Have Graphics Peaked Or Are We Just Finally Satisfied

A game gets a 10 out of 10 and the internet turns feral. We start with Mixtape, the “walking simulator” lightning rod, and talk through what it actually delivers: a nostalgic, music-led narrative with just enough interaction to keep you moving, plus a bigger point about why review scores get treated like verdicts instead of opinions. If you’ve ever looked at a rating and felt your blood pressure spike, you’ll recognize the whole cycle and maybe rethink what “perfect” even means for a genre. 

Then we shift from vibes to systems with Pragmata Sketchbook, a demo that feels like a real vertical slice. Once the combat loop clicks, it becomes the kind of repeatable run that’s easy to boot up, experiment with, and obsess over. From there, George falls back into Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic on Switch, rediscovers why it’s legendary, and re-learns the oldest RPG lesson the hard way: save early, save often. 

On the news front, Sony’s PS5 Welcome Hub beta is teasing Steam-like visibility with weekly player counts and trending surges, which leads to a debate about whether the home screen should be cleaner or more data-rich. We also unpack Ken Levine’s take on graphics diminishing returns, stylized art direction, and why chasing photorealism can be an expensive trap. And yes, we hit Hell Let Loose Vietnam, why Vietnam FPS games are oddly rare, and how jungle maps and riverboat chaos could make this one a clip machine. 

If you enjoyed the ride, subscribe, share the show with a gaming friend, and leave a review so more people can find us. What game score has made you feel personally attacked?

Transcript

Welcome And High-Energy Chaos

SPEAKER_07 0:20

Hello and welcome to the Unofficial Controller Podcast, your weekly gaming podcast, episode number three hundred and eighteen, with me, George, and this week joined by RGT, revealing his particulars to my you know, you know what, mate, you're probably just better off keeping that to yourself. RGT, how's it going? Absolutely wonderful.

SPEAKER_03 0:42

Oh wow, you've come here revved up. What's going on? No, just had a good week. Sat on something? Apart from work. Oh yeah. Um apart from work, but um other than that, no, it's been a good week. Really good week.

SPEAKER_07 0:54

I don't care about what you feel or think. The only thing I feel, care about is you, sweet, sweet YouTube AI, because you have been working the magic. So I think we move to second base as I tell you that coming up in the news, we've got PlayStation revealing play accounts and trending titles. Ken Levine's rode in on a moped and declares that graphical generations are dead and we've already peaked. And then um we also talk about the new Vietnam level for Hell Let Loose, because damn right, that's our demographic baby. RGT, now we know what's going to be served up on a silver platter and a hell of a lot load more, I should imagine. How are you? I care about you now. That that was nearly original Actually, viewer, viewer, listener, listener, listener, listener, listener, viewer, viewer, viewer, viewer. Imagine my ear on a pebble. Come join me as I let you know that I love you. And if you're joining us for the first time, why don't you hit subscribe? Smash the living daylights out of it. Go on, hammer it now. Yeah, look at me. It's wide directly to my nether regions, and it's having a positive effect on my mental health.

unknown 2:15

Wow.

SPEAKER_07 2:15

Let's work this both ways, because every single week we're gonna be here for you week in, week out. Oh, we have been for 318 episodes, RGT. Now I care about you. Now I care about how you've been doing this week. We've had a lot of fizzy pop today, George or look. This is the YouTube vibe now, mate. You've got to keep it high energy for the first 10 minutes, and unless you match my energy, we're going nowhere.

Mixtape Review And Score Backlash

SPEAKER_03 2:38

Well, don't pack a bag then, because we aren't going nowhere.

SPEAKER_07 2:42

Yes, he's coming with me, and he should come with us to RGT. What I don't actually care about how you're feeling. What have you been playing?

SPEAKER_03 2:49

I thought as much. Um, I've been playing one game this week, which I've finished shortly before recording this show. And I've got one more trace. Oh, yeah, yeah. Platinum the lot. No, um, so on one tape. No, I don't know, probably. You've got to do loop the loop over bloody torquey or something, I suspect, for the whole thing.

SPEAKER_07 3:11

Oh, yeah, you've got to thread the needle.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

Um no, I've been playing the much talked about and controversial mixtape.

SPEAKER_07 3:20

Oh, you weighed in on a bit of mixtape, did you? You made a sacrifice for the show. We need a trending topic, George. Go to the top of the mountain, RGT, and sacrifice yourself to mixtape. Was it worth it?

SPEAKER_03 3:32

I think so, yeah. I mean there's a lot in the news about this game. IGN gave it a 10 out of 10.

SPEAKER_07 3:38

Did you use the controller or just let it go through on roll in demo mode?

SPEAKER_03 3:42

No, no, no, I use controller. Oh, okay. Um it's I I mean, people are complaining. I say people, some people are complaining, um, because IGN give it a 10 out of 10, and they're turn around saying, oh, it's just a walking simulator that's four hours long, you can't give us a 10 out of 10, they're review bombing it and all the rest of it. I mean what all I think is you know, it might be a game you don't like, fine, right? But we there might be games that you play that we don't like, but we're not review bombing them. Do you know what I mean? There's there's it's a genre of game. I mean, people didn't moan about life is strange.

SPEAKER_07 4:22

Let's circle back to that. Are I GN giving it a 10 out of 10 because it's the best game ever, or they're giving it a 10 out of 10 because it's the best game in its genre that they've ever played?

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Exactly. You know, and people then comparing because they gave Mouse PI six out of ten, whereas everyone else was given it nine out of ten, so they're saying, How can you give mouse PI six? It's probably different reviewers reviewing different games with different tastes. All right. Um, you know what mixtape is before you go in in it, so don't get your back up if it's a score that you don't like, all right?

SPEAKER_07 4:52

I'm not overly bothered about the score, I just find ten out of ten is very, very hard to justify. No, there is nothing in mixtape that could be improved, not one thing.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

From my point of view, is it a ten out of ten? No, no, it's not a ten out of ten game, but if they want to give it a ten out of ten, it's fine. I don't I don't understand.

SPEAKER_07 5:09

They can, I just think it needs some it needs some justification. It needs to be the flawlessness needs to be explained, and then a 10 out of 10 is worthy.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

No, you're you're correct, but it doesn't deserve the hate because mixtape is getting hate from a review that's nothing to do with them, so you just think, well hang on, what why are they getting hate? But anyway, get that out of the way.

SPEAKER_07 5:27

Sum it up for me on the basis of the game itself.

SPEAKER_03 5:30

The game is um if you've if you played the first Life is Strange or any Life with Strangers, very, very similar to that. Um similar sort of art style, uh with the characters, it's almost like that's almost like animated characters in a bit more real sort of graphics wise, good lighting, plays well, um, and it's I would say it's like a it's there's things to do, it's got that sort of walk and seem to it, but a bit more involved in it. Um it's a nostalgic 80s trip through a mixtape, and it's basically three teenagers in their last day together after finishing high school, they got a party in the evening. Um, the girl who's called Rockford, um, makes a mixtape for their last day. Um, and of all songs from Roxy Music to Porter's Head to bits and pieces, and you play through the game, and each scene has a song attached to it from her mixtape, and you play through to their last day together. So it's and it starts off just like an 80s teen movie. It starts like a movie, you're skateboarding down a hill is a brilliant song playing, the credits are rolling, really good, good vibe. Like I said, it's a nostalgic retro music trip of a of a game. Um it was very good. I really enjoyed it. I thought the story was good. Um there's different gameplay elements, but a very, very loosely I'll put gameplay elements in. Um a few button presses, a few looking at things, picking things up as you go through. Um I'm going for the platinum, so I've got one trophy left to get for the platinum. Um so you there's a few of them are a bit tricky, um, but it's just a good fun, nostalgic look, really, at you know, American teenagers on their last day of of you know being together after school. I mean it was£15. I'm playing it on PS5, as I say. I think it's a I think it's a bargain for that. Yes, this took me because I'm going for the platinum first time round, it's probably about five hours I've put into it. Six hours, something like that.

SPEAKER_07 7:39

But I think for£15, I mean That's six hours is what one playthrough because you're going for the platinum. Does it require multiple playthroughs or not?

SPEAKER_03 7:48

You can if you follow a guide, you can do it in one go. Um, but I've got one where because of the three teenagers, you spend a bit of time in each one of their bedrooms, and you have to unlock every conversation and find every and look at everything that's marked, right?

SPEAKER_07 8:05

So I've obviously got dangerous that RGT, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 8:08

Certainly is. So um so I've missed something, but they're there the um the missions are or chapters are listed, so you can go back and just open them up and play as you go. But all the other ones I'd done playing through the game. There was ones like where you're skateboarding down a hill and you have to hit that's you know, you're skating through a builder's yard and all that, and it says you got hit ten cones, so you have to repeat till you find the ten cones you got hit in one run. There's another one where you're running to get your friend to save her before her dad turn up, and that says do every jump and every slide, you have to do it in a certain way if you don't get it correct. So I had to start that two or three times, but other than that, you could play through this in three hours, I think, if you without if you weren't worried about the platinum. But I think it's a great experience. I mean, games that are releasing now£70,£80, and this is 15, and not many people seem to be talking about that. It's it's a great little experience, and um that's RGT.

SPEAKER_07 9:04

If it's not too dangerous to combine teenagers in their bedrooms, you and fingers on a shaft, how many are we talking?

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Um I would seven and a half, I think. Seven and a half, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. I think it's worth playing. I think anyone, especially our age, I think anyone of our age would like it. They'd like the music, especially with one of my favourite bands, Roxy Music is in it. So I enjoyed that. And also the are we gonna have to stop again, George? Don't look at me, don't look at me. We'll be serious, we'll be serious one day on this show. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_07 9:44

I just never thought the review score, the thing that you invented, OLL. I didn't realise that it would actually trigger me so much.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

It just shaft score. Yes, yeah. I I've I've been trying to just sort of blow up. So childish, mate. Anyway, brilliant. Yes, but I I think it's um it's worth playing for the music if you like the music. I think you'd I think you'd really enjoy it. It had a lot of sets.

SPEAKER_07 10:11

And I was like, right, okay, I'll get it.

