WEBVTT 00:00:01.260 --> 00:00:03.839 Hi, welcome back to Pods with Nick and James. 00:00:04.059 --> 00:00:07.580 My name's Nick, and this is James. Hi there. 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:13.619 Today, I wanted to have more of a casual conversation, 00:00:13.900 --> 00:00:20.579 less of a really heavy, fact -driven, research 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:24.460 -heavy conversation. We went on a topic that's 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:27.339 quite close to my heart, I'm pretty sure it's 00:00:27.339 --> 00:00:31.089 close to James' heart, and that is gaming. More 00:00:31.089 --> 00:00:35.450 specifically, I want to discuss how the industry 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:39.570 has changed over the years and whether it's changed 00:00:39.570 --> 00:00:44.289 for the better. And I feel like that's a great 00:00:44.289 --> 00:00:49.549 point of conversation for us to discuss. How 00:00:49.549 --> 00:00:52.670 do you feel about that? Well, absolutely. I'd 00:00:52.670 --> 00:00:55.450 say technology has definitely moved on. I remember 00:00:55.450 --> 00:00:59.350 the early games. I remember when... Snake being 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:06.030 on a Nokia was impressive to me. I remember, 00:01:06.069 --> 00:01:11.189 although they were older by the time I got one, 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:14.109 I remember being jealous of my friends who had 00:01:14.109 --> 00:01:22.890 Game Boys. I remember a lot of games from the 00:01:22.890 --> 00:01:27.219 90s, and I remember playing games from... that 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:31.540 at least were made in the 80s. But I also remember 00:01:31.540 --> 00:01:35.799 the business practices being fixed then, and 00:01:35.799 --> 00:01:40.859 then kind of slowly evolving into what they are 00:01:40.859 --> 00:01:44.819 now. So I guess that's something that we'll chat 00:01:44.819 --> 00:01:48.980 about. Yeah. Are you talking about the old -school 00:01:48.980 --> 00:01:55.349 dot matrix, Game Boy? Yes. Yeah, I remember Super 00:01:55.349 --> 00:01:59.510 Mario Bros. 2. My friend Lucy owned a Game Boy. 00:01:59.930 --> 00:02:03.890 And honestly, yeah, I remember that game. I remember 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:12.870 a game version of Tron, which was fantastic. 00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:18.949 I remember a Power Rangers game. It really is... 00:02:18.949 --> 00:02:23.669 Yeah, it is fantastic. The stuff they made... 00:02:23.949 --> 00:02:33.409 uh looking looking back it's incredibly um it's 00:02:33.409 --> 00:02:35.550 incredibly interesting like just kind of how 00:02:35.550 --> 00:02:43.050 little there needed to be um in order for it 00:02:43.050 --> 00:02:46.169 to be entertaining yeah or for it in order to 00:02:46.169 --> 00:02:51.400 in order for it to um just grab my attention 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.240 for hours like i love the fact that looking back 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:57.379 they made the games hard just because there wasn't 00:02:57.379 --> 00:03:00.060 all that much there yeah yeah exactly at the 00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:03.060 same time the fact that they made it hard also 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:05.939 increased the enjoyment because you genuinely 00:03:05.939 --> 00:03:09.300 had a sense of satisfaction and achievement yeah 00:03:09.300 --> 00:03:11.819 i don't think the kids i don't and i'm gonna 00:03:11.819 --> 00:03:14.400 sound a bit like an old man here but i don't 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:16.500 think the kids of today would be able to game 00:03:16.500 --> 00:03:20.409 in the way that we did the games that we used 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:26.189 to play um because it was it was a passion it 00:03:26.189 --> 00:03:28.909 wasn't something that you just play this game 00:03:28.909 --> 00:03:33.449 for a couple of hours it was dedication to complete 00:03:33.449 --> 00:03:38.289 a game you know you had to you played each level 00:03:38.289 --> 00:03:43.289 four or five times to learn how to complete that 00:03:43.289 --> 00:03:46.250 level and then you were on a new level and you 00:03:46.250 --> 00:03:48.659 had to do the same thing again and sometimes 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:52.520 you played games that had no save and you had 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:54.360 every time you played it you had to start from 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.259 the beginning and really slog through every single 00:03:58.259 --> 00:04:00.259 one of the levels that you'd already done to 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:04.099 get back to the the new point in the game um 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:06.919 just to die four times and end up with a game 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:13.270 over yeah that's that's exactly it like i I can't 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:15.750 think the number of times I've played through 00:04:15.750 --> 00:04:18.930 the first couple of levels of Sonic. Oh, absolutely. 00:04:19.449 --> 00:04:27.850 Only to die on the fucking Waterfall level. Yeah, 00:04:27.990 --> 00:04:31.589 like, it's... Edit that bit out, maybe. Sorry. 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:35.209 But you know what I mean. Because there would 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:38.589 always be that bit that you struggled with, and 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:41.889 either you'd... Different people had different 00:04:41.889 --> 00:04:44.750 ways of doing it. I just ended up beefing it 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:48.490 and failing so hard so many times. Some people 00:04:48.490 --> 00:04:50.850 would have an older brother that maybe they could 00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:55.970 get them to do that bit or this was before the 00:04:55.970 --> 00:04:59.329 time of the internet so you couldn't just... 00:04:59.329 --> 00:05:01.810 Oh my god. It wasn't before the time of the internet. 00:05:02.029 --> 00:05:05.230 It was before the time of YouTube. It was the 00:05:05.230 --> 00:05:09.529 internet existed. But it wasn't nearly as helpful 00:05:09.529 --> 00:05:12.329 as it is today. No, no, exactly. Arguably, it 00:05:12.329 --> 00:05:15.589 wasn't nearly as perverse either, but that's 00:05:15.589 --> 00:05:17.170 another kettle of fish and another discussion 00:05:17.170 --> 00:05:22.550 for another time. Yeah, it just, it was, I mean, 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:25.310 I remember kids, I didn't own this game, but 00:05:25.310 --> 00:05:28.470 I remember several of my friends really struggling 00:05:28.470 --> 00:05:31.589 with the Lion King game. Oh my God, that game! 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.040 On the snares. It's not how difficult that game 00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:42.740 was. It was the difficulty curve. Because you 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:45.759 went through the first few levels and it was 00:05:45.759 --> 00:05:48.199 pretty easy going. And then all of a sudden you 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:53.899 hit the one with the funky music. That's the 00:05:53.899 --> 00:05:56.540 wrong Disney film. But it's a really upbeat music. 00:05:56.759 --> 00:05:59.860 I just can't wait to be king. That tune. And 00:05:59.860 --> 00:06:04.290 it was that level. All of a sudden. it was insane 00:06:04.290 --> 00:06:07.029 the kind of stuff like the the puzzles you had 00:06:07.029 --> 00:06:10.149 to like the bloody monkey chucking the lion around 00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:13.009 puzzles that you had to get through and oh my 00:06:13.009 --> 00:06:16.110 god the hours and then after that it was just 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:20.170 downhill um like you're so short on health and 00:06:20.170 --> 00:06:25.569 so short on lives and oh you just die it's such 00:06:25.569 --> 00:06:29.019 an unfair game but you want unfair game There 00:06:29.019 --> 00:06:31.720 was a game on the SNES which I absolutely loved 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:36.379 playing, but I'm telling you, it was cruel. It 00:06:36.379 --> 00:06:39.160 was called Battletoads in Battle Maniacs. I don't 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.100 know if you ever played it. I'm not sure, but 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:45.259 I'm loving the title already. Anything that repeats 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:50.620 the word battle, you know you're on to a winner. 00:06:50.819 --> 00:06:53.560 Well, for a start, you played as either a frog 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.399 or a toad that did martial arts. If it was two 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:01.839 -player, you had one person as the toad, one 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.959 person as the frog. The toad was called Pimple. 