.com. Come and jump in the Discord, come and check the guys out. Um, and like I said, don't forget flashback. Um, there'll be the pilot is out only on iTunes at the moment. We've just got to wait for the others to uh um to push it through and pass all. But that shouldn't be long. As if you're listening to this, that should be this week, and then next week, fingers crossed, we will be releasing the official episode one, and then that'll be weekly after then. So that's flashback UCP presents. So you'll be able to download it on everything. Um, I'll put things on socials once that's all live, and from now on in. Um, thanks to the subs list. Uh, thanks for everyone for downloading. Thanks to Seb, thanks to Scott for joining us again on here, and uh especially Scott, because I know you've had a very long day, so I really appreciate this.
SPEAKER_03:I love chatting to you guys. Really the highlight of my day talking games with you boys. So thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_00:Me too, me too. Brilliant. Um, and just leads me to say there's nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller. That's what you do. Yeah, deal out, guys. But uh, you can see that.