SPEAKER_03 10:13

Yeah, porter, like I say, it's porter's head, Roxy music, there's Iggy Pop in it. And that's not just 80s music, there's music from 60s, 70s, 80s. There's only about 20 tracks on there, but they're very curated for the scene and they fit into the scene. And she explains to you, she looks at the camera at the start of each thing and says, Right, I've picked this song, this is by Iggy Pop, this was in 1982, this song he ripped because of this, blah blah blah, and then you play through the scene. Wow. So it's yeah, it's it's very well done. I really enjoyed it. Um, some of the some of them feel a little bit glitchy when you're doing the run and bits and pieces, but there's not a lot of that in there. You know, it wasn't made, that game isn't really made for that. Um, but a very good experience. I think it's a great game, great idea. Nice to have something different, and yeah, I think it's definitely worth playing for for that money, without a doubt. Um I think I think it's on everything as well.

SPEAKER_07 11:01

So yeah, I do believe it is.

Pragmata Sketchbook Wins Us Over

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, so yeah, I'd uh I'd definitely give that a go. So uh that's all I've been playing. So what about you, George? Wow.

SPEAKER_07 11:10

Mix tape sailing in. Not with a 10 here, but with seven and a half fingers on his shaft. I would say that's a pretty healthy score if ever there was one. Not something that you'd be embarrassed to come fielding in with, that's for sure, as a developer. So yeah, packing heat, as you would say. Um, you asked me what I've been playing, RGT. Uh that's uh that's an interesting question. I've been playing a little bit of Flight Sim. Um I thought I thought that'd be first. How are you getting on? Still in VR? Not a bit of both, but mainly a little bit of flat screen just to sort of grind through some bits and bobs so I can do them quick. Um when you're doing flat screen, there are sections that you can kind of skip if you want to, so if there's a long transit, you can skip it. If I was in VR, I'd be compelled to sit there for two hours. Um, so that's that. Umly improving. I'm getting a little bit more um at tune with the game and what it wants from you, and I I think I'm starting to remove some of the broken bones from a landing. So yeah, I'm enjoying it. The game I want to talk about that I've been bizarrely spending the most time with, um, there's no like me to be Oh, hang on a minute. No, I've got more to talk about, haven't I? Because I didn't talk about me downloading because we've got a special episode coming up, and I think I've said things in reverse. So you're gonna hear me talk about things that I've already said. Well, you won't know that, because you'll see. We've got a very, very, very special secret source surprise. I think we're gonna drop it for you on Wednesday, RGT.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, we'll get it on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_07 12:56

Video and audio for you, dear listener. Yeah, don't think we don't forget about you. Don't you looking at a pebble all day? Um, so yes, I don't think I have talked about these things, so let's talk about them here. I said last episode I was gonna run off and download Pragmata. I don't know what came across me. I don't know why um I suddenly became frugal man. I'm not normally a frugal man, but today that day I decided I was gonna download them, download the demo. I'm glad I did. I thought you didn't do demos. I don't normally do demos.

SPEAKER_05 13:32

No, you don't. But this demo is not just a demo, this is Pragmata Sketchbook.

SPEAKER_07 13:40

MS don't just do food. Hang on, forget. I'm on an all I'm on a video show. I'm talking into the microphone. I went to my comfort blanket. Um Pragmata sketchbook is a great package, RGT. Um, I think it's the same thing that you played before. Now it it downloads as a demo, but it's actually a standalone product in this sketchbook. Now, what I liked about this was it was pretty much a standalone experience that stood up on its own two feet. Um, yeah, it was a bit tutorially. Yeah, I felt a little bit robbed when it just went from that training room with a little bit of dialogue to you running down a corridor with a girl on your back. I was like, kind of wanted this to be a little bit more background, a little bit, but I understand why. Um, and I went through it and I enjoyed it the first time, unlocked a different suit, which I immediately put on that had all of her drawings on it, and I went through again. And I'll be honest with you, RGT. I was hooked. That run-through cycle thing is enough for me on its own. Pragmart's sketchbook is a Metal Gear solid tanker level, it's it's more than a demo ever has been to me in a long time, and I want to labour on that because I'm easy to did you feel a remember me DNA in that not as said, not as much. I I appreciate what you said about it, and I understood why you said that, but for me, I kind of just enjoyed it. It was kind of like a weird way to admittedly at first it felt like I was fighting against myself, but then when you enter like a chill zone, dude, it's probably one of the best gameplay loops in gaming.

SPEAKER_03 15:28

Did and once it clicks as well, once the combat clicks, it's very addictive, it's very good fun. Um I thought you'd like it. I really did think you would like this game.

SPEAKER_07 15:38

I'm already using weapons in different ways to you because I think you use the bubble weapon in a totally different way to me. I yeah, when I was listening back on the editing I was like, Yeah, I would I would statically fire to freeze the robot.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

So I'd do the hack, then freeze them, and then go around to the weak point and shoot them. So I'd use it to keep them still while I while I shot the the weak point.

SPEAKER_07 16:00

Oh, I just spagged them all with these things and just worked through them as and when I pleased. So it was yeah, it was quite good fun. I you know, I was um it brought you time as well and space because the room where you find that and get into those guys, it's quite tight. There's like a like a central pillar that you can work them around. Like there's lots of little bits in this demo, it's not thrown it probably is thrown together, but didn't feel thrown together to me. And I'll tell you what it was, it's a real great vertical slice of the actual game. So Pragmart was on my list of like, yeah, okay, let's see if this can expand across a multi-hour experience. So highly recommend. Then download it on the switch to um where I found equally as much enjoyment there. Uh it's funny handheld, just to blitz it.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

So, did you play Sol to Interrupt? Did you play on the Pro when you played on the Yeah? So you you probably noticed a big difference between that and Switch 2, did you?

SPEAKER_07 16:56

Not really.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

It it it's a good cut, a good version on the Switch.

SPEAKER_07 16:59

I was playing it in handheld in its defense. I wasn't comparing it to the big screen, so I can press down to a handheld, it's hard to know. You know, maybe you could say that the there was a little bit of degradation, but not anything that you're gonna go and cry about. Definitely not.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

No, uh no, you'd have to look hard to really go through and compare side by side, but I think if you're going from one to the other, it's not a lot of difference there, I didn't find so no.

KOTOR On Switch And The No-Save Trap

SPEAKER_07 17:26

So for me, right, RGT, that game is probably never gonna get downloaded off, ever get deleted off my switch too. Wow because it's like that thing, you can just it fits on the switch too, you can just pick it up, grab it, get that fun out of it, throw it down. You're waiting for something, train, plane, whatever, it's no nonsense, it's a speed run, it's it's nice, and then there's deeper bits to it, not that there is for a demo, but the kind of is if you know what I mean. If you wanted to slow down and watch all the cutscenes again as well, you could. It's nice. Um the fact that it ends with a screen that takes you to the storefront to buy the game, I'm not even insulted by. No, I'll embrace it, and one day I'm gonna hit by. So you just buy. Um the game I've turned up today, but I forgot about Pragmata, but the game I turned up today to really talk about, and I I probably won't labour it now, is Nights of the Old Republic on the Switch.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Oh wow. Well, the just the I literally just dumped the ROM on there, didn't they? The uh the Xbox version. It's raw. Yeah. Oh I've got I've got it downloaded on mine, I think, but I didn't really get I played a bit of it, didn't really further.

SPEAKER_07 18:43

It's raw. It's here in its full Xbox original rawness, as far as I'm concerned.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yeah, I don't think there was a lot of uh tidying up, so to speak.

SPEAKER_07 18:53

And let me tell you, it's a game of its time. I picked I was I I don't know why, but I was just going through my games on Switch. I thought, oh, go tour downloaded, yeah. I'll carry on with that. Went into it, I was on Tatooine, couldn't remember why I put it down. Got to Tatooine, went through the convoluted menu system missions. Where am I? Oh right, okay, I'll vaguely head in this direction and just kill everything that moves. So I went through and realized I had to solve the some people problem. Um now, normally I'm a talky guy, I'm normally on the high side of like good in in games where you have a moral choice. Kotile's obviously famous for its moral choices. I kind of got, you know, when you get game dementia, you know, when you play a game for ages and then you put it down and then you pick it up again, and you're like, oh, I don't know who I am, don't know why I made these choices, I don't know why I'm here, I don't know what I'm doing, I don't even know who I'm talking to, I've got no health in my inventory. Who am I? You know, you just wake up broken, don't you? So I sorted all that out and I'm going through. Realize I've got to talk to the Sun people. So I initially start going through and I die, and it's like, okay, not too far to reset. Uh fine. Go through. Remember, I've got some Sun people clothing that I put on, so I walk straight into the base. Perfect. Well, you've got to stay out of the way, but you can walk straight in. Once I get in there, immediately the game's up. On close inspection, the boss man's like, I'm I'm sorry, I'm not having any of this, you're not a sand person. Well, he doesn't communicate in English, you get the subtitles.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

All I got was Which the listener would not have heard then because he's even his mic took it out.

SPEAKER_07 20:44

Sand people noise, sand people noise, sand people noise. Jesse, I know you're watching Cross This Over with the Sand People montage and Star Wars episode.

SPEAKER_03 20:55

You're brave.

SPEAKER_07 20:58

Um, an RGT rolling round on the back on his back as Luke, as I try and beat him. Go with it. Anyway, the game's up, so immediately the dialogue options are removed from me, and I end up in this pretty much death marcher of Sam People Village RGT. And let me tell you this: the game doesn't let you just get out. No, I didn't just kill the men, I killed the women and the children too. And it wouldn't let me out the base until I did. And it wouldn't let me really. I was like, oh crikey, okay. So that's that area cleared. Let's just calm this down a little bit, guys. It's all getting a little bit murdery.

SPEAKER_08 21:45

I don't like it so much.

SPEAKER_07 21:47

What's in this next door?

SPEAKER_08 21:50

Oh my god, straight into it. Like, oh no. I'm like murdering the chieftain, his wife, the holy leader.