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:07.779 The frog was called Rash. That's how much I've 00:07:07.779 --> 00:07:09.660 played this game. I still remember the characters' 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.819 names, for Christ's sake. No, that's fine. It 00:07:12.819 --> 00:07:14.819 sounds like you're hopping mad about it. It was 00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:17.519 insane. You went through the first level, and 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.439 you're fine. You're beating up these pigs that 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:22.680 are flying at you, trying to beat you up. You 00:07:22.680 --> 00:07:24.360 get to the end, you have to fight this giant 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:27.920 concrete pig. and then you have to fly on hovercrafts 00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:29.939 of course this is natural like game progression 00:07:29.939 --> 00:07:32.540 you fly on hovercrafts through a tree fighting 00:07:32.540 --> 00:07:37.180 bees um because that makes sense right um and 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:40.279 then you go through a bonus level and then you 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:46.500 hit the hover bike level and interesting the 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:51.839 hover bike level is just i mean you get three 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:54.579 lives in this game you get the bonus level so 00:07:54.579 --> 00:07:57.120 you can maybe work up a couple more you get like 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:01.459 five lives and even muscle memory isn't enough 00:08:01.459 --> 00:08:06.459 to beat the uh hover bike level because like 00:08:06.459 --> 00:08:09.120 you can get through the entire run there's like 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:13.519 three sections of the hot or four sections of 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:16.180 the hover bike level um and each time you get 00:08:16.180 --> 00:08:18.800 like a checkpoint and you can you if you die 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:20.439 you go back to that point but if you get a game 00:08:20.439 --> 00:08:22.040 over you've got to go back to the beginning right 00:08:22.040 --> 00:08:29.600 um and on the last run um essentially these hover 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.959 bikes there's like these walls that appear in 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:33.639 front of you and you've got to either jump over 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:36.159 them duck under them move up or move down to 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:39.000 like dodge them right when you get to the final 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.360 one it just puts a wall up and a wall down but 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:47.029 it progressively gets faster for about 40 seconds. 00:08:49.610 --> 00:08:51.669 So you're just going up, down, up, down, up, 00:08:51.669 --> 00:08:55.909 down. 40 seconds of progressively getting faster. 00:08:55.950 --> 00:08:59.590 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's it. And at what 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:04.210 level did you start struggling? Well, I could 00:09:04.210 --> 00:09:07.230 quite happily... Was it like 20 seconds in? Yeah, 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:10.720 I mean... you tend to either get it wrong straight 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:13.100 away so you just hit like the first or second 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:16.500 wall or you get into a flow and then you're like 00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:18.059 yes i'm doing it i'm doing it and you hit a wall 00:09:18.059 --> 00:09:21.360 oh i've got to do it again and then every time 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:23.419 you get onto your last life your heart's racing 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:25.320 you're like oh if i die now i've got to start 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:32.200 it all over again and nope nope you're dead and 00:09:32.200 --> 00:09:35.009 even if you get past that level then you've got 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:37.710 this really nice like puzzle level of like trying 00:09:37.710 --> 00:09:40.690 to jump across snakes you have to cling on to 00:09:40.690 --> 00:09:42.649 these snakes as they go through these mazes and 00:09:42.649 --> 00:09:44.769 like hop onto other snakes as they like glide 00:09:44.769 --> 00:09:48.309 past spikes and stuff to stay alive and that's 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:51.389 fine that's doable that's technical but it's 00:09:51.389 --> 00:09:54.110 doable it's absolutely fine and then you get 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:56.490 onto this roller coaster level where you have 00:09:56.490 --> 00:09:59.129 to push in the direction that you're uh that 00:09:59.129 --> 00:10:03.190 the path is you're basically holding on to a 00:10:03.929 --> 00:10:05.970 um thing that's attached to the center rail of 00:10:05.970 --> 00:10:08.049 a roller coaster and you have to push it along 00:10:08.049 --> 00:10:10.049 so if it changes direction you have to push down 00:10:10.049 --> 00:10:12.409 and then left and then up and then down and if 00:10:12.409 --> 00:10:14.490 you don't change direct if you don't push in 00:10:14.490 --> 00:10:17.690 the direction you go slow and behind you is a 00:10:17.690 --> 00:10:20.149 rocket propelled rat with a massive chainsaw 00:10:20.149 --> 00:10:23.190 on the front of it of course of course of course 00:10:23.190 --> 00:10:26.590 of course it is yeah because this is the 90s 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.669 yeah so not only did you have to get through 00:10:29.669 --> 00:10:32.090 the hover bike level right to get to where you 00:10:32.090 --> 00:10:35.210 are already you do one more level and then all 00:10:35.210 --> 00:10:37.029 of a sudden you're running away from some rocket 00:10:37.029 --> 00:10:40.750 propelled chainsaw wielding rat man it's insane 00:10:40.750 --> 00:10:45.590 and i swear to god it's so unfair you go through 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:47.730 one more bonus level and then you're on the final 00:10:47.730 --> 00:10:51.590 level so it wasn't too many levels but if you 00:10:51.590 --> 00:10:56.190 genuinely made it to the end of the game oh you 00:10:56.190 --> 00:11:01.100 were sweating you were um so cross at the game 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:03.259 at how many how many hours it took you to get 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:06.279 to the end and it was such a crawl game such 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:10.580 a crawl game but so much fun i played that game 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:16.980 for hours just as things have become easier um 00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:20.840 like a number of other things have changed in 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.960 the game since our since our well possibly we're 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:27.980 looking at these things with uh rose tinted spectacles 00:11:27.980 --> 00:11:32.179 but Yeah, a number of other things have changed 00:11:32.179 --> 00:11:36.799 as well. I don't want to step too much on your 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:39.200 toes here, but I remember when you used to be 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:44.960 able to buy a game and you owned a physical copy 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:49.460 of it. And in some ways it was sad because that 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:53.460 was it. You owned the game and until they made 00:11:53.460 --> 00:11:59.679 a new one, that was what there was. But in some 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.720 ways it was fantastic because you owned that 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:08.879 game and the content wasn't going to change and 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:14.860 your access to it was permanent. Yeah. I think 00:12:14.860 --> 00:12:17.220 it was the Dreamcast, wasn't it? The first console 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:21.440 that had any kind of expandable content. They 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:24.480 had the little plug -in thing that you could 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.200 put in your controller on the Dreamcast and play 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:30.500 ahead of its time. um but people weren't ready 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:34.559 for it people weren't ready for it um i loved 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:36.799 power stone but sorry go ahead no absolutely 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:41.779 but um sega also were the first company to do 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:48.340 any kind of like game streaming um jobby i'd 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:52.039 lost all terms of english there completely um 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:55.059 they had the sega channel when i was a kid i 00:12:55.059 --> 00:12:57.330 can remember my dad had the sega channel and 00:12:57.330 --> 00:12:59.870 like every week you got a different set of games 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:03.649 and you but you subscribe to it and like as i 00:13:03.649 --> 00:13:05.190 said every week you got another set of games 00:13:05.190 --> 00:13:08.870 you had all the golden axe games and and games 00:13:08.870 --> 00:13:11.870 some some sega classics like all the hot all 00:13:11.870 --> 00:13:15.149 the chronic the hedgehog you had kirby and but 00:13:15.149 --> 00:13:19.169 it was something for everybody on all um kirby 00:13:19.169 --> 00:13:22.210 what i say kirby kirby's a nintendo classic and 00:13:22.210 --> 00:13:26.450 but you get the idea all these games like 10 00:13:26.450 --> 00:13:29.889 or 12 games every week that were updated um and 00:13:29.889 --> 00:13:31.929 you could play your heart play them to your heart's 00:13:31.929 --> 00:13:33.730 content and then the next week they'd roll over 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:37.629 like sega was so ahead of their curve and yet 00:13:37.629 --> 00:13:42.769 they were if you think of the three game superpowers 00:13:42.769 --> 00:13:49.149 um when i was growing up it was only really two 00:13:49.149 --> 00:13:52.350 no it was three if from when i first started 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:56.700 gaming it was nintendo atari and sega they were 00:13:56.700 --> 00:14:01.539 the three main consoles tari were limited by 00:14:01.539 --> 00:14:06.580 their their power in their market share nintendo 00:14:06.580 --> 00:14:12.159 lost the market sega were the intuitive ones 00:14:12.159 --> 00:14:15.059 the the ones that kind of tried to play a long 00:14:15.059 --> 00:14:18.059 game get in there early with this these new developments 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:21.929 for the first console to develop a disc console 00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:26.330 with the sega saturn um they brought that out 00:14:26.330 --> 00:14:34.830 at the same time that the intent you had to make 00:14:34.830 --> 00:14:37.330 