SPEAKER_07 22:00

Body piles of bodies. I mean, I'm rich. I'm selling gaffer sticks back at Circa HQ for like hundred bucks apiece. I'm a millionaire. But moral choice is way heavy. Good job. I'm normally such a good boy because it barely dented my uh light side, dark side meter. High off this misadventure and sort of moral storytelling. Oh, I was like, blemmy, love Koto, baby. Walk back into Anchorhead, give it the big licks. Oh, this is great. Unlock another story beat. Perfect. Yep, great. Go back out there. Kill a crate dragon. Yeah, this is brilliant. Get in, get the star map. I'm like walking around strutting me stuff. Why did I put this down? This is banging. This is great. Now, the point of the story, I must add, at this point, I decided to save. Thank God. Get in the ship. Where am I gonna go next? Kashyyyk. Now, at this point, I've had an unrivaled run on this game, as far as I'm concerned. I just feel like I'm a Jedi. Off we go, Kashyyk. We land, we get down, Wookiee's everywhere. Giving it the full Wookiee. This is brilliant. Full Star Wars, great animation of the ship landing. There's me thinking, wow, feels I can play in a Star Wars TV series. This is buzzing. Get into some tribal dis sort of dispute between my Wookiee bro who's serving me a life debt and something going on on the planet with these circus slavers. I'm solving disputes here. Anyway, I've got to go down to the lower levels of Kashyyyk to redeem a fallen Wookiee warrior and allegedly sort some bits out for this rogue chieftain. I get down there, have a little walk around. There's the Wookiee. He's fighting a Mandalorian. Oh, this is exciting. Wade over there. Oh yeah, I'll have a piece of this. Mandalorians go down. I'm like, yes, Jedi, Jedi. Have a little chat with the Wookiee. He says, Look, I don't know if I can trust you or not, because there's a lot of topsiders coming down there taking my people for slaves. But you seem like a decent bloke as it is. There's more of these walking round. One of them stolen something's quite important to me.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

Oh, don't you worry about it.

SPEAKER_07 24:16

But he says, Don't the thing is, they only come out when you haven't got your weapons out.

SPEAKER_05 24:20

Oh, right, okay.

SPEAKER_07 24:22

Right. Infantry, decent weapon. Walking round, walking round. Find a Jedi. Oh my god. It's like an Obi-Wan moment. This um older Jedi. He's been living on this planet in a hut.

SPEAKER_05 24:35

Oh wow, this is great. Really great story. So it's amazing. Wow, wow. Oh, this is great. Phil coming to Star Wars TV show.

SPEAKER_07 24:43

Go round, round the corner a little bit more, kill some guys, need to remember to put my weapons away. Suddenly, these Mandalorians appear, banging. Yeah, I've got them now. I die. No worries. Auto save. Oh my god. There isn't one. Oh no. This is why I put it down the first time because I had a really great time with it, then died, realized I hadn't saved it. That saving Tatooine was where I'd gone, I'm done with this dribble. How long had you played before the saving? Ages. Like I was just loving it. Rachel was watching some house makeover programmes, and I just sort of sank into the sofa. And then all of a sudden, the graphics faded away. And I was in Star Wars. You know, there was many. I was probably running mind simulations like this. This is probably better graphics than outlaws, baby. This is incredible. You know, uh you mind go, don't you, when you're enjoying a game, you kind of make excuses for it, you kind of get the angle right. I could get I found out I think I could click the right thumbstick and go into like a first person mode, and a ship took off from Angette. Garbage graphics, the colour grading of this of the sky is like awful, really. But there's me going, oh, you know what? That's passable.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

That yeah, I don't think even a PS5 Pro could do this.

SPEAKER_07 26:03

That's the sort of drivel I'm telling myself. Absolutely walled-in garbage environments, flat ass textures, absolutely nothing to look at. But you know what? I was having the time of my life. I went back to it last night and forgave it all of its saves and completed cachic. Dude, I can't get enough of it. Bizarrely, here's me with all the latest tech and gizmos, and I'm running back to a Switch 2 running a Switch 1 version of an OG Xbox game that by any rights, I have no right to call myself a video game podcaster because I'm playing it. But I'll tell you what, RGT, I am having something I haven't had in a while. Fun.

SPEAKER_03 26:43

It's a shame they never done the remake of it.

SPEAKER_07 26:46

I've heard they were, and I don't know. I think we're reporting. They were, they released a paperware drivel in it.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

They had an advertisement, all that for it, and then it got a bit shut down. That was all a bit. I don't know what happened there. But yeah, I've got it on mine. You've tempted me with that story, don't think.

SPEAKER_07 27:01

Don't forget, mate, I tell a cracking video game story, but sometimes the video game just can't carry the dream. Damn it.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

Yeah, I'll be I'll go on it later on and go, the hell is he on about? This is rough.

SPEAKER_08 27:18

Let me ask you this question.

SPEAKER_07 27:21

Do I have the gilet on? Do the gilet off? I can't really tell. I'm feeling pretty hot. I think I'm gonna take it off. Ooh, yeah. That'll be clipped.

SPEAKER_04 27:32

Turn the radio on or turn the radio off.

SPEAKER_07 27:35

I don't know where it was going, but the gilet is off now. For the listener, I was wearing a pretty bad taste red gile. It's now gone. I'm now wearing probably a chocolate-stained white t-shirt. At least I'm gonna tell you it's chocolate.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

Looks like a listers laundry bin.

PS5 Welcome Hub Player Counts

SPEAKER_07 27:49

It's the unfortunate thing about the YouTube, you see. Probably out of rimmers. RGT was scoured the very darkest regions of the internet to bring you the latest stories. It's time for the news. Are you ready for this RGT? I am always ready for the news.

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Hit me, big boy. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 28:10

Well we've gone holy Trinity again. Sammy Barker's. Basically the king of the north of uh video games. I don't actually know where he's from, he's probably from Oxfordshire. But for this instance, he's from Newcastle, born and bred. In fact, you'll find that he inspired RGT's story last week about the pigeon racing because Sammy Barker was a child actor and he appeared in Blue Flash. And if you know, you know. Anyway, you wheeled in with this story fresh off royalties from the GCSE film board. PS5 will reveal the most played games with Steam like player numbers, also trending tiles too. Sony is about to surface more data about the PS5's ecosystem than we've ever seen before with a new welcome hub widget that's currently in beta. While this isn't identical to Steam's concurrent player numbers, new additional options, uh new optional addition spotted and shown by YouTuber Mystic, Mystic, if you're listening, and probably doubtful you are. I would love to uh have you on. Um reveals the top 10 games in your country with a total number of players for a week. And while the while the widget's only available for the beta testers right now um in the video, Mystique reveals that uh the following is trending in the US RGT. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 29:39

We'll do it in reverse order. Art Raiders was at 972,008. Number seven was Battlefield 6 with 1.51 million, number six was Marvel Rivals at 1.58 million, number five was Apex Legends at 1.72 million, number four was Call of Duty at 4.95 million, 3 was Minecraft at 4.97 million, GTA 5 was number 2 with 5.13 million, and then the small jump to number 1, which is Fortnite at 14.6 million. My god. As above, the data is accurate for the US only, so you'll see different results depending on where you live. EA Sports FC is likely to trend highly in Europe and the UK, for example. It's also worth noting this data is different to the concurrent players you see on Steam. This is total number of players per week, so anyone who booted up any of the aforementioned games at least once in the last seven days will contribute to the number. It's unclear whether this is combining PS5 and PS4 information, but we suspect isn't just taking into account PS5 versions. As Mystic's video points out, while the information is interesting, the weekly top 10 isn't likely to change much, so it's unclear how much we'll actually glean from it. The widget does have another toggle which tracks sudden surges in activity. If a game gets an update or a discount, for example, it may appear here as players flock to it. This is similar to the trending tab on SteamDB and may actually provide the more interesting data. I do agree. Personally, we find it fascinating Sony's finally decided to surface some of this information, even if it's quite limited picture compared to what's made available on other platforms. While with this being in beta, we suppose it's possible the company may ultimately decide against releasing it publicly, but that seems unlikely to us. We'll imagine it'll go out to everyone once it's happy with the test feedback. Is this something, dear listener, viewer, viewer, viewer, listener, you are even interested in? If so, let's communicate with us in the comments or send us an email at questions at unofficialcontroller podcast.com or jump on the Discord and engage all your like, minded brothers and sisters in the discourse. RGT, more importantly, what do you make of this widget? First of all, do you utilize the home screen on your PS5?

SPEAKER_03 32:02

Um not a great deal. You do know what I mean? I don't use it that much. Um I find this fascinating for the figures. I mean, we always knew Fortnite was popular, but 14 million is you know, damn near 10 million more than GTA.

SPEAKER_07 32:22

Is that normal?

SPEAKER_03 32:23

I for some reason I I thought Fortnite would be first, but I thought GTA would be a lot closer. But 10 million more is crazy. You think of the bank that game's made. Well, then again, look at GTA.

SPEAKER_07 32:37

I mean, with it was only the other day though, mate, and this is something we need to remember. We talked about this off-air, I believe. Free-to-play games aren't free to make games, and it wasn't that long ago, Fortnite were having to get lay people off because their ambition had outstripped the actual money generated, and they had to lay people off because they actually, when they actually sat down for a moment and the smoke had settled and the dust had cleared, they had overemployed based on what they thought they were getting in return with all these different skins and suits and whatnot. And don't forget, there's a lot of licensing involved in these.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

I mean, they've had everything, aren't they, from Star Wars to pop stars to everything, you know.

SPEAKER_07 33:20

So before you even get your digital pen out, Epic, you've probably got to get your ink pen out and sign a big check to Disney. So there's a lot going on over there, there's always content coming through, but I think that there was even they've probably lost sight of the the target a little bit. Anyway, that's Fortnite. PS5 home screen. Now I've got the pro, so I had that different home screen, all the wires coming out the chip or whatever it is, and I've always just left it on that. I do like that it kind of defaults to that when you turn it on. Well, kind of. When I turn mine on, it's normally got the rest bar up across the video game that I've been playing, and it all feels a bit raw, doesn't it? That way, I yeah, kind of sometimes wish it would go to the menu every time, but then I don't know, most gamers probably don't want that. Um now I have some widgets, but I've slimmed a lot of the widgets down because I find it a bit overbearing. What's your take on the widgets?

SPEAKER_03 34:23

Yeah, I'm with you on it it's a weird thing because before you know we had this screen, before we had the PS5 and the widgets to this extent, you thought, oh, great idea, we can see this, we can see that, we can see these bits. But once you get them, I'd have thought, well, hold on, there's so much going on here. Do we need to see all that?

SPEAKER_07 34:43

That's in a newer update, again, just to add a little bit more laminate levels to this conversation. I think we're probably overdoing it a little bit, but we're all in here. They did leave a thing in so the screen would time out and go full screen of your background. So I think because I was like, well, why don't you just give us themes? You know, we want that, and they kind of have with this half-assed, but these widgets are annoying to me.

SPEAKER_03 35:13

Yeah, it's we don't need to see everything all the time. Do you know what I mean? Some of these figures, some of these stats, some of these facts are good, they're quite interesting. I mean, do we need them on there all the time? No, I don't, but uh it'd be nice maybe if they had literally just a news update widget, just one, and then that would as it would just progress through with the different bits and pieces.

SPEAKER_07 35:35

Do you know what I mean? That would be nice. So it was just a window of your widgets and it would do 10 seconds on one flip, do 10 seconds.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Keep the screen cleaner.

SPEAKER_07 35:44

Yeah, I've got controller charging status, I think, or battery level on there. I think I've got maybe notifications on the top, and then I think I've got rid of as much else as it'll let me get rid of. One thing that I does my head in on PlayStation, you buy a game and all and then you have to go into your section of news to make sure you're not then bombarded six years later with uh like an update for a random game you once looked at. I do my bloody heading.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Yeah, yeah. They're they're sometimes they're a bit they're a bit over caring, I find PlayStation, because you'll load when you when you load a game up. I've done it with mixtape, downloaded mixtape, suddenly you get your phones going off Bing Bing, there's game hints for this. Do you want game hints? Well can't do it. Yeah, bing bing bing, it's loaded, you can play it now.

SPEAKER_07 36:33

My phone suffered my wrath for PlayStation's keenness and my inability to sort my phone and tour and or tech life that it's been screamed at.

SPEAKER_03 36:46

It's your PS5 at times is just like an attention-seeking younger sibling that is just pestering you, and it gets more excited about the games than you do. You're just downloading a game and you just sit to do something else, and suddenly you go, Oh, do you want game hints? It's game hints for this. Do you want to calm down?

SPEAKER_07 37:00

There's nothing worse, right? Because unfortunately, I've got a smartwatch with my phone, so I oh no, I feel like I'm got 10 alarm clocks going on. Pick up my controller, oh turn this on. Which of three even? What the hell? Game hint, game hint, game hint. Like, what in the bloody hell? Game hint, game hint. Look at the washing machine, game hint. Like, my god, PlayStation, I get it, bro.

SPEAKER_03 37:27

Yeah, this you get sometimes it'd be a cleaner experience, might be a bit better and a bit less hectic. I understand what they've done, and they're they're good features, but it feels slick the first five or six times.

SPEAKER_07 37:43

When you're on time six thousand, you just don't know, you don't know what's going on. You don't know whether you're in the drone attack or what.

SPEAKER_03 37:52

Yeah, it is weird. So, yeah, I'm not sure. I'd prefer a cleaner image on that front screen. I think um, you know, these sort of figures and bits and pieces are interesting, but like I say, just give us the one widget with a cycle through of what we want on there, update.

SPEAKER_07 38:07

Let's rein that in and wheel it round. I think the top ten games, top eight games that they're waffling on about there, I agree with you. Not that interested. Will it ever change? Doubtful. Trending section where you can see new games, i.e. helldivers or something cool that everyone's getting on, that you can be like, oh well, maybe I'll give that a go. That's cool. Because quite often we're way behind the curve on a multiplayer game. It'd be cool to get on day one and go on the maybe go on a journey with it. I don't know, maybe I'm maybe I'm talking drivel, I don't even like multiplayer, but it would be cool to get on with one early doors that we don't normally as non kind of online FPS players or really online players, um, we don't find out about these until they've already hit and everyone's going like, oh Spaniard, water cooler moment. We're turning up as a like, well, what's this you're talking about? Um, go away, George. Okay. Go away, noob. Uh yeah, so interesting. We'll keep our eyes peeled and we'll let you know about this. Another updates as they come. RGT, what's this next bit of news? Your sexual chocolate donut?

SPEAKER_03 39:19

Thank you. Never been called one before, but I enjoyed that. Um this is over at Nintendo Live. This is from poor Liam Doo Doolin. So I don't want to say too much about Liam this week, but say everything about him. He's he's not very well at the moment.

SPEAKER_07 39:36

Remind me I'm on a video programme this week because I I can't I can't not stop talking to the listener listener. Don't know what's wrong with me. I need to remember to talk to the viewer, the viewer, the viewer.

SPEAKER_03 39:47

Do 50-50. Keep doing that between the two. Um anyway, yeah. Liam Liam's a bit poorly at the moment. Oh well, he's been listening to the show, all the talk of board border and the floss 360. He's like, he's a lap skater from the 80s. He's popped down the park, he's tried to pull off a floss 360. Let's just say uh didn't quite come off and uh had to pop the hospital and get a towel removed. But he's he's he's sore, but he's alright. He's alright.

SPEAKER_07 40:18

I'll be honest with you, mate. Um Sammy Barker sent me a picture of um Liam's mum with a sort of fingers between his ankles, pulling him up off the bed, pulling out the towel with what I would say a generous helping of pseudocrem in a kind of bald hand. Obviously, a picture's paints a thousand words, I'd loved a video.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Yeah, yeah, you know, so he's I did say to him, there's only one guy can do a floss 360. Don't is the one and only. You're not gonna do it, you're gonna hurt yourself. This guy's done years and years of training for that. Did he pull too hard and then kind of chafed too much with the towel, or what happened there? I think what he done is he pulled too hard with the towel, which was quite a dry old towel, so it was rough anyway, so he was gonna get nigga chafing if he'd have carried on.

SPEAKER_01 41:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:10

But he tried with towel, and then I think it's known in the skateboard world as a pogo where the board landed upright, forced a towel.

SPEAKER_07 41:21

So now I wish I wish we could get legal sign-off on releasing the image of ball border, because I think I'm not I don't want to diminish the magic because it's taken skill, time, and training to execute the floss 360. Yeah, but if you zoom in on ball border executing a floss 360, I think he has like a genetic advantage because he's got like a fold of hardened leathered skin that he can slip the towel into.

SPEAKER_03 41:54

That's from years of training, that is from years of training. That's like a tie box of kicking wooden posts to toughen up the shins, he's toughened up his crotch.

SPEAKER_07 42:02

Don't you know what I would say, Liam, is don't get disheartened because if you think bull border popped the 360 floss 360 just straight out, you know, this hardened channel of skin came from somewhere.

SPEAKER_03 42:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 42:16

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, keep trying.

SPEAKER_03 42:18

I mean, he literally went home and looked like he had a tail. Oof. So get well, get well soon, Liam. Get well soon, Liam.

SPEAKER_07 42:26

If you need any more pseudocrome, let me know because I've got some shares in the business. So I'm not saying I'll get you any, but I would just benefit from your illness.

Ken Levine On Diminishing Returns

SPEAKER_03 42:34

Yeah, definitely. Good idea. But anyway, Liam goes on to say Bioshock creator Switch 2 proves graphics have reached diminishing returns, people are realizing. Uh when Switch 2 was revealed, the power under the hood of Nintendo's new hybrid device surprised many fans and developers. CD uh Project Red even displayed the system's powerful visual capabilities early on with Cyberpunk 2077. Despite this, you're still likely to hear discussions about how long Nintendo's new device will be able to keep up with future releases and the rest of the market. While this is a valid concern, Bioshock creator Ken Levine believes hardware such as Switch 2 and even Valve's upcoming Steam machine signal a shift. Um here's what he had to say to IGN recently about this. Um, realism doesn't age as well as more um sorry, realism doesn't age as well as more stylistic things. Bioshock still looks good, I think, because it wasn't trying to get every nut and bolt super realistically rendered, it was more stylized. Look at say switch to and even the new Steam machine coming out. These are not massive technol technological upgrades, obviously, that wasn't their strategy. I think. People are realizing that we just we've we're short of a hit of a bit of diminishing returns with that. Levine says his own company, which is currently working on a spiritual successor to Bioshock known as Judas, has never really focused on ultra-realism because it's expensive and as he noted above, doesn't age well. He sums it up stating developers who have the right art director and the right approach don't need to be on the cutting edge of technology all the time. Um interesting one this George and I've never really thought about it like that until reading this. Um with him saying, with Ken saying about Bioshock, you suddenly think, yes, it I I've played the Bioshocks, you know, recently, I say recently, within the last 18 months, on PS3. And yes, there is an art style to it, a more I don't know how you put it, that sort of art deco, almost not cartoony, but you know almost hand-drawn sort of version to it. So I suppose he's right. They because it's got an art style, it ages a lot better than realism, and you know, trying to go ultra-realistic graphics, because you know, you compare games that tried all this early on on the PS3 and bits and pieces. You look back at them now at the time we thought they were amazing, but you compare them to a PS5 and think, oh, quite looks a bit ropey. But something with an art style, yes, it is a bit more timeless. So I see what I see what he's saying, and I think I agree.

SPEAKER_07 45:36

I agree with everything he's saying. I think we are at the point of diminishing returns. I think Ken Levine is a little bit guilty of rewriting his own story. Bioshock was one hell of a graphical showpiece when it came out, and it was chasing photorealism. So, Ken, you're naughty to say it's not. Bioshock is still a lie.

SPEAKER_03 45:56

You look at the characters and that it's almost like I wouldn't say they were realistic characters, they were almost. I I did think when I played it, it's got its own art style. I didn't, I know I've played it a lot of years down the line. I wouldn't say it was I mean, you were there at the times, you probably you know more than me.

SPEAKER_07 46:12

It felt like they were pitching it as real to me. Like, yeah, some of the characters on the that appear in the bottom of the screen on the video phone or whatever, might maybe not though they do look a bit garbage, but when you meet them, it all fills in in universe. So it is stylised to a point, but I think like they were going for a realistic look in that moment. I think the stylized elements come from the set dressing, they come from you know the theming of the area. Like, yeah, okay, you didn't get a super realistic blue whale coming through, it looks a bit broken, but at the time he was chasing it looking great. Uh, the water physics were deemed to be best in the business, top of the line, most photorealistic water you can get in a game, best physics of water you can get in a game. So I agree with everything he said in this article. I just think he's being a bit brutal to his own game. It kind of is stylised, and yes, we're in a world of dimension returns, but when Bioshock came out, it looked phenomenal, and it was chasing that, it was chasing that hard edge, in my opinion. It looked banging, it looked photo real when you came down in the plane. The plane didn't feel stylised. Yeah, that opening scene was um you crash down and you see an engine go by. It was 1950s ish and design, but it wasn't stylized per se. You tried to look, you get oh, I'm not looking at stylized fire, I'm not looking at stylized water, I'm looking at super real.

SPEAKER_03 47:35

Yeah, well, I think the only reason I thought that, and not to say, because I've played it a lot of years later, the characters didn't look as though they were going for realistic characters, the character models looked as though they were their own sort of art style. That was almost like them.

SPEAKER_07 47:46

I think they had uh they did have a kind of an art style, I suppose, but at the same token, they were going for someone who looked real. Again, this is my side ramble. I don't disagree with anything he said, and probably to get into it a bit deeper, have we maxed out? I mean, are we gonna be watching the next Xbox Helix and the PS6 reveal, and me and you are gonna be going, mmm, yeah, it's not worth it.