a cd at the same time didn't you make a mega 00:14:37.330 --> 00:14:40.169 cd so mega drive and sega saturn at the same 00:14:40.169 --> 00:14:43.149 time like all in one console and so that would 00:14:43.149 --> 00:14:45.870 have been about that yeah man it was insane um 00:14:45.870 --> 00:14:48.190 and that was around about the same time that 00:14:48.190 --> 00:14:50.919 they had the n6 or which would have been just 00:14:50.919 --> 00:14:55.500 before the release of the playstation and they 00:14:55.500 --> 00:14:58.120 i mean originally this is me going down history 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:02.279 lane here originally um playstation was going 00:15:02.279 --> 00:15:09.879 to be the next nintendo i did not know that sony 00:15:09.879 --> 00:15:15.279 approached nintendo and they started uh collaborating 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:21.960 on a new games console and the play system or 00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:25.580 something like that it was supposed to be and 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:33.320 um yeah it it broke down i think because um nintendo 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:37.840 preferred the stability of console of not console 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:43.620 um of cartridge driven games um and wanted to 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:46.980 go along that route sony wanted to go disc because 00:15:46.980 --> 00:15:50.899 of the space like the media space um because 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:56.759 it allowed for more um game data um and that 00:15:56.759 --> 00:15:59.059 relationship fell apart so they ended up with 00:15:59.059 --> 00:16:02.779 nintendo and sony it's only of course then completely 00:16:02.779 --> 00:16:05.659 cornered the market for the next generations 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:08.480 and generations with their their playstation 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:13.519 and playstation 2 and whatnot it's only really 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:15.960 when uh like microsoft came on the scene that 00:16:15.960 --> 00:16:21.200 there was any um like any akin competitor um 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.500 nintendo though they were really smart about 00:16:24.500 --> 00:16:26.759 it and the reason they've managed to last a lot 00:16:26.759 --> 00:16:30.500 longer than sega is that they went okay we're 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:32.679 not going to be able to beat you with gaming 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:35.700 power so what we're going to do is we're going 00:16:35.700 --> 00:16:42.500 to provide more um usability in different platforms 00:16:42.500 --> 00:16:45.639 they had their they led the market in handheld 00:16:46.350 --> 00:16:50.190 And that held them over for so long. And then 00:16:50.190 --> 00:16:52.710 they released the Wii, and that was a game changer. 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:58.529 The whole family element, the group gaming element, 00:16:58.649 --> 00:17:01.789 they absolutely cornered that market. And they 00:17:01.789 --> 00:17:09.789 have done since. Yeah. Like, I mean, the Nintendo 00:17:09.789 --> 00:17:12.869 Wii really was something that we could literally 00:17:12.869 --> 00:17:19.430 have a whole thing. on that like just nintendo 00:17:19.430 --> 00:17:24.109 they've been inventive they've taken risks there's 00:17:24.109 --> 00:17:26.630 been a couple of times where they've not quite 00:17:26.630 --> 00:17:31.589 got it right but like they've they've really 00:17:31.589 --> 00:17:35.650 they've really put themselves out there like 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:41.690 i mean you know we we fit did not create a global 00:17:41.690 --> 00:17:49.349 um fitness revolution but it could have yeah 00:17:49.349 --> 00:17:56.529 you know in that capacity you see the thing about 00:17:56.529 --> 00:17:59.029 nintendo that i really like is when they've made 00:17:59.029 --> 00:18:02.549 these intuitive decisions they've read the market 00:18:02.549 --> 00:18:06.650 really well because if you think about it alongside 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:13.670 sega sega probably were more intuitive in their 00:18:13.670 --> 00:18:20.599 own right in nintendo because first color um 00:18:20.599 --> 00:18:25.660 handheld gaming system was sega they had the 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:28.539 sega game gear really yeah they had uh oh my 00:18:28.539 --> 00:18:31.119 god did not know about that the sega game gear 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:35.359 was out the same time as the dot matrix um game 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:42.019 boy and really yet the dot matrix game boy called 00:18:42.019 --> 00:18:45.660 it the market because it was easier to hold the 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:47.859 batteries like the battery life lasted longer 00:18:47.859 --> 00:18:53.240 um yeah but the game gear essentially gave you 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:56.500 that mega drive feel in your hand way before 00:18:56.500 --> 00:19:00.519 anything else could even come close to it even 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:03.819 when they bought out the game boy color it wasn't 00:19:03.819 --> 00:19:06.759 a game boy color it had colored pixels that's 00:19:06.759 --> 00:19:10.079 all it was um and the pixel it was still dot 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:14.549 matrix style you know but it wasn't it wasn't 00:19:14.549 --> 00:19:19.750 anything like um what you could get on the game 00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:24.650 gear um that the game gear wasn't as resilient 00:19:24.650 --> 00:19:31.089 as those handhelds um and fancy accompanied releasing 00:19:31.089 --> 00:19:35.930 game streaming 25 years before years before it 00:19:35.930 --> 00:19:39.970 became a thing before it came having yeah literally 00:19:39.970 --> 00:19:44.609 having a specialist channel downloadable downloadable 00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:48.450 gaming channel oh it was a downloadable well 00:19:48.450 --> 00:19:50.430 no it wasn't i don't even know how it worked 00:19:50.430 --> 00:19:53.170 like it was insane i know i think it was like 00:19:53.170 --> 00:19:55.029 internet based i mean i was really bloody young 00:19:55.029 --> 00:19:58.250 at the time um i think it was internet based 00:19:58.250 --> 00:20:02.529 i think you had to connect it somehow connect 00:20:02.529 --> 00:20:07.970 to a network um and then it would like if you 00:20:07.970 --> 00:20:11.349 like a lot of games to go through you could play 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:13.940 any one of them um i don't know how it works 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:18.599 specifically but um it was way ahead of its time 00:20:18.599 --> 00:20:24.160 um the game gear was a great idea about trying 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:29.019 to incorporate um the whole cartridge thing that 00:20:29.019 --> 00:20:31.240 you could plug in that gave you the ability for 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:33.960 downloadable content so gave you the ability 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.859 to like carry bits of your game around in your 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:40.740 pocket like tamagotchis kind of thing um and 00:20:40.740 --> 00:20:44.640 that was insane but it never caught on in the 00:20:44.640 --> 00:20:50.319 way that like nintendo's intuition did you know 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:55.700 yeah that's it like they yeah they were more 00:20:55.700 --> 00:21:01.180 forward thinking but it just it didn't pan out 00:21:01.180 --> 00:21:04.240 no yeah no i think i think there were so many 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.660 things that went wrong for sega and they they 00:21:07.660 --> 00:21:11.299 fizzled out in their own time um but what as 00:21:11.299 --> 00:21:13.180 i said before one thing that i did love about 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:18.859 nintendo is they didn't try to compete with um 00:21:18.859 --> 00:21:22.500 the likes of nintendo with the likes of uh sony 00:21:22.500 --> 00:21:27.200 or xbox they went okay you can have that market 00:21:27.200 --> 00:21:32.940 we will find a different one yeah yeah uh that's 00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:36.160 something of oh sorry they cornered the japanese 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.380 market which is huge for gaming has been for 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:43.920 has been for longer than the west and because 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:47.680 they cornered the japanese market that managed 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.099 to keep them in the gaming industry as well as 00:21:51.099 --> 00:21:54.940 having the massive the massive market share in 00:21:54.940 --> 00:22:00.140 handheld i mean nobody ever had a handheld that 00:22:00.140 --> 00:22:05.000 didn't have a game boy you know yeah yeah that's 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.240 entire that's entirely true Yeah, and then they 00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:11.440 obviously incorporated the two with the Switch, 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:17.779 and that was a game changer. I mean, I love what 00:22:17.779 --> 00:22:20.160 they've done with the Switch, and I do regret 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:25.299 not anteing up the money and getting one, but 00:22:25.299 --> 00:22:29.539 it is what it is. There's only so many consoles 00:22:29.539 --> 00:22:33.359 you can really justify owning, especially when 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:37.170 you don't... As you get older, your time becomes 00:22:37.170 --> 00:22:40.809 more precious and more... It becomes a commodity 00:22:40.809 --> 00:22:48.150 that you have less of. Yeah. I don't know. One 00:22:48.150 --> 00:22:53.549 thing... So you said that the first streaming 00:22:53.549 --> 00:22:58.269 thing was the Sega... Sega Channel. Was the Sega 00:22:58.269 --> 00:23:02.329 Channel. And you were saying that the first downloadable 00:23:02.329 --> 00:23:07.700 content... was the sega dreamcast um do you remember 00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:11.140 when dl when did what was the first game that 00:23:11.140 --> 00:23:18.700 you played that had like clear dlc like downloadable 00:23:18.700 --> 00:23:27.900 content that was extra to the game uh and i don't 00:23:27.900 --> 00:23:31.339 mean like fan like fan fan made mods are fantastic 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:36.720 But I mean like official, releasable, chargeable 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:46.640 content. You do know this. No, no, no. It's whichever 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:49.779 one was for you first. I don't know which game 00:23:49.779 --> 00:23:55.819 did it first. I mean, the first game I ever played, 00:23:56.019 --> 00:24:04.299 I ended up buying Chelsea. to play was probably 00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:12.259 call of duty black ops one because i wanted the 00:24:12.259 --> 00:24:18.579 other zombies map yeah fair enough huge zombies 00:24:18.579 --> 00:24:22.539 fan even now i still play well it's it's a fun 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:24.920 it's a fun thing isn't it yeah yeah absolutely 00:24:24.920 --> 00:24:28.900 it's fun game mode um so much fun with that even 00:24:28.900 --> 00:24:31.160 now i can still go back to black ops one and 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:36.329 play original um the original zombies um what 00:24:36.329 --> 00:24:38.549 about you what about what was your first okay 00:24:38.549 --> 00:24:42.450 so the first one the first one i was like fully 00:24:42.450 --> 00:24:47.789 aware of um that my brother did bought by sorry 00:24:47.789 --> 00:24:54.089 was for fable 2 oh yeah oh yeah in it you could 00:24:54.089 --> 00:24:56.470 get a number of different armor sets you could 00:24:56.470 --> 00:25:00.700 get a couple of like it was it was small but 00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:02.920 it was still something that you could download 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:07.480 and add to the game. So my brother paid for that, 00:25:07.539 --> 00:25:10.940 and he could dress his character as the Master 00:25:10.940 --> 00:25:16.539 Chief from Halo, but in the Fable universe. And 00:25:16.539 --> 00:25:23.019 he had a rifle which shot multiple shots. It 00:25:23.019 --> 00:25:25.259 wasn't full auto, but it could fire multiple 00:25:25.259 --> 00:25:27.700 shots, which a lot of other rifles couldn't do 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:32.279 in that game at that point. And it looked like 00:25:32.279 --> 00:25:36.140 the assault rifle from Halo. So that was my first 00:25:36.140 --> 00:25:41.799 little bit of that. And then it's interesting 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:46.799 how DLC has changed over time. And then it was 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:52.960 DLC was used. So the first time I noticed a game 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:58.960 cutting content, but then including it in a DLC. 00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:05.259 um was the original dragon age game oh yeah which 00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:11.019 in which really uh which really i don't know 00:26:11.019 --> 00:26:16.480 which if i'm honest with you i i was okay with 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:21.920 to begin with um but looking back i realize how 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:24.859 ridiculous it is because that game in itself 00:26:24.859 --> 00:26:31.359 spent a good 10 12 years in development I remember 00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:36.839 seeing early screenshots of that game when I 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:39.079 was in secondary school, and it wasn't until 00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:46.779 after sixth form, after a foundation degree, 00:26:47.019 --> 00:26:50.440 and after uni, that that game did eventually 00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:57.119 come out. And the fact that they had... written 00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.359 these characters which then just weren't in the 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:06.220 base game um is a little is a little bit silly 00:27:06.220 --> 00:27:09.980 yeah a little bit you know because like just 00:27:09.980 --> 00:27:13.299 i will say that the the additional characters 00:27:13.299 --> 00:27:15.579 that they had there was like a golem character 00:27:15.579 --> 00:27:21.180 that you could meet in the dwarven um uh city 00:27:21.180 --> 00:27:27.799 and Yeah, I don't know. I was fine with that 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:33.940 to begin with. And then there have been some 00:27:33.940 --> 00:27:39.119 examples where I feel that it's started to backfire. 00:27:39.660 --> 00:27:47.839 When do you feel that DLC started to be an excuse 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:51.079 for game developers to remove content from a 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:55.119 game? at launch at least so that you don't have 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.680 to have a whole unfinished product at launch 00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:06.240 i mean just the whole concept of day one updates 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:14.180 broke my love for gaming in many respects like 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:16.680 i don't know if you ever played uh i think it 00:28:16.680 --> 00:28:22.960 was unity assassin's creed unity the day it came 00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:27.220 out i have played that one it was so broken they 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:29.759 had to release like a 30 gigabyte update or something 00:28:29.759 --> 00:28:33.680 like fix it you think back to cyberpunk as well 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:37.759 when that first came out counted to be um the 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:42.420 next great game um and it with all due respect 00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:46.720 is now exactly what it should have been on release 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:51.089 but the fact is many bridges do you remember 00:28:51.089 --> 00:28:52.750 what it was like when it was released it made 00:28:52.750 --> 00:28:54.970 the news and everything it was horrible to watch 00:28:54.970 --> 00:28:59.250 horrible to play it was disgusting like you had 00:28:59.250 --> 00:29:03.750 people that paid like 75 quid for that game you 00:29:03.750 --> 00:29:10.690 know yeah ridiculous um but there's the whole 00:29:10.690 --> 00:29:15.890 idea of like digital content has like broken 00:29:15.890 --> 00:29:19.619 a lot of that quality assurance that you had 00:29:19.619 --> 00:29:24.920 with uh with games oh because yeah before they 00:29:24.920 --> 00:29:29.240 could release that sort of stuff they the released 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:31.880 game if it was a broken game it just wouldn't 00:29:31.880 --> 00:29:34.039 sell well and it would end up getting recalled 00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:41.579 yeah yeah yeah exactly um and it wasn't like 00:29:41.579 --> 00:29:44.099 don't get me wrong it's not i'm not saying that 00:29:44.099 --> 00:29:47.119 games when i was growing up games didn't have 00:29:47.119 --> 00:29:55.799 bugs games had bugs um but by the time a game 00:29:55.799 --> 00:30:01.059 was released most of the big bugs the game breaking 00:30:01.059 --> 00:30:06.559 bugs were worked out um and anything that wasn't 00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:08.960 game breaking was left in and ended up becoming 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:13.819 a feature of the game you know like uh yeah pokemon 00:30:13.819 --> 00:30:19.829 red the missing no the pokemon you could catch 00:30:19.829 --> 00:30:23.990 off sea foam island that gave you gave your gave 00:30:23.990 --> 00:30:26.549 the item you had in your third slot in your inventory 00:30:26.549 --> 00:30:33.190 99 you could put master ball in that slot and 00:30:33.190 --> 00:30:36.210 then go catch the missing though and it would 00:30:36.210 --> 00:30:40.400 like up your master balls from 1 to 99. you go 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:42.859 around and catch anybody when you want it completely 00:30:42.859 --> 00:30:46.720 game breaking bug but it became a feature it 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:48.559 became something that by the time you got to 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:51.660 seafoam island you went and like cranked up your 00:30:51.660 --> 00:30:54.319 supplies of rare candies and stuff like that 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:58.640 because you had that ability but you still played 00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:00.160 the rest of the game and it wasn't something 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.720 that made you dislike playing the game because 00:31:06.089 --> 00:31:08.210 you could use it to your advantage it became 00:31:08.210 --> 00:31:12.390 like a feature as i said um but i don't see how 00:31:12.390 --> 00:31:17.150 like three frames per second at the lowest graphic 00:31:17.150 --> 00:31:20.549 setting is really a feature of a game falling 00:31:20.549 --> 00:31:22.509 out of the world and falling through the map 00:31:22.509 --> 00:31:25.269 in the middle of a boss fight is really a feature 00:31:25.269 --> 00:31:29.069 of the game um and they're definitely things 00:31:29.069 --> 00:31:31.529 that should be out of the game before it's even 00:31:31.529 --> 00:31:36.029 close to being released And that comes to another 00:31:36.029 --> 00:31:42.529 point, really. The delay on game releases are 00:31:42.529 --> 00:31:48.410 so frustrating at times. It is. I will admit, 00:31:48.549 --> 00:31:55.650 I'd rather a game was delayed than it be terrible. 