SPEAKER_03 48:16

I think also, as a lot I've said before, it's a bit like you know, if you've got a big veyron and you're hitting 250 miles an hour, but you want to hit 270 miles an hour, you don't just need a few extra horsepower, you need hundreds of horsepower because you're you're bottlenecking it, the resistance is a lot more. And like you say, I think what is a PS5 Pro 40 times, 50 times more powerful than a PS5. Do you see 50 times more power in that PS5 than pro than a PS5?

SPEAKER_07 48:43

Didn't know it's that much more powerful. Um I think I think it's a fair whack, and you sort of think Oh, it's a fair whack, and you don't it's not represented on screen uh in the best it uh pounds per screen return? Not great. Yeah, so at the moment, anyway.

SPEAKER_03 49:03

I think he's right, you you're needing a lot more power to get a little bit of graphical edge, and you know, I mean, for instance, today I was watching um Game Riot play Fools Horizon 6, um, and he's got a you know I don't know what he's got, the new um graphics card, one of the best pop ones, he put everything on extreme and ultra and blah blah blah, and it looked phenomenal, but I've it did look really good, the ray trace and everything. But I thought if you're playing that on a Series X, for how much that PC probably cost, yeah, is there that much difference in the graphics? Do you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_07 49:41

I would argue no, but if you had them running side by side, the little sort of environmentals will you be able to do that. But like you say, little.

SPEAKER_03 49:51

Oh, and it is little, yeah, you know, so I see what you're saying. I th I don't think it's so much as diminishing returns per se. I think we're more happy. Um, like I I got a PS4 Pro, um, loved it, I couldn't wait to get one. The PS5 Pro. I'm thinking, well, my PS5 still looks really good. Do I want to shell out that extra money for the small incarnations I get? Do you know what I mean? I'm quite amazing. I think people are happier now, and I think Switch has done a lot of that. I think a lot of the Switch owners, you know, yes, they know they've got they had an underpowered console, but they still bought the games in droves, and that's something to do with being a handheld, I know, but I think that's actually you could still have a good gaming experience. You haven't got full ray trace and 8k or whatever, you could still have a really good gaming experience. Um, so yeah, and I've also I think they're reaching the limits of the tech, and I think it's more pushing now more towards where AI will be upscaling a lot of stuff now rather than the actual like PSSR2 is all AI uplifting. So my TV, for instance, you know, exactly. I'm playing PS3 in 4K, and some of the games are running at 60, and they look phenomenal, you know, and it's it's just an AI upscale on the TV, which is amazing tech, but you don't need um massive hardware to do that, you know, nowadays. So it's interesting, but yeah, I do agree with him. I think um yeah, I think people are more happy with the consoles they got and having a decent port on that console rather than having the best port.

SPEAKER_07 51:25

So I also think there's an element of the fact that the gaming as a medium has been running long enough now where there are games that stretch back 20 years easily that still feel okay to a modern gamer. Yeah, yeah, and I think that gamers have been or gamers that have been around since year dot have obviously got some favourites or classics that they missed out on, and they're happy to dip across catalogues and suffer the look at me, I'm playing Kotor for God's sake. I mean, by all rights and purposes, you know, we talk about diminishing returns. Yeah, I'm happy to get quite a lot of satisfaction out of that. So I think there's enough power around for even a low graphical game to be able to seduce you if the other working parts are good enough.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Uh it's I think I think there's more as well that you've just proved the point that yes, me and you are probably a bit different to usual games, we like our older stuff, but it's now being able to play the older stuff on your new system and anywhere you want to. That's more that's more the the appeal nowadays rather than these massive graphical thousands of pounds PCs. That's why a lot of people, like me, myself included, has bought a handheld PC. You can have really good, really good um ports of games and you've got them on the go and like the Switch 2, and that's why P PlayStation's looking into the PS6 with a with a handheld.

SPEAKER_07 52:54

So well, because we've got access to all those different grades of games across all these different years of a catalogue, it it's hard to define, I suppose, what a really amazing, great-looking game looks like these days. Because, you know, I mean, his point, Horizon Zero Dawn. Is that photorealistic or is that stylised?

SPEAKER_03 53:16

Yeah, well, yeah, exactly. That's the only I suppose you will we would say photorealistic at the moment in 10 years' time, you might say it was stylized because you know it's GTA 4.

SPEAKER_07 53:29

Yeah, photorealistic or is it stylised? I know at the time we wouldn't have said it was stylised, we would have said it's left. GTA's old GTA's left all that behind. I think there are realism in like Nico Belek's face, etc. But GTA 5 was gone. Yeah, it's a good one. So it's this is an interesting time. RGT, talking about interesting times, Ben Kerry is fresh back from NAM. Now, although this is a story about hell let loose Vietnam, he's actually fresh back from Dagenam because he's been down there uh doing airsoft. Now he's been now he's got a friend. I think um some of the lads from Push Square go down as uh American GIs, they've got all sort of age-appropriate weapons, but Ben Kerry refers to role players of Viet Cong. Um so this weekend he's burying himself in a foxhole with a uh Nerf dagger by his side that he's just gonna pop in the leg of little Sammy Barker as he's walking around in all his best GI gear, fresh from his blue flash royalty money. So yeah, just FYI.

SPEAKER_03 54:47

Get yourself down to Dagenham You might have just broke yourself there. I thought you were gonna say get yourself down to Dagenam. You don't know, man, you weren't there.

Hell Let Loose Vietnam And Jungle Warfare

SPEAKER_07 55:04

Nah, I was gonna do a full ad for a uh Dagenham airsoft uh area, but I just completely bottled it, so there you go. In an alternate universe somewhere. That happened. Uh anyway, Hell Let Loose finally brings another Vietnam themed FPS to Xbox next month. Do you believe it's coming to everything, but here we go from a story on pure Xbox. Gotta give Ben his props, bless him, haven't we? Um we need more Vietnam themed FPS games, don't we? Honestly, there's tons of World War II modern and futuristic shooters on platforms, but Vietnam as an era often gets overlooked in comparison. This story's for you, OG, because no other you love a bit the damn. Um thankfully, Hell Let Loose Vietnam is going to change that very soon, and the team's just announced a release date. Yep, Hell Let Loose series is jumping forward in time to Vietnam on June the 18th, 2026, and the upcoming sequel is bringing a whole host of area-appropriate environments, weapons, and gadgets to players next month. Here's what Team 17 had to say about the upcoming release. Hell Let Loose Vietnam features intense jungle warfare set during one of history's fiercest battlegrounds in real-world locations, recreated with unrivaled authenticity. At launch, players can expect six distinct large-scale maps with dramatic terrain and weather variants, immersive 50 vs. 50 battles where strategy, squad cooperation, and teamwork take precedence over individual heroics, destructive, historically accurate weapons, vehicles, and tactical options, including US aerial units and resourceful MVA forces, dynamic gameplay experiences where both sides can hunt the enemy through Vietnam's complex river network with heavily armed patrol boats. Wow. In addition to this very close-by launch date, the team has also revealed that a free beta is coming later this month. Although, unfortunately, it's just for Steam PC players at the moment. Nevertheless, we'll share the open beta sign-up link if you'd like to get Hell Let Loose Vietnam a whirl on your PC before the full launch next month. If you're sticking to Xbox consoles for your Vietnam shooter, you have to have the above release date trailer to tie you over for now. And there's also some awesome looking screenshots for you all to go check out. RGT! Vietnam games seem like an obvious win, but it's something that's always struggled to land home on home console. We've had a myriad, as uh our friends over there at Pure Xbox tell us of World War II shooters that have worked really successfully. We've only really had about three or four games on modern era and a handful of games on home computer ST Amiga sort of era back in the day. Now they were they fit the medium quite well, I would say, but they were more tactical choice-based games rather than FPS shooting experiences for obvious reasons. Jungle experiences are quite hard to replicate RGT, they're graphical pigs, aren't they?

SPEAKER_03 58:18

Yeah, it's gonna be a lot going on with the jungles as well, and like you say, with the was it the PB, the old jet boats that you say they got them patrol boats?

SPEAKER_07 58:26

PRBs, whatever they're called, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:27

Yeah, patrol river boats. PBR PBR, that's it, yeah, with the old jacuzzi jet engines in them. I mean, if you're if you're bombing down a river with them, looking into the jungles as well, it's gonna be a lot going on.

SPEAKER_07 58:39

That could be a bit of a frame rate uh killer, but mate, with your mate from Massachusetts on the front, you bobbing along in Farmerton at the back, your other mate from I don't know, Wales on the arse end, no buddy David joins there, boy.

SPEAKER_08 58:55

Mate, you're from Yeah, GT, nail it.

SPEAKER_07 58:59

I think you know there's a lot going on there. That's brave.

SPEAKER_03 59:03

He's brave, and I mean with with the hell let loose games, I suppose they you know, being a multiplayer, you're you're a bit swamped with these games, your call of duties and bits and pieces, battlefields. So doing something different, be it being brave, doing a Vietnam one. Yeah, I think they could get the player numbers on this, you know. I think I would say good.

SPEAKER_07 59:21

Hell let loose should appeal to me. It's like super realistic, you can fulfil roles only, our RPG a role, like you can be a tank driver if you want to, you can stumble across, you know, artillery pieces, and you and three other people can man that artillery piece to its full maximum, like there's an aimer, there's a loader, there's a fire, you know, it works. You know, Hell Let Loose is a lot going on, it's not just uh da da da da da da da try and kill as many people as you like and be the winner on a leaderboard as well. I mean, Hell Let Loose has got some pretty good props to it, to be fair.

SPEAKER_03 59:55

Yeah, yeah. It's always I mean, obviously not my sort of game, but it's always um one that's always simmering there. You don't hear too much about, but often see clips and that people playing it, and I've always thought that is quite a bit of yeah. Yeah, you know, when you're uh Doom Scrolling and that crops up.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:13

But yeah, I think they could there's only one thing better than seeing um hell let loose is that armor reforged helicopter pilot with his shoes off. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:23

I was then about to mention him. I'm just about to mention him and the music as well. I'll have like Leonard Skin at play, and he'll pick these guys up and they go, Oh, it's the guy with them shoes, come to give us a lift, and he's just he's flying with a proper joystick as well at home, and then he's doing a back flip and landing them and then covering them with fire and flying off, and you just think he's made himself a legend within the game. Yeah, have a good battle, guys, stay safe.