00:31:55.990 --> 00:32:00.990 I didn't play Cyberpunk, although I was beginning 00:32:00.990 --> 00:32:05.759 to get pulled into the hype. like massively um 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:12.000 but just it didn't i don't know it didn't grab 00:32:12.000 --> 00:32:16.039 me quite enough for me to make that jump and 00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:18.759 i was so glad i didn't the game that kind of 00:32:18.759 --> 00:32:24.059 really sort of disappointed me um to begin with 00:32:24.059 --> 00:32:30.980 was yeah was uh the sky skyrim the dawn guard 00:32:30.980 --> 00:32:38.319 yeah and dragonborn expansion where yeah there 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:41.440 were just so many little bugs in it that something 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:45.279 which was already building upon an incredibly 00:32:45.279 --> 00:32:48.819 successful groundbreaking groundbreaking at the 00:32:48.819 --> 00:32:53.859 time game literally just fizzled overnight and 00:32:53.859 --> 00:32:58.400 i think that's something that um you know when 00:32:58.400 --> 00:33:03.230 a game's done it wrong when you you have something 00:33:03.230 --> 00:33:07.750 amazing something incredibly popular and then 00:33:07.750 --> 00:33:13.490 the yeah just the hype fizzles the moment it 00:33:13.490 --> 00:33:16.890 hits the market you know yeah or the moment it 00:33:16.890 --> 00:33:20.009 uh i'm trying to think of the right wording here 00:33:20.009 --> 00:33:26.049 yeah the the moment it the moment it's done or 00:33:26.049 --> 00:33:30.750 the moment the reality hits in If it doesn't 00:33:30.750 --> 00:33:35.430 kind of add up at that point, I find it crazy 00:33:35.430 --> 00:33:40.410 just how quickly hype can die away. And I think 00:33:40.410 --> 00:33:42.750 that it not just happens in games, it also happens 00:33:42.750 --> 00:33:49.049 in TV shows, like Game of Thrones was incredibly 00:33:49.049 --> 00:33:55.869 popular for an extended period of time, and there 00:33:55.869 --> 00:33:57.589 was hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, 00:33:57.630 --> 00:34:00.539 hype, hype. And then the final season came out 00:34:00.539 --> 00:34:06.579 and just... Killed it. Yeah. And just everyone 00:34:06.579 --> 00:34:11.679 immediately was just happy to forget. Happy to 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:15.059 forget that ending. You know, I've rewatched 00:34:15.059 --> 00:34:21.159 series after series of good shows. And Game of 00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:23.739 Thrones could have quite easily been another 00:34:23.739 --> 00:34:26.889 one of those that I would rewatch. like attack 00:34:26.889 --> 00:34:28.710 on titan i don't know if you've ever seen it 00:34:28.710 --> 00:34:33.190 i i got to the and i think near the end of season 00:34:33.190 --> 00:34:36.309 two i need it is another one that it's it's another 00:34:36.309 --> 00:34:38.289 one of those things that i need i do need to 00:34:38.289 --> 00:34:44.530 uh yeah you know what long story short i haven't 00:34:44.530 --> 00:34:46.570 finished it would you recommend finishing oh 00:34:46.570 --> 00:34:48.769 yeah absolutely absolutely it's one of the best 00:34:48.769 --> 00:34:52.039 shows i've ever watched um I managed to watch 00:34:52.039 --> 00:34:55.159 all like 600 odd episodes of Dragon Ball, including 00:34:55.159 --> 00:34:58.539 Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z and then Dragon 00:34:58.539 --> 00:35:02.019 Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super and all of it from 00:35:02.019 --> 00:35:06.340 beginning to end. And I've done it twice. Watched 00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:08.380 all of them from beginning to end because for 00:35:08.380 --> 00:35:10.340 some reason they're actually quite enjoyable 00:35:10.340 --> 00:35:14.380 to watch. It wouldn't be such a big thing if 00:35:14.380 --> 00:35:17.860 it wasn't. Oh, exactly. And yet Game of Thrones, 00:35:17.980 --> 00:35:24.449 I watched. first four seasons and then um met 00:35:24.449 --> 00:35:28.909 my now wife and then we watched re -watched so 00:35:28.909 --> 00:35:31.269 to bring her up to speed we re -watched the first 00:35:31.269 --> 00:35:33.670 four seasons or i watched re -watched the first 00:35:33.670 --> 00:35:36.550 four seasons and then we stayed on top of it 00:35:36.550 --> 00:35:39.050 all the way through we were so excited for every 00:35:39.050 --> 00:35:42.170 season that came out and then it hit the last 00:35:42.170 --> 00:35:47.050 one and we were like and i've never touched it 00:35:47.050 --> 00:35:52.940 again yeah And it's the same with games. Think 00:35:52.940 --> 00:35:59.119 about Call of Duty, for example. Call of Duty 00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:06.820 Black Ops, for me, was fantastic. I played World 00:36:06.820 --> 00:36:09.099 at War first, really got hooked into the franchise. 00:36:09.940 --> 00:36:14.000 Then I played Black Ops, and the fact they had 00:36:14.000 --> 00:36:16.579 the Zombies game mode as well, I was right there. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:22.480 and then black ops 2 played through that black 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:25.559 ops 3 started to lose a little bit of a feel 00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:32.440 because it felt very samey and one thing that 00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:36.840 they started to do more and more of was payable 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:43.099 content or pay to win kind of things you know 00:36:43.099 --> 00:36:49.329 nowadays i don't even go near playing call of 00:36:49.329 --> 00:36:54.750 duty online i play call of duty um with my friends 00:36:54.750 --> 00:37:00.150 and that's it i will try my damnedest i mean 00:37:00.150 --> 00:37:03.510 i do play the odd bit of multiplayer but it's 00:37:03.510 --> 00:37:05.710 not very long before i find myself frustrated 00:37:05.710 --> 00:37:14.829 at how um how over overdone it is how how like 00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:20.199 no life um you know when you're up against people 00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:22.300 that literally just sit in one corner because 00:37:22.300 --> 00:37:24.059 they found the perfect place where nobody can 00:37:24.059 --> 00:37:26.320 see them and they cap everybody from there's 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:29.860 no sense of joy with it anymore um did you ever 00:37:29.860 --> 00:37:35.400 play um unreal tournament yes i played i played 00:37:35.400 --> 00:37:39.400 it a little bit um on the pc yeah uh loved the 00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:42.460 secret level um video to do with that but uh 00:37:42.460 --> 00:37:46.349 sorry it's a good game yeah yeah so unreal tournament 00:37:46.349 --> 00:37:51.949 was just um it was so much it was so fun playing 00:37:51.949 --> 00:37:56.309 that and i would play that online um and it wasn't 00:37:56.309 --> 00:38:00.789 like gamers weren't i mean you had professional 00:38:00.789 --> 00:38:03.809 gamers back then even then they had esports um 00:38:03.809 --> 00:38:07.789 but it was so many more people that were just 00:38:07.789 --> 00:38:10.590 casual and it was so much more enjoyable to get 00:38:10.590 --> 00:38:15.000 on there and play um and especially for me when 00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:17.039 i was younger my reflexes were better i could 00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:20.880 probably do a better job of gaming then and nowadays 00:38:20.880 --> 00:38:25.500 i have slowed down a lot and when i go into these 00:38:25.500 --> 00:38:29.920 lobbies with people that are literally ripping 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:33.980 up the lobbies like 30 to none like kill death 00:38:33.980 --> 00:38:38.159 ratios you're like this is painful man i don't 00:38:38.159 --> 00:38:41.460 enjoy this anymore is there no way for me to 00:38:41.460 --> 00:38:44.170 just sit in a lobby with a bunch of people that 00:38:44.170 --> 00:38:46.570 are actually to the game and just us have fun 00:38:46.570 --> 00:38:52.769 can we just do that yeah i love it because there 00:38:52.769 --> 00:38:57.369 are um you're totally right there are uh there 00:38:57.369 --> 00:39:00.050 are communities which do that and i love that 00:39:00.050 --> 00:39:03.449 there are servers nowadays for a number of games 00:39:03.449 --> 00:39:07.199 like uh uh team fortress and team fortress 2 00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:10.059 oh yeah those are those are old games at this 00:39:10.059 --> 00:39:12.300 point yeah i don't like getting this old but 00:39:12.300 --> 00:39:15.739 uh still um we're good games back in the day 00:39:15.739 --> 00:39:18.579 though good games back in the day and additionally 00:39:18.579 --> 00:39:25.179 like i i remember um yeah i i remember i've got 00:39:25.179 --> 00:39:27.599 a friend dan and he like would show me these 00:39:27.599 --> 00:39:31.400 games and i loved the fact that there were places 00:39:31.400 --> 00:39:33.920 in the community where there were there were 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:37.760 totally casual servers and then more serious 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:40.820 servers and there were casual clans and there 00:39:40.820 --> 00:39:43.980 were serious clans and it all depended entirely 00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:47.480 on the individual to what they liked what they 00:39:47.480 --> 00:39:49.900 felt like doing you know what how they felt like 00:39:49.900 --> 00:39:56.519 going yeah i mean i love i've always loved gaming 00:39:56.519 --> 00:40:01.480 but i find myself enjoying single player games 00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:05.880 now more than i ever enjoyed playing them before 00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:12.980 and i think that's sad um and i think there does 00:40:12.980 --> 00:40:16.179 need to be a little bit more work done um by 00:40:16.179 --> 00:40:20.360 developers make it a bit more casual friendly 00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:23.840 and like at the same time not detract from those 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:28.719 people who want that hardcore experience um because 00:40:29.760 --> 00:40:32.400 it's a difficult thing to balance i know i know 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:36.860 but you should almost put i mean it's it's almost 00:40:36.860 --> 00:40:39.699 like a gentleman's agreement you know you could 00:40:39.699 --> 00:40:41.639 almost do like a gentleman's agreement but people 