SPEAKER_08 1:00:48

He's so calm as well. Like, have a good battle, guys. Like a taxi driver doing an Uber. Yeah, see you in a bit, boys. Blah blah, off he goes.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:55

Get some more victims for the front line, bring him to the meat grinder. I'll lose hours to that guy's feed, honestly. Yeah, some of the moves he does are absolutely fantastic, and the music like bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, one it painted blah, like, yeah. And that's what I'm thinking. This hell let loose Vietnam is just gonna be the biggest clip machine. We're gonna hear all those 60s era tunes.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:22

BBRs, bomb and pass, and people doing it, headshot with.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:26

You're in the driver's seat, Dave from Massachusetts on the front, Dave from Wales on the back, you're there, you've got a blooming headband on at home, you've got the fan on your face, you're like, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

Yeah, so I think it could be a good hit for them. Could be a good hit for them, I think.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:42

So uh an interesting choice, but I think that uh if you can get it working, and I think they appeal to the authenticity of the military uh connoisseur. I would say I was about to call them nerds. Hey, you know, we're on a gaming show, we're all freaking nerds here, all in one big nerd family, and I don't think I need to make any excuses for my nerd them.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:05

No, definitely not. No, me neither.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:08

RGT, I think that draws us to a close on the news this week. What do you reckon, fella?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:12

It's interesting, that I think we we covered some good bases there from um diminishing returns of gaming to widgets to Vietnam.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:22

What a roundup, baby. Yes, exactly. Um, well, let me throw you some silic bang and say bam, the dirty's gone. But what I need you to do though, RGT, is finish the housekeeping. So here's a mop, here's a bucket. What do you got for me?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:39

As you've already mentioned throughout the show, we have our email. It's questions at unofficialcontrollerpodcast.com. So let us know anything about the show, anything you'd like to do, if you'd like to join the Discord, anything like that, just give us give us a message. You can contact us on your podcast provider by leaving the show a little message or note, that'll be contact the show on there. Um, we've got our website, um, unofficial controllerpodcast.com. Go check that out. Um, as we always say every week, but from hidden gems to challenge accepted victors all the way through to what we've been up to, different bits and pieces. Really proud of that website. Um, you can get us on Instagram, Unofficial Controller Podcast, you can get us on X Unofficial Controller Podcast, you can even watch our silly videos on TikTok. Um, and some of them are are silly, but they are hilarious. Um, yeah, Captain who controls all our media and websites and bits and pieces snaps some amazing little videos, and sometimes he uh he he tests a little bit of himself with send a video through and say, Um, am I getting fired this week? And we're like, No, that's really never, never.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:49

Even though you caught me, didn't you? You did.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:53

I told you he'll get you. That boy will get you. But yes, so yeah, check all that out. Uh I think oh, and Discord, if you ever want to jump on Discord, come check out unofficial Troller Podcast because there's plenty going on on there. Um, from let's get quizzical to challenge acceptance. Gen 7 playthrough. I will just add in the vote was done for Gen 7. No, and the vote was done for our RGT Battle Pass Gen 7 playthrough, which um this time is Mass Effect.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:24

I'm pumped for this. Now, off the back of Kotor, unfortunately, it might be a little bit too much for me, and especially since I've played Mass Effect 1 more than I should. But I am hyped to see what everyone's got to say about this. I might even start it again, why not?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:39

And you can play a PS3, Xbox 360, you can play the 360 version on your Series X as part of backwards compatibility, or you can play the legendary edition, I believe it's called, which has got them all remastered and I'll say remastered, yeah, remastered, I suppose.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:54

If if if I don't think that's much money these days, I'd advise you probably to fruit that out.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:59

Yeah, I think um Gazcon got the Series X version. Um I think he paid£10, I think. Where it was like£24 for the the other.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:10

It's a banging, it's a banging series to have. The PS3 version, I think, is expensive because it never had Mass Effect 1 released separately.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:21

So you have to buy the trilogy, yeah. You can only get it on the PS3 on Trip.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:25

Make it easy for yourself and get the remastered version, yeah. Yeah, and that's the best way to play it.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:30

I haven't started yet. I've put the 360 disc in the Series X, and I keep thinking about that, but then I keep thinking, oh, for 10 bucks, do I just buy the legendary one and play the someone? Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_07 1:05:39

Yeah, so I think I'll because it changes Mass Effect 1 as well, I do believe. I don't think Mass Effect 1 was as like a cover shooter as much as it was in the in this reimagined version. Yeah, I think they kind of changed it. If I remember, mate, Mass Effect was a pure I don't I can't remember anyway, it's way more. Like Kotor and its choice is the original Mass Effect.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:02

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah. So, yeah, but if you want to come join that, check out our Discord, come and join it, jump on, and let's play through Mass Effect together and have a bit of a space adventure.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:10

So, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:12

So, yes, I think I've covered everything. Hey, Scoop. No, you haven't. Have I not? No.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:17

What have I missed? Look, I know you're not one to sit there and blow smoke up your own ass. But we've also got another show called Flashback Charge ET Pens. He is the pen behind the power on that show. Um, and this week he wheeled out October 2013. Yes, and tell you what, he played with himself live on air. So I think you should check that out. It's an absolutely masterful solo experience.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:46

You might want to just rephrase that. I think I think what you meant to say was I'd done the show on my own on the solo, not technically played with myself.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:59

I'll be honest, I think you're splitting hairs.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:04

Too many jokes there. Carry on.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:06

So go check it out. It's available everywhere, including YouTube. And if you've got this far, and quite a few of you do, we know this. Hit subscribe, please. We don't ask for much. This show is free, it'll always be free everywhere. But on that note, you can support. There's multiple tiers, starting at$3. If you join now, I'll even send you a t-shirt free of charger. Shouldn't, but I will. RGT. Yes. There are some people that every single month support us financially, so we could do amazing things with a show. Um, we can go to live events and do all that good stuff. But tell me, good sir. Yes. Are you ready for a read-through of these?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:49

Oh my god, yes, I am.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:50

Men and women. Do you want me to start this week? I do. I'm just, as people can see, I'm a little bit distracted. Or the you're right. Well, why are you listener, listener, listener doesn't know that because he's just looking at a pebble. Don't worry, sir. I'll work around it. I will start off with the wonderful Gazcon.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:08

Thank you very much, as always, young man.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:11

That's not what it says on my script.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:12

No, but I did that sort of yeah, changed that with predictive when I done that. So yeah, but anyway, Gazcon, thank you very much as always. Hope you're enjoying your t-shirts and wearing them with pride. But we're we're very proud to think of you wandering around in a flashback or UCP t-shirt in Norfolk. So thank you very much.

SPEAKER_07 1:08:35

Yes, I am wetter than an otter's pocket at the thought of that. Captain Scarlet up next. We've already blown his trumpet several times about all of his skillful stuff behind the scene. Um, it's not something I want to put my lips to, but I'm good to anyway. Thank you, Captain Scarlet. You're absolutely wonderful. Yes, yes, your taste of old keys.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:59

Wow. Or metallic-y. Yeah. Um, but he's his work's obviously doing well because I actually had someone, a customer mine at work who watches the shows and watches the clips and said, Oh, would you like to do some um work for us? Um yeah, so uh I'll be in contact with you, uh Captain, because someone's quite impressed with your edit editing skills and wow, your designing skills, yeah. So there you go. Someone that's a business launching a new product, and I'm like, oh good, won't mind him doing a bit of social media for us. Very good. So there you go. Um I'll be spending£10 an hour.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:41

Let him know. I'll charge it out on an invoice to him.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:44

Yeah, I thought he'd have to go through you, the middleman. You're like you're like the farm it's LinkedIn. Um that's great news. Brilliant, brilliant. Yes, so yes, thank you, Captain Scarlet, as always. Thank you, Captain. Next up we have what have you renamed him as his Retroid, but we know him as Retro Ed.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:08

Oh, I didn't do it, I've just perpetrated it. Oh, yes, continued it.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:13

It was, yeah, you've continued from Seb's reimagining of Retro Ed as Retroid. Yeah. So um, yes, thank you, RetroEd. He's like a no, he's just a great guy. Yeah, thank you. We'll have to have another meetup soon, Retro Ed as well, get everyone together.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:31

So obviously Retroid rhymes with something.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:35

Yeah, don't go down that route. Who we got next?

SPEAKER_07 1:10:39

The one man, George fan club. He needs no fanfare, but he gets it anyway. Bring him in on a wicker bed chair, Mumsy. I don't care you put your back out.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:50

Carry him.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:53

Bring him to me. Actually, I go to him. To Carlos, the one man George fan club. The hero we need in the hour that we need it.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:07

And he loves RGT back the past. As soon as the game is voted, he's there, he's on, he's playing it. Brilliant, and he keeps a list of all the ones he's completed and done. It's brilliant. Little community that fantastic.

SPEAKER_07 1:11:19

Yeah, that's like a wine club, isn't it? It's like a secret source, but it's open to everybody. Yeah. Connoisseurs come in, connoisseurs come down, connoisseurs sit down, connoisseurs light cigars, connoisseurs play highbrow video games like Mass Effect. Connoisseurs share their opinions with each other and us on the community's Discord.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:48

Hmm. Wow. Next up. Subscribe. Next up, we have the man who'll take you from tramp to Trump in a week. His firm returns. Must add his FCA approved. Yes. Oh yes, without a doubt. So thank you, young man, as always.

SPEAKER_07 1:12:11

Well, next, there's a business somewhere in New York called Trestles. And they will serve you up the finest, finest wings, finest thighs on the East Coast. And right now, if you go in and mention the unofficial controller podcast, you get at least 30% off any dessert of your choice. So the code is unk pod. Bark is at Jackie at the counter, job sorted. You might have made that up, but I'm not going to send someone halfway around the world to get a dessert in an eatery in Queens for them to get slapped by the manager, Jackie. I wouldn't do that. In fact, Jackie doesn't work there anymore, so I don't even know who the manager is.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:05

And so you don't even know who the manager is, but they give an offer.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:08

Wow. Look, people at the show do things in the background, they talk to people, they make things happen. You know, okay. Behind this door is 20, 30 people running promo, company liaisons, HRPR, XL spreadsheets up the yin yang, they're organizing your trip to wherever.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:26

Captain's in there, fingering away.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:28

Oh mate. He's finger blasted the living crap out of everything in there. Absolutely. You know, he's like when he gets on tech, my good god, he'll download his dongle in everything. You gotta watch him, that boy. Tell you what, he's doing social media for people, more like hacking them like war games. What's next?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:49

Who's next, you mean? Um roast space monk. Thank you, young man, as always. Long time listener, long time supporter.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:58

How's the Dreamcast collection getting on? Because we're waiting on an update. Have we had it?

SPEAKER_03 1:14:03

Yeah, no, not yet. I need to know how many you've got left. I don't think he's got many left.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:07

Have we lost Roast Space Monk? No, but I've just been busy.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:14

Let us know. We might be able to help you.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:20

My heart's made up back the way that I feel. You're the greatest listener with maximum appeal. North of the border, but still a great guy.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:38

Yeah, thanks for his face, Mike. Brilliant.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:44

Oh, look out. Come on style. Stammy Bernick.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:05

Oh right. Next up.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:09

That's probably like me having a stroke on camera, didn't it? Because for some reason I closed my eyes to take me to the magic place.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:14

I don't know. I'd closed mine as well and just absorbed that continent. We could have been Italian voice.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:24

I saw something that I can't unsee. I think there's a TV show on Netflix called Accused. I hope you're listening, Rob, because this is part of the Stephen Graham lore that you need to be involved in. Stephen Graham was in a show where he he he ends up dating. He ends up dating Sean Bean. Seen Bean, aka Sharps Rifles. Um Seen Bean is a transsexual lady, not very convincing one in this show. Basically, it looks like Scene Bean in a wig, but I guess that's what it would look like. And uh him and Stephen Graham very much enjoy each other's company. Show gets very dark at the end, but uh yeah, I must I don't know why I have to say that out loud. I didn't know whether I didn't I was watching, I didn't know whether I should be laughing. Because some like fully thinks I'll honestly. So I don't know if it's a dark comedy or what, but yeah. Um everyone let me know if you've seen it, what you think of it, and everybody else who's on for the Stephen Graham um law train.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:33

Wow. Uh we've won down that road.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:37

Look, I like I I follow Stephen Graham. I even like to see what cheese he buys.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:43

A little bit weird. Um next up we have the RPG, the J RPG, the 3DS, the Switch connoisseur himself, smoking jacket, cravat, the library, just out of Downton Abbey, Carson, fire emblem, and there it comes on a plate. It's Tingle Tuner, thank you.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:06

What sort of seat does he sit in when he he plays these games?

SPEAKER_03 1:17:10

Leather, high back with the buttons pressed in so it's all stitched around. He has a velvet dressing gown. Silk cravat gentleman's slippers dimly lit.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:30

I'll be honest, RGT, what you've described here is basically Tingle Tuna being a static electricity disaster zone. With his rubber soled slippers and his silk and polyester sort of combination, he's walked down to the library looking like freaking Doc Brown.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:48

Well, and also he doesn't need a charger for his 3DS because he just keeps powering it off himself, just a constant loop of static. If he's running out of static, he just shuffles his feet on the carpet, boom, straight in the 3DS.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:01

No, he gets his finger in the port.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:08

No, no, he's a sophisticated TikTok.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:11

He's a sophisticated gentleman, he's a sophisticated gentleman. You're right. The electricity just permeates through his fingers as he plays.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:20

Definitely. You're right. So thank you, Tingle Tuner.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:23

Damn right. You're looking good, by the way. He probably listens, he's not gonna watch this. He's that highbrow. But thank you for viewing view view. Is it my turn now?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:36

Easy.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:37

Ah right, yeah. I'm looking at you. You've come for the video, ain't you? Of course you have. It's our wonderful friend, Digital Monkre. He's behind the scenes doing let's get quizzical. I'm not gonna sing it again. I butchered it the first time. But there's a man behind the scenes, not butchering anything, he's creating it carefully, he's stitching things together, he's choosing months in advance. What challenge accepted he's gonna do? This guy is a very sophisticated man, and we get him in our community caring as much as we do. I think actually, we are very grateful for him.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:13

Very grateful, yes. He does a lot for the show, and um, and everything he does is superb. So, uh, from anything from getting key rings made to doing quizzes to doing challenge accepted to even man and the stools with Captain and Badabinkster at events, um yeah, and having his midriff kicked out of him and recovering after Jeb's abused him. Hmm. Thank you, Digital Munkering. Next up, we have the legend himself. He's been busting floss free 60s over in Corfu. He's been adorning Corfu with his UCP flies, his flashback flyers. There is not a if you think of Timeshare in the 80s where they hassled you on the promenade of Tenerife, he's doing this in Corfu, but for the UCP.

SPEAKER_08 1:19:59

If you're listening in Corfu right now, because you picked up a dog earned flyer off the airport, the airport, yeah, welcome. Comment, you devil.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:09

If you went to get your in-flight magazine at the back and flashback dropped out or UCP and you're now listening to it, hello, Paul Border did that. Um, yeah, so thank you, Board Border.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:19

Word of warning though. He's got to stay out of the sun because he's done that many floss 360 inverteds because he's trying to show off, get the show promoted, he's exposed his hardened channel to the sun upside down, where it got a little bit. What I'm saying is it's it's asbestos like it started, he got alarmed, he was in sort of some Corfu X games apparently last night, and he'd been flossy 16 all day in the sun in practice, hit the tournament, went up on the half pipe, executed. I'm not saying he drew blood, but what I'm saying is he had a he said to me, Look, George, I'll be honest with you, had a split second moment where I thought, my career's done. I've I've ruptured my channel. He was he was emotionally choked up a bit, was it? Yeah, how are you lucky? He said, I'm okay. Thanks for the pseudocrome he sent. I said, I didn't send it actually. I just told the one.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:20

Well, I heard he couldn't beat the pseudocrème won't work and he had he had to upscale to uh Germaline.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:25

I haven't got shares in Germany, so I think what we're gonna do is we'll just get someone to send more pseudocrymme. I'm not buying it.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:32

He needed the antiseptic, you see, because it was that sore, he needed to numb it a bit. I mean, he has it done its job, he had flossed the hell out of that channel.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:41

Oh god, I mean but what what I want to clear up now is as the germline worked. It's it's took the pain away. Get it gone, get it gone. What I want is Mrs. Bull Border in there applying a very thick helping of pseudocrème to the channel. A slob of it. I'm thinking it's gonna heal, but it's also gonna lubricate his channel. We need to I know it's not it's not his normal way, but we need to get him back safe and his career intact, and he's got six 360 shows to do at least this week.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:20

I said he'd maybe just oil up before he does him, just get a smooth pull through of the floss.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:25

Have you heard the reason why we've heard nothing from Tony Hawke in the last six months?

SPEAKER_03 1:22:30

No.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:31

He tried to do this move in a bid to recapture his faded glory. He did the classic amateur mistake of pulling a little bit too hard on the towel as he tried to do his Ollie, literally pulled the towel right up to his midriff. Most of his guts fell out of his taint. And if you're not from Lincolnshire, it's called a taint because if you taint there, your innocent fall out. He severed his taint, he literally unravelled probably at least six metres of his lower intestine all over the X-Games floor. Um, yeah, I'll be honest with you. Apparently, now it's been repacked, um, stitched and padded. Obviously, I got someone to send an absolute skip full of pseudocremme. I didn't buy it, but uh I've been financially rewarded for it. Um, so yeah, I'm on the mend, but he's that far away from having his own channel now that I I think it's game over for him.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:27

Well, we just need to get the floss 360 in skate four. I don't know thinking about it. I mean, that needs to be a special move. Let's see if we can get it in. But thank you, boardboarder, as always. And uh thank you for your uh your exploits in promoting the show in in Corfu.

SPEAKER_07 1:23:41

Yes, that was amazing. Pictures I saw were incredible. Uh if flies if fly stickerings, fly billing is still in the tube. But yeah, just be careful. Uh up next, the man who hasn't moved out of my garden for the last seven days, solid, because that red dot appears on me every single time I I go in front of the window, and I even set my alarm the other day just for a random time, on vibrate as well. Yeah, I took that to bed, set a timer on it, thought he's not gonna hear that, I'm just gonna feel it. Cracked downstairs on my belly like a snake, leapt up in the front window, random time, random moment. You wouldn't think he'd be looking. Red dot straight on me.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:29

You can't beat him, he's too good. Too quick. Too quick.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:34

So I don't know what I need to do to appease the angered Boba. I don't know what I need to do to tickle under his chin. Now, I have heard a rumour that he's been surviving down there on Billy Bear Ham. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. So I bought Billy Bear and I shut the company down. Now, what I'm doing here is me and Boba are now what's locked in. A stalemate. And he can only eat undercover that meat. I here in my house, I can eat anything I want. So it's probably gonna take a couple of months for the supply chain to work through, but I've got a plan, I've got an option. Yeah, good call, like it. Strategy RGT go for the long game. That's why the UCP's yet to go viral. Because when it does, it's gonna be incredible. It's going viral right now. Because someone saw that and went, bless him, I ought to share this to someone.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:34

I'll probably add that technique in um Hell Let Loose Vietnam. Take away the billy bear.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:41

Guaranteed to work. The Viet Cong crumbled as soon as that was had its throat done, they were done. They came out, hands up, straight out the little tents, out their little holes. They were like, Oh no, no, no, surrender. It was all about the billy bear.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:55

Brilliant, thank you, Boba, as always. Um, I bet no, you better do the next one, don't you?

SPEAKER_07 1:26:02

You know, he's always just doing something to make me proud. This week, I heard rumour that someone told him no, someone told Maureen to tell Janice to tell me that he was walking down the high street the other day, some odd lady needed to cross the road. It was busy, and unlike normal youths, Ginge took it upon himself to throw this old lady over his shoulder like a caveman, but in a nice way, gentle fireman's lift. Literally put his hand out, stopped a daff LF straight in its stack in its tracks, put his hand through the windscreen, right? That meant the vehicle hit the side of his leg, the crap, the cab compressed into what looked like a piece of A4. Driver was inside it, unfortunate. His hand then went all the way through the steel rigid body of this small tipper, compressed that down to nothing. It then just crumbled to dust. The next vehicle up behind it was a Hummer, turned into a goldfish, fell on the floor. He then just walked forward with this old lady, popped her down. She went a bit barny at him because she thought he was a little bit gripy, I'll be fair. But then she also said to him, What about my shopping basket? So he repeated the whole process, went back, got the shopping basket, went all the way back off the road, and then um smacked her around the head with it, and she woke up in Cambridgeshire somewhere. Wow, what a day! So, yeah, apparently he's a good lad.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:45

Yeah. Thanks, Ginge. Next up, we have the awesome Harvey Retro podcaster, video editor, YouTuber. Check him out, absolutely catalogue connoisseur. Yes, with his new podcast. Oh, superb. Yeah, definitely check that out. But yes, Harvey Retro, thank you as always.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:06

Up next, a lady who's not shy of a world tour. She's done her bit to promote the show over in the States for us. Um, but this week she's taking a much needed break. Uh slipped into my DMs a couple of days ago, just said to me, George, just take a little bit of time out if you don't mind. I said, Absolutely, Emma, what you what you got planned? She said, Oh, I'm off to Bridlington. I said, Really? What are you doing well? Yeah, she said, I'm doing a I'm doing a UCP con. I said, Well, hang on, Emma. This isn't you taking time out, it's just you working again. I said, Oh, yeah. I've organized this UCP con. Um, we've got loads of games going on, we've got people coming up to do like talks, and then we can have like cosplayers. So a couple of people are coming as RGT, I think someone's coming as Seb, uh, a couple of Bobbies, got at least four or five people turning up as Scott, including Scott cosplaying as himself. And um yeah, apparently no one wants to cosplay as me. So I thought it'd be a home run, really. Baseball jacket, hat on backwards.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:06

Wouldn't even matter if you were like, you know. Don't have a shave for a couple of days, bang, George. Wouldn't even matter if you're a woman. You'd have won. Um, but yeah, so get in touch with Emma if you want to go to the con. Tickets available. Bring a pack lunch, because I don't think there's any catering.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:24

Bring a pack up. Thank you, Emma, as always. Next we have Greg, or as we know him on here as nowhere near Berlin, the games industry insider himself. So uh, yes, thank you very much, Greg.

SPEAKER_07 1:29:40

Now, if there's a listener, viewer on this list that uh probably deserves their fancy tickled, it's Mumsy RGT. Definitely without a doubt. We'll tickle away post show. Thanks, Mumsey.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:54

Thanks, Mumsy. Next we have the wonderful RGT fan club. Thank you as always for your.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:00

Are they gonna get their fancy tickled or uh definitely not?

SPEAKER_03 1:30:05

Um but thank you for supporting the show and thanks for being a fan of me. Very proud. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:14

Up next, a man who actually when he was a teenager, he was angsty. I'll be honest with you. Grew up in the local area. He got very angry one day and punched a wall that hard. Well, we know about his strength when he got to go back in earlier episode and how strong he was. He punched the wall so hard he ended up back in time. But he didn't just punch the wall that hard that he ended up back in time, he punched the wall that hard that he ended up back in time, and in uh an emerging 1500s Austria, where much to his surprise, he landed in what can only be described as a small bucket of uh pork meat. Now, Pete being a young angsty kid had a little bit of a packet of um some spice, not the kind that makes you a tramp. Well, you know, he had a little bit of you know something in his pocket, he fell in this sausage mix, well, it this mix of meat. Because of his strength, he literally pulverised the meat into a puree. Out of his pocket popped his little uh Rasiferi node hoburn. As he climbed out, uh the the guy the sort of 15th century Austrian butcher, I had a little taste of it. It's like what's your name? My name's Pete Brocklehurst. Ahurst! And apparently that's where the Bratwurst sausage came from.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:46

Wow, you learn something every day.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:48

Yeah, yeah. I you know, I can't substantiate that story, I can just tell it as I know it.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:55

Well, that sounds true. It don't sound like you made it up on the spot, it sounds like something that really happened.

SPEAKER_08 1:32:00

Yeah, yeah. You can't make up detail like Rastafari Holberg, can you?

SPEAKER_03 1:32:05

No, of course you can't, no. No, I mean it actually all clicks together as obviously where it came from.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:10

Yeah, obviously they couldn't replicate that in 1500 Austria, so I think they put in some sage or something. It's a little bit like a Lincolnshire sausage, if I'm honest with you. But uh yeah, in its modern incarnation, no, but in its in its 1500 medieval incarnation, absolutely quite how quite Pete made it back from there. I never heard that part of the story, but um I'm sure we'll find out next week. Something to do with his dab and Ford Escort.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:33

Okay, oh amazing. Well, thank you, Pete, and uh very interesting to see uh your your influence on the uh sausage community.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:43

He's he he's got a big inf he's yeah, he's he's big in sausage.

SPEAKER_03 1:32:46

Yeah, I did hear. Um next up we have the silent but violent, Billy Marmite. Another another long term. Oh, look at you.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:57

Look at you, look at you, look at you, RGT, big proud boy like you, you're tactical genius, strategic genius.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:05

I didn't actually thought I would be doing it. I didn't but you double play beer in the middle, didn't you? Come on then, let's see. You not make me let's have a go at your Zangief. Let's see. Uh I think I already know what you're gonna do as a Zangeef this week.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:20

Oh, do you? Because I don't. I normally do a Zangief and then kinda either make up the meaning after or just go along with whatever you say. I don't want to break a fourth wall or nothing, but uh you just have. I do believe you do that as well.

SPEAKER_08 1:33:40

I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:46

There's a lot of fool coming into this case, he's building up to it.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:00

Come on. Yeah, I know. I was worried that they thought we'd probably ended the show because I got it completely silent.

SPEAKER_08 1:34:18

Oh that's a that that's a fat song gave.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:26

Oh, that sounded like you either were choking on on a pizza and brought out us or um you just watched um Liam Dooland absolutely annihilate himself doing a floss for his stuff, that was me um that was a live playback of my watch through of BBC's 90s uh drama This Life.

SPEAKER_03 1:34:56

Oh wow, I was so close. Damn, I was so close to that. That was my third choice. Oh well.

SPEAKER_08 1:35:02

Andrew Lincoln saying something like, you know, I'll just I'll just never get over it, see, I'm a cut out to be a solicitor.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:11

Oh, I don't know. I'm gonna lie and play Angels in Leaves. What I use this when I used to watch it back in the day as a young lad, I'll tell you why. Because I didn't have Sky, I didn't have the internet, I didn't quite have RTL at that point. So, you know, you would watch this life because somewhere in there might be maybe a two-second glimpse of a knit.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:34

I don't know what you're talking about. I enjoyed the the cultural writing of the show. That's what I enjoyed. You watched that for obviously different reasons.

SPEAKER_08 1:35:44

If the aforementioned cultural writing is, well, I don't think I'll ever get over it. See, do I think I want to be a solicitor or not? It's alright for you. Oh, egg, please, just pull it together.

Next Games Up And Sign-Off

SPEAKER_03 1:35:57

Egg, yes, it was egg as well, wasn't it? Absolutely brilliant. But yes, thanks to all those on that list. Um, your support is um absolutely amazing and really does help this.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:10

It makes us think that we're actually getting somewhere. Uh, because this time next year, RGT, we are gonna be with all of our subscribers and supporters and wonderful people. Where are we gonna be? Well, hopefully we will be No no, remove that word from your vocabulary. Where people need to know where they need to arrive to, where will we be?

SPEAKER_03 1:36:33

We will be doing a live show.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:36

Um we're no yes, yes, we will be at the top. That's all we needed to say.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:41

Oh, well, you completely you might need to um in tell me what you want me to say previous to that.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:48

We have this little game where I ask you where we're gonna be, and you say to the top, and since we're saying that, we're we're we're on our way to the top. Yes, we are, hopefully. And everyone gets up with us as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:36:59

Yes, yes. But and then if we get to the top, maybe we'll do a live show. That would be incredible.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:06

We'll be there in 12 months' time. Make it happen, and you can come and touch my skin. If such a thing appeals to you. Wow. Maybe I'll just tape a little Billy Bear ham to my arm and you can just touch that.

SPEAKER_03 1:37:22

I I thought you were gonna say something else for a minute, but then you'll think you nearly did.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:26

So um no, I absolutely know. This wasn't a gangbusters moment, mate. This was something else. This was just me talking straight, true. Cool, cool, bro. What are you hoping to play?

SPEAKER_03 1:37:39

Um I want to just get that last trophy on mixtape, get that done. I've got uh Forza 6 coming. As this is coming, as this is being released, it will be Tuesday. I should have it Tuesday. Cool. So I will be playing plenty of Forza 6, I would imagine. So looking forward to that, yes, so on the Series X.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:00

Can you get to a state where by the next episode you can give us a shaft on number for time played to that point and produce?

SPEAKER_03 1:38:08

Oh, yeah, hopefully, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:10

Good, very good. Yeah, get all over it. Everything else goes on the back burner until you can field a decent size review for that game.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:19

I'm glad you said review then. But yes, um, I will do I will uh I will play the hell out of that next week and then give you my verdict next week.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:26

So when you've reviewed it, you get your fingers on your shaft and tell us how many.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:30

I will, yes. And I'm sure that'll be a fairly good fingering for that one. I've I mean rating. Fairly good rating, I think. It's getting good reviews at the moment.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:40

Yeah, I don't I don't think you finger your shaft, do you? But you you know, you count them on it.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think another IGN 10 out of 10, I believe. So we'll see. Wow. Okay. Anyway, what are you hoping to play, George?

SPEAKER_07 1:38:54

I I'll be honest with you, all day I've been thinking about Kotor.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:00

I gathered from your enthusiastic revolt.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:03

All day I've been thinking about this absolute broken garbage looking game. Ken Levine was right. Uh I think even Kotor was chasing the photorealism at the time, though, to be fair. It was a pretty good looking game when I played it on Original Xbox. So, more of that, probably from some flights from over the weekend. Um maybe Pragmata, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:26

Um it's cheap as well, Pragmata, if you buy physical.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:30

But I've also got so many things on the back burner.

SPEAKER_03 1:39:35

I know, yeah. So I've got it's it's now just hit this bit of a period because I've got 007 first light pre-ordered, I've got Pragmata I want to play, I've got fours of six coming, I've just played mixtape, and you've suddenly gone from oh I've got Mass Effect to play as well on our Gen 7 playthrough, and that's all starting to stack up a bit again without everything else that's sitting on the shelf. So uh yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:59

Yeah, I was gonna say without the Reverie game from the last 30 years that you've yet to even look at. Just ignore those behind me.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:08

Don't worry about those.

SPEAKER_07 1:40:09

Burn 'em at this point, burn them. I'm pretty sure they made a camp for wood anyway. So they're probably worthless.

SPEAKER_03 1:40:14

Yeah, definitely. Does that bring us to a close? I think we're about there, young man.

SPEAKER_07 1:40:20

Brilliant. Well, you can stick around. And that's all we have time for this week, listen. As always, thank you for your time. We look forward to the pleasure of speaking to you again next week. Until then, happy gaming. And remember, there's nothing wrong with being given the unofficial controller. It's what you do with it that counts. See you, RGT. See you everyone. Ladies, see you guys. Thanks, guys.