00:40:41.639 --> 00:40:44.079 would exploit it but you go like i am at the 00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:48.280 game and i want to play in the lobbies um and 00:40:48.280 --> 00:40:52.719 then um you expect the pros to go no i'm a pro 00:40:52.719 --> 00:40:54.820 i'd like to tick the box that says i'm a pro 00:40:54.820 --> 00:40:58.610 um and then they go into their own like technical 00:40:58.610 --> 00:41:00.530 lobbies but it doesn't work like that because 00:41:00.530 --> 00:41:04.309 you'd end up with like it's the no life coming 00:41:04.309 --> 00:41:06.309 into the casual lobbies and destroying everybody 00:41:06.309 --> 00:41:10.190 like 100 to none kill death ratios you know wouldn't 00:41:10.190 --> 00:41:13.710 be fun and so you can't like you said it's a 00:41:13.710 --> 00:41:16.809 very difficult thing to manage but um i know 00:41:16.809 --> 00:41:19.510 they've tried to introduce like ranked gameplay 00:41:19.510 --> 00:41:23.230 and stuff like that um where like your kill deaths 00:41:23.230 --> 00:41:26.670 and your game your multiplayer wins and things 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:30.820 taken into consideration um before you put into 00:41:30.820 --> 00:41:35.940 lobbies but it still doesn't quite hit the mark 00:41:35.940 --> 00:41:38.900 because they need to fill the lobbies so they 00:41:38.900 --> 00:41:40.739 just end up filling the lobbies with higher and 00:41:40.739 --> 00:41:46.000 higher ranked players you know um i'll tell you 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:48.460 one game that really really annoyed me recently 00:41:48.460 --> 00:41:54.260 um i was a motorsport came out in 2023 right 00:41:54.760 --> 00:41:58.760 i just started uh cloud streaming it um because 00:41:58.760 --> 00:42:03.079 i can cloud streaming has come on so much um 00:42:03.079 --> 00:42:08.260 and big credit to xbox for getting it to a point 00:42:08.260 --> 00:42:11.059 where i can comfortably play forza motorsport 00:42:11.059 --> 00:42:17.760 and by on my phone with a controller insane um 00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:23.639 however forza motorsport think back i don't know 00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:28.780 if you were ever a racing game player um but 00:42:28.780 --> 00:42:31.920 if i go back to when i was playing like uh gran 00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:36.480 turismo one and the original forza um there's 00:42:36.480 --> 00:42:39.480 hours and hours and hours of content within that 00:42:39.480 --> 00:42:45.300 game but within forza motorsport get like the 00:42:45.300 --> 00:42:49.860 introduction lobby and then a list of races and 00:42:49.860 --> 00:42:53.030 then everything's updated on a week by week basis 00:42:53.030 --> 00:42:58.369 so essentially if you dig into the game you've 00:42:58.369 --> 00:43:02.610 got a few hours of content and then you have 00:43:02.610 --> 00:43:06.429 to wait for it to update before you get the next 00:43:06.429 --> 00:43:21.480 bit just painful okay That was a tangent and 00:43:21.480 --> 00:43:24.300 a half. Weren't we talking about DLC? Yeah, so 00:43:24.300 --> 00:43:26.719 no, no, no, that's it. So originally we were 00:43:26.719 --> 00:43:31.639 going to talk about kind of certain... What's 00:43:31.639 --> 00:43:44.679 the word for it? Hmm. So we were looking at the 00:43:44.679 --> 00:43:49.119 changes in the game industry originally between... 00:43:51.079 --> 00:43:53.719 what it was like when we were younger, what it's 00:43:53.719 --> 00:43:57.940 like now, what the industry standards are now, 00:43:58.119 --> 00:44:03.760 and then also how are games, how has it become 00:44:03.760 --> 00:44:08.539 normal that when a game is made now, it's quite 00:44:08.539 --> 00:44:13.460 often not necessarily finished? So just to go, 00:44:13.559 --> 00:44:16.599 I guess, back on track is the wrong word. There's 00:44:16.599 --> 00:44:20.980 too many negative connotations with that. When 00:44:20.980 --> 00:44:28.920 it comes to... Like... When it comes to this 00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:32.380 sort of thing, and when it comes to these sorts 00:44:32.380 --> 00:44:39.300 of games, I guess... It's interesting that a 00:44:39.300 --> 00:44:44.559 number of companies will do the same thing, and 00:44:44.559 --> 00:44:49.980 then it just becomes the industry standard. So... 00:44:50.599 --> 00:44:54.579 The idea of releasing a game before it was finished, 00:44:54.780 --> 00:44:58.659 like back in the 90s, would not be considered 00:44:58.659 --> 00:45:02.579 practical or doable because you'd literally ruin 00:45:02.579 --> 00:45:09.539 your reputation. Absolutely. You would do damage 00:45:09.539 --> 00:45:12.960 to the company and it would be right hell. The 00:45:12.960 --> 00:45:16.619 game that I'm going to bring up here is a game 00:45:16.619 --> 00:45:19.400 that I watch my brother play a lot. I've played... 00:45:19.869 --> 00:45:23.769 the second in this game franchise, and it's a 00:45:23.769 --> 00:45:29.210 game which had a lot of love put into it. And 00:45:29.210 --> 00:45:31.269 the game I'm going to talk about for just a couple 00:45:31.269 --> 00:45:35.010 of minutes here is Destiny. Okay. Destiny 1 was 00:45:35.010 --> 00:45:47.110 released in... 2013. 2013, wow. And... What's 00:45:47.110 --> 00:45:48.869 interesting about it is that they'd been working 00:45:48.869 --> 00:45:52.590 on it for a while. They had written a number 00:45:52.590 --> 00:45:57.269 of the story arcs, but they hadn't figured out 00:45:57.269 --> 00:46:01.469 whether it was solely going to be a fantasy or 00:46:01.469 --> 00:46:04.570 whether it was going to... They settled on sci 00:46:04.570 --> 00:46:08.250 -fi, but there's concept art where it is clearly 00:46:08.250 --> 00:46:13.250 a fantasy game. Yeah. And they'd put... You know 00:46:13.250 --> 00:46:16.699 what? They'd put a huge amount of work in. I'm 00:46:16.699 --> 00:46:19.420 not going to pretend that they haven't. But the 00:46:19.420 --> 00:46:21.920 thing that frustrates me is that game, when it 00:46:21.920 --> 00:46:26.880 was released, wasn't finished. Now what had happened 00:46:26.880 --> 00:46:32.639 was the new CEO had said, like they were working 00:46:32.639 --> 00:46:36.880 on it, and all of the content was supposed to 00:46:36.880 --> 00:46:42.420 be, the expansion, the Taken King, was supposed 00:46:42.420 --> 00:46:47.650 to be included. The storyline for The Taken King 00:46:47.650 --> 00:46:52.670 was supposed to be included in the original release 00:46:52.670 --> 00:46:56.469 of that game. So when the game came out, loads 00:46:56.469 --> 00:46:58.789 of people were like, oh, well, the campaign's 00:46:58.789 --> 00:47:03.510 really short. And it was really short. Because 00:47:03.510 --> 00:47:07.570 it wasn't finished. Yet there was so much hype 00:47:07.570 --> 00:47:14.280 around the game that it just seemed like... the 00:47:14.280 --> 00:47:16.340 company thought that they couldn't lose, that 00:47:16.340 --> 00:47:20.440 they couldn't get it wrong. And I hate to admit 00:47:20.440 --> 00:47:22.579 it, this is one of the few times where there 00:47:22.579 --> 00:47:25.820 was so much backing the game that they were totally 00:47:25.820 --> 00:47:29.139 able to get away with it. It's not something... 00:47:29.139 --> 00:47:34.340 I don't think it's not like the worst thing that's 00:47:34.340 --> 00:47:39.199 ever happened, but I find it incredibly sad and 00:47:39.199 --> 00:47:44.150 incredibly frustrating that... somebody would 00:47:44.150 --> 00:47:49.750 sit down think about what their options are think 00:47:49.750 --> 00:47:54.170 about the amount of work that's gone into a project 00:47:54.170 --> 00:47:59.610 and completely undermine everyone's work and 00:47:59.610 --> 00:48:04.949 credibility by choosing to release it before 00:48:04.949 --> 00:48:08.889 it's finished yeah maybe that's just me being 00:48:08.889 --> 00:48:12.010 incredibly naive and it probably is like i'm 00:48:12.010 --> 00:48:14.199 not no i don't think it's i don't think it's 00:48:14.199 --> 00:48:17.960 really unreasonable for us to get upset that 00:48:17.960 --> 00:48:28.480 too many aiming uh aiming what are they called 00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:33.780 studios um developer studios are fine thinking 00:48:33.780 --> 00:48:38.659 it's okay more and more frequently to um just 00:48:40.650 --> 00:48:45.510 dispose of the whole concept of um completing 00:48:45.510 --> 00:48:52.289 like finishing a game for day one release and 00:48:52.289 --> 00:48:57.969 i mean the fact that they sold resold a portion 00:48:57.969 --> 00:49:05.769 of the story mode in um dlc format disgusting 00:49:05.769 --> 00:49:09.639 that's an insult you essentially paid full ticket 00:49:09.639 --> 00:49:13.139 price for two -thirds of a game yeah that's it 00:49:13.139 --> 00:49:16.719 and but this is the thing the fact that that's 00:49:16.719 --> 00:49:20.440 now standard that's the thing that gets me like 00:49:20.440 --> 00:49:26.219 just the fact that if a company did that now 00:49:26.219 --> 00:49:31.380 no one would bat an eyelid and it's also interesting 00:49:31.380 --> 00:49:34.599 i so just to give credit where it's due i watched 00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:41.250 an episode by uh stephanie sterling um like they 00:49:41.250 --> 00:49:47.230 were talking about how the new tactic that they're 00:49:47.230 --> 00:49:51.110 going for so loot boxes are something which doesn't 00:49:51.110 --> 00:49:53.889 happen anymore luckily well they do happen but 00:49:53.889 --> 00:50:00.710 it's not it's not as much of a no it's not that 00:50:00.710 --> 00:50:03.590 it's not a problem it's just not it just doesn't 00:50:03.590 --> 00:50:10.579 happen quite as much nowadays But like what they've 00:50:10.579 --> 00:50:13.780 started doing is early access to a game. Yeah. 00:50:14.300 --> 00:50:19.599 And the idea is that, oh, well, you know, what 00:50:19.599 --> 00:50:22.139 you're paying for is you get a few little bits 00:50:22.139 --> 00:50:25.659 in here, but you're paying for, you are paying 00:50:25.659 --> 00:50:28.820 for that early access. And sometimes it's literally 00:50:28.820 --> 00:50:33.300 days. You're paying £20 in order to play a game 00:50:33.300 --> 00:50:40.130 early. There's no improvement in that game, you 00:50:40.130 --> 00:50:43.570 know? And, like, just the fact that there's literally 00:50:43.570 --> 00:50:49.170 no content there, or very, very little content 00:50:49.170 --> 00:50:54.789 for the money that you're paying. Like, when 00:50:54.789 --> 00:50:57.710 you buy a physical copy of a game... Early access, 00:50:58.110 --> 00:51:02.590 from my understanding, is just paying for the 00:51:02.590 --> 00:51:10.650 liberty. of quality assurance their game because 00:51:10.650 --> 00:51:14.989 in those few days before main release what the 00:51:14.989 --> 00:51:18.349 game studio has a stress test on their servers 00:51:18.349 --> 00:51:26.130 and then reporting of every unfound bug on the 00:51:26.130 --> 00:51:31.989 system didn't have to pay developers to or game 00:51:31.989 --> 00:51:36.369 testers to find and then developers um obviously 00:51:36.369 --> 00:51:38.949 developers have to develop the bugs out of it 00:51:38.949 --> 00:51:45.090 and if they can be bothered um but they get paid 00:51:45.090 --> 00:51:47.849 they don't have to pay game testers they are 00:51:47.849 --> 00:51:55.309 being paid by um by consumers but then being 00:51:55.309 --> 00:52:02.289 allowed to quality test the new title it's incredibly 00:52:02.289 --> 00:52:07.690 it's incredible marketing but it's also a scam 00:52:07.690 --> 00:52:16.449 that's the way it can feel anyway yeah you know 00:52:16.449 --> 00:52:18.849 and you were right with uh like bethesda are 00:52:18.849 --> 00:52:25.289 probably um one of the worst for not releasing 00:52:25.289 --> 00:52:32.030 a fixed game um in a finished state yeah in a 00:52:32.030 --> 00:52:36.110 finished state and then relying on um patches 00:52:36.110 --> 00:52:40.449 after the fact now now you'll understand if you 00:52:40.449 --> 00:52:44.010 played much of like oblivion or morrowind um 00:52:44.010 --> 00:52:49.190 they weren't games that could be hatched they 00:52:49.190 --> 00:52:52.690 were console games so um what you got was what 00:52:52.690 --> 00:52:54.730 you got you probably just dealt with it because 00:52:54.730 --> 00:53:01.769 the games were good skyrim a pc was patched um 00:53:01.769 --> 00:53:03.989 if you were unlucky enough to have it on xbox 00:53:03.989 --> 00:53:12.070 360 it wasn't patched but it was but um i think 00:53:12.070 --> 00:53:17.250 too many studios like bethesda now rely on modders 00:53:17.250 --> 00:53:23.969 as well to fix their games i i have to say skyrim 00:53:23.969 --> 00:53:28.400 as great a game as it is wouldn't be anywhere 00:53:28.400 --> 00:53:32.079 near as good if the modding community wasn't 00:53:32.079 --> 00:53:38.719 as good that's entirely true yeah and it's the 00:53:38.719 --> 00:53:42.099 same with starfield starfield was hyped to be 00:53:42.099 --> 00:53:46.300 the the next great title out of bethesda and 00:53:46.300 --> 00:53:49.719 yeah what happened what happened with that game 00:53:49.719 --> 00:53:52.380 i remember there being a load of hype about it 00:53:52.380 --> 00:53:55.079 it was deflated what was it one year ago or two 00:53:55.679 --> 00:53:58.679 now they had it was the first bethesda game to 00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:04.960 ever have like a new game plus um and i mean 00:54:04.960 --> 00:54:11.059 there was no reason for you to do the game again 00:54:11.059 --> 00:54:19.039 after you got after you completed the game there 00:54:19.039 --> 00:54:22.579 was absolutely no reason why you would want to 00:54:22.579 --> 00:54:26.199 go sure let's do that again it was deflating 00:54:26.199 --> 00:54:28.300 it wasn't as exciting as it should have been 00:54:28.300 --> 00:54:32.719 it was just the normal like a normal um story 00:54:32.719 --> 00:54:42.159 mode on a mid developers roster it lacked so 00:54:42.159 --> 00:54:51.340 much quality i think it felt almost fortnite 00:54:51.340 --> 00:54:57.900 almost fallout ish almost um like elder scrolls 00:54:57.900 --> 00:55:03.980 ish but fell massively under par um the only 00:55:03.980 --> 00:55:06.699 thing i think that was a redeeming feature about 00:55:06.699 --> 00:55:10.000 it was the ship building i loved building my 00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:13.960 own ships in that game built a giant flying donut 00:55:13.960 --> 00:55:19.500 because the game's um targeting engine so stupid 00:55:20.409 --> 00:55:25.590 If you built a ship with no central hull, then 00:55:25.590 --> 00:55:30.849 they couldn't hit you. So I was flying around 00:55:30.849 --> 00:55:36.489 this massive fucking donut. That's amazing. Wait, 00:55:36.530 --> 00:55:39.070 and you're telling me also that there wasn't 00:55:39.070 --> 00:55:44.190 inaccuracy. You'd take the odd knock, but your 00:55:44.190 --> 00:55:48.659 shields would take it, right? It certainly wouldn't 00:55:48.659 --> 00:55:53.559 end up dying. They were targeting the centre 00:55:53.559 --> 00:55:57.179 mass and there was no centre mass. That's crazy. 00:55:58.659 --> 00:56:01.559 It's never the fastest ship, but it was certainly 00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:07.119 invincible. That's another thing, right? How 00:56:07.119 --> 00:56:10.559 could you not... Why would you not see that exploit? 00:56:10.659 --> 00:56:15.389 And then either... There are games where they 00:56:15.389 --> 00:56:20.250 would see that kind of exploit coming and they 00:56:20.250 --> 00:56:22.550 would either accept the fact that that's an exploit 00:56:22.550 --> 00:56:24.469 that's going to happen and make a joke out of 00:56:24.469 --> 00:56:30.530 it by adding a line into text somewhere where 00:56:30.530 --> 00:56:33.889 a character says something stupid just to kind 00:56:33.889 --> 00:56:35.750 of say, we know what you've done here, well done, 00:56:35.929 --> 00:56:40.210 that kind of thing. To be fair, that's something 00:56:40.210 --> 00:56:45.260 that they wrote into... uh fable too yeah is 00:56:45.260 --> 00:56:47.639 they had a number of books and they even had 00:56:47.639 --> 00:56:50.079 some voice lines of a couple of people saying 00:56:50.079 --> 00:56:54.579 has has anyone noticed that several people sound 00:56:54.579 --> 00:56:57.239 exactly the same yeah yeah that's what i liked 00:56:57.239 --> 00:57:00.099 about the fable games they were they were never 00:57:00.099 --> 00:57:02.340 in cheek yeah they they were tongue in cheek 00:57:02.340 --> 00:57:04.260 they never took themselves too seriously but 00:57:04.260 --> 00:57:08.980 that's what made them such good games um but 00:57:08.980 --> 00:57:13.610 yeah i mean they shouldn't be able to really 00:57:13.610 --> 00:57:17.389 rely on um like day one releases and patches 00:57:17.389 --> 00:57:20.150 to fix their games there should be more especially 00:57:20.150 --> 00:57:26.369 when you think um think about um think about 00:57:26.369 --> 00:57:30.429 how long it's taken for some games to be developed 00:57:30.429 --> 00:57:37.070 right let's look at gta 6 for example imagine 00:57:37.070 --> 00:57:42.000 in in years time when gta 6 is eventually released 00:57:42.000 --> 00:57:47.320 and yeah imagine it gets released in the state 00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:52.239 that cyberpunk came out in i'll destroy the franchise 00:57:52.239 --> 00:57:56.539 well at the very least it would be a massive 00:57:56.539 --> 00:58:03.099 hiccup and it would really unsettle yeah yeah 00:58:03.099 --> 00:58:06.119 especially because Like, people already feel 00:58:06.119 --> 00:58:08.440 like they've waited long enough for a new GTA 00:58:08.440 --> 00:58:12.300 6. And I get the studio, it's almost like a musician, 00:58:12.400 --> 00:58:15.480 right? When a musician's being pressured by the 00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:18.119 fans to write a new album, you're like, yeah, 00:58:18.159 --> 00:58:20.380 yeah, I will in my own time when I feel it. It's 00:58:20.380 --> 00:58:24.900 got to be right. It's got to be correct. Which 00:58:24.900 --> 00:58:28.340 would be fine if what you actually got out of 00:58:28.340 --> 00:58:31.840 that artist after the 52 years that you've waited 00:58:31.840 --> 00:58:35.590 for a new album was actually... exactly what 00:58:35.590 --> 00:58:38.710 they wanted it to be fact is from these game 00:58:38.710 --> 00:58:46.989 studios it's not yeah you know releasing content 00:58:46.989 --> 00:58:49.849 just for the sake of releasing content but you 00:58:49.849 --> 00:58:52.750 look at the fifa franchise right or what it is 00:58:52.750 --> 00:59:03.150 now the uh free afc um as it's turned into now 00:59:03.840 --> 00:59:07.940 a new title every year and all it is based on 00:59:07.940 --> 00:59:15.340 is micro transactions the same generic end -to 00:59:15.340 --> 00:59:19.440 -end game like football game it has been for 00:59:19.440 --> 00:59:22.900 generations the only thing they're bothered about 00:59:22.900 --> 00:59:26.860 is getting you to buy packs like your pokemon 00:59:26.860 --> 00:59:30.469 card packs and stuff but in digital format and 00:59:30.469 --> 00:59:32.630 they release a new game every year so that all 00:59:32.630 --> 00:59:36.150 the money you spent on the last con last uh last 00:59:36.150 --> 00:59:39.329 title is irrelevant let's do it all over again 00:59:39.329 --> 00:59:44.309 for people that literally spend thousands and 00:59:44.309 --> 00:59:49.949 thousands of pounds on fifa and every year they 00:59:49.949 --> 00:59:53.650 release a new game and like a little chipmunk 00:59:53.650 --> 00:59:59.559 on their hamster wheel off they go again I don't 00:59:59.559 --> 01:00:01.679 care about the content. I used to love playing 01:00:01.679 --> 01:00:07.639 career mode on FIFA, and yet now it's just boring. 01:00:10.139 --> 01:00:12.320 I know it sounds like I'm being a moany little 01:00:12.320 --> 01:00:16.380 shberg, but it's so disappointing that there's 01:00:16.380 --> 01:00:20.639 not that thought on good quality content, you 01:00:20.639 --> 01:00:29.619 know? Yeah. Yeah, and it is... It is worrying. 01:00:29.840 --> 01:00:33.820 Like, it is... And, like, that means that that 01:00:33.820 --> 01:00:37.579 franchise will probably die. And FIFA... Like, 01:00:37.599 --> 01:00:42.199 I remember when there were two major football... 01:00:42.199 --> 01:00:46.719 Okay. Like, football manager aside, there were 01:00:46.719 --> 01:00:51.780 two major football games. PES and FIFA. Yeah. 01:00:52.219 --> 01:00:56.920 Yeah. Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA. And that 01:00:56.920 --> 01:01:01.889 was... And that was it. But the very fact that 01:01:01.889 --> 01:01:06.550 that was even... I don't know. The fact that 01:01:06.550 --> 01:01:12.750 those two games had cornered the market and you 01:01:12.750 --> 01:01:19.289 had major soundtracks and major... I'm trying 01:01:19.289 --> 01:01:21.409 to think of the right word here. You had major 01:01:21.409 --> 01:01:25.090 artists on soundtracks. You could... play FIFA 01:01:25.090 --> 01:01:29.949 and genuinely just enjoy the game and enjoy like 01:01:29.949 --> 01:01:32.909 the listening and the experience. And that was, 01:01:32.969 --> 01:01:38.349 that was really, you know, that's something just 01:01:38.349 --> 01:01:40.489 the sheer amount of effort that has gone into 01:01:40.489 --> 01:01:42.789 building that franchise and building the games 01:01:42.789 --> 01:01:46.889 over the years to just sell out completely. Like 01:01:46.889 --> 01:01:49.190 I get it. Like, you know, there's sell out in 01:01:49.190 --> 01:01:52.440 a minor way. But what you've just described there 01:01:52.440 --> 01:01:55.940 is a major way. You're saying that playing the 01:01:55.940 --> 01:01:59.539 game itself, or at least playing story mode, 01:01:59.840 --> 01:02:06.179 like when you're not playing against other players, 01:02:06.260 --> 01:02:09.360 just isn't fun? Yeah. That's terrible. That's 01:02:09.360 --> 01:02:13.880 literally ripping the soul out of a game. And 01:02:13.880 --> 01:02:15.320 I'll tell you another franchise that's done exactly 01:02:15.320 --> 01:02:19.389 the same, and that's Call of Duty. all the jury 01:02:19.389 --> 01:02:22.550 yeah story mode used to be what they go yeah 01:02:22.550 --> 01:02:29.269 they do in all of their um headline uh titles 01:02:29.269 --> 01:02:33.150 they have a career mode or or a um story mode 01:02:33.150 --> 01:02:40.949 um and but the if you look at like the last couple 01:02:40.949 --> 01:02:49.699 of titles their um story mode has been like ai 01:02:49.699 --> 01:02:54.960 generated like procedurally generated maps with 01:02:54.960 --> 01:03:01.480 no real soul no real element of fun and the whole 01:03:01.480 --> 01:03:04.820 focus of the game has been getting you into multiplayer 01:03:04.820 --> 01:03:09.199 and getting you to buy skins and and whatnot 01:03:09.199 --> 01:03:11.159 else because that's where they make their money 01:03:11.159 --> 01:03:15.719 delta force right a new game that was released 01:03:16.320 --> 01:03:19.239 and delta force has made so much money off of 01:03:19.239 --> 01:03:22.480 its multiplayer format they're giving away its 01:03:22.480 --> 01:03:28.519 career mode for free they were going to sell 01:03:28.519 --> 01:03:35.619 it as a add -on to their um to their game but 01:03:35.619 --> 01:03:38.380 they were like we've we've already made loads 01:03:38.380 --> 01:03:40.539 of money we're not going to sell this we're going 01:03:40.539 --> 01:03:43.900 to give it away because we want you to enjoy 01:03:43.900 --> 01:03:49.900 the game And as much of a grumble fest as this 01:03:49.900 --> 01:03:52.139 has been, I do want to remind people that gaming 01:03:52.139 --> 01:03:57.980 is fun. So let's end with a little bit of nostalgia 01:03:57.980 --> 01:04:02.280 and a little bit of enjoyment. What's your three 01:04:02.280 --> 01:04:08.219 favorite games of all time and why? Okay, so 01:04:08.219 --> 01:04:13.820 the game that got me through a number of my teenage 01:04:13.820 --> 01:04:18.619 years was Baldur's Gate 2. So Baldur's Gate is 01:04:18.619 --> 01:04:20.760 an incredibly popular franchise at the moment 01:04:20.760 --> 01:04:24.380 due to the creation of Baldur's Gate 3 and the 01:04:24.380 --> 01:04:28.400 amazing work of the voice actors who play a number 01:04:28.400 --> 01:04:31.760 of... Oh, and the amazing work of the writers 01:04:31.760 --> 01:04:35.460 who... It all comes together and is incredibly 01:04:35.460 --> 01:04:39.940 well done. I could not hope for a better sequel 01:04:39.940 --> 01:04:45.199 to that franchise. But Baldur's Gate 2... Battlescape 01:04:45.199 --> 01:04:48.719 1 came out when I'd just gone to secondary school 01:04:48.719 --> 01:04:51.019 and was really struggling with the transition 01:04:51.019 --> 01:04:59.679 of going from a small village school which had 01:04:59.679 --> 01:05:03.480 80 people in it to a school which had over a 01:05:03.480 --> 01:05:09.000 thousand pupils in it. I was not coping well 01:05:09.000 --> 01:05:14.030 and that game franchise... specifically the second 01:05:14.030 --> 01:05:19.090 one um really kind of helped me out uh let me 01:05:19.090 --> 01:05:30.769 think of so yeah battlescape 2. um oh okay the 01:05:30.769 --> 01:05:34.889 one which i really enjoyed uh as a free team 01:05:34.889 --> 01:05:40.289 uh would be the original um come on and conquer 01:05:41.070 --> 01:05:45.989 oh such a good genre 1995 yeah like it's um i 01:05:45.989 --> 01:05:50.590 mean the the franchise is somewhat spent now 01:05:50.590 --> 01:05:54.809 and it's come and gone and it was it was interesting 01:05:54.809 --> 01:05:58.570 that it started slightly sci -fi and then went 01:05:58.570 --> 01:06:01.469 incredibly sci -fi and then like there's a mobile 01:06:01.469 --> 01:06:05.010 game that a friend of mine very kindly pointed 01:06:05.010 --> 01:06:06.969 out to me and you know the mobile game is fairly 01:06:06.969 --> 01:06:10.179 fun And, you know, like the theme is there and 01:06:10.179 --> 01:06:12.119 it's still there, but they've tried to kind of 01:06:12.119 --> 01:06:15.280 bring it back to something set in the modern 01:06:15.280 --> 01:06:21.280 era. But, you know, and the Red Alert games were 01:06:21.280 --> 01:06:24.000 fantastic as well. Like I'm going to say I really 01:06:24.000 --> 01:06:29.119 loved Tim Curry's performance right before his 01:06:29.119 --> 01:06:33.719 stroke. Tim Curry starred, in fact, a number 01:06:33.719 --> 01:06:37.340 of big actors were involved with. the later games 01:06:37.340 --> 01:06:40.619 of the come on and conquer series uh you can 01:06:40.619 --> 01:06:42.760 all tell they were at the height of their careers 01:06:42.760 --> 01:06:47.159 uh when they did this particular bit but it like 01:06:47.159 --> 01:06:51.920 it was just it was a fun game franchise um so 01:06:51.920 --> 01:06:55.420 battle's gate come on and conquer i would include 01:06:55.420 --> 01:07:00.539 uh come on and conquer generals um like it unfortunately 01:07:00.539 --> 01:07:03.440 come on and conquer generals has aged much like 01:07:03.440 --> 01:07:08.840 little britain um but yeah i think you know exactly 01:07:08.840 --> 01:07:13.280 where i'm coming from with that but uh it's still 01:07:13.280 --> 01:07:18.119 it was a fun game yeah i think yeah so i want 01:07:18.119 --> 01:07:21.320 to conquer i had so much fun with red light red 01:07:21.320 --> 01:07:24.980 alert too um oh absolutely yeah yeah damn straight 01:07:24.980 --> 01:07:30.079 like you got the tesla troopers yeah the fact 01:07:30.079 --> 01:07:32.500 that gi's you know you you deploy them and all 01:07:32.500 --> 01:07:35.139 of a sudden they're a mini base defense and if 01:07:35.139 --> 01:07:37.460 you got really bored you could just input a few 01:07:37.460 --> 01:07:41.599 codes and then just use the iron curtain yeah 01:07:41.599 --> 01:07:46.480 destroy everything and go with one of mine and 01:07:46.480 --> 01:07:49.360 then as well but we'll go back to you we'll come 01:07:49.360 --> 01:07:51.840 back right okay sorry so those you know what 01:07:51.840 --> 01:07:53.659 actually we should have done one and one one 01:07:53.659 --> 01:07:56.239 and one one and one do you want to do your free 01:07:56.239 --> 01:07:58.320 whilst i think of the third and final game sure 01:07:58.320 --> 01:08:06.239 so i can say my i've had my friends know that 01:08:06.239 --> 01:08:09.840 i'm gonna play a game online it's gonna be this 01:08:09.840 --> 01:08:11.739 and i've mentioned it a few times about this 01:08:11.739 --> 01:08:15.380 throughout this podcast but it's got to be call 01:08:15.380 --> 01:08:18.800 of duty zombies and specifically zombies just 01:08:18.800 --> 01:08:21.880 because i hate multiplayer elements to games 01:08:21.880 --> 01:08:25.479 where it's me against someone else and that i 01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:29.880 prefer the co -op element of multiplayer um where 01:08:29.880 --> 01:08:33.050 you have to work together um and you can have 01:08:33.050 --> 01:08:35.409 a little bit of competition like we have been 01:08:35.409 --> 01:08:37.510 to have like headshot competitions and stuff 01:08:37.510 --> 01:08:41.670 like that when you're playing um and it is it 01:08:41.670 --> 01:08:48.470 is great fun to pick apart um like each other's 01:08:48.470 --> 01:08:52.670 gameplay and try and i used to really enjoy figure 01:08:52.670 --> 01:08:56.430 out things yeah i used to uh tactic i used to 01:08:56.430 --> 01:08:58.949 figure out a tactic like i mean for example when 01:08:58.949 --> 01:09:02.630 um this new uh version of call of duty came out 01:09:02.630 --> 01:09:04.609 i would sit in the bowling alley and just like 01:09:04.609 --> 01:09:07.789 run laps and train up the zombies and then just 01:09:07.789 --> 01:09:09.409 take them out and let everybody else have the 01:09:09.409 --> 01:09:14.109 entire rest of the map but what i used to what 01:09:14.109 --> 01:09:17.130 i enjoy doing more than anything is when one 01:09:17.130 --> 01:09:20.970 of my teammates goes down it's that exhilaration 01:09:20.970 --> 01:09:24.539 you get from going on a hero mission from wherever 01:09:24.539 --> 01:09:27.060 you are on the map it's okay bud i got you i'm 01:09:27.060 --> 01:09:29.899 coming and you literally run to anywhere else 01:09:29.899 --> 01:09:32.399 in the map taking out zombies as you go like 01:09:32.399 --> 01:09:34.600 and then like quickly get them up and then run 01:09:34.600 --> 01:09:36.979 you know i mean like run because you know like 01:09:36.979 --> 01:09:40.100 you've got an entire horde behind you so much 01:09:40.100 --> 01:09:44.300 fun absolutely love call of duty zombies um this 01:09:44.300 --> 01:09:48.060 new uh new set of maps have really done really 01:09:48.060 --> 01:09:50.659 well and one thing that i think microsoft do 01:09:50.659 --> 01:09:53.180 need a massive shout out for after acquiring 01:09:53.180 --> 01:09:58.020 activision they've made the dlc completely part 01:09:58.020 --> 01:10:03.500 of game pass so all of the new maps they're releasing 01:10:03.500 --> 01:10:07.060 i have access to without having to spend any 01:10:07.060 --> 01:10:09.899 more money and i have to give them such a good 01:10:09.899 --> 01:10:12.220 shout like such a big shout out for that oh good 01:10:12.220 --> 01:10:16.909 um but let's go with so i have to give second 01:10:16.909 --> 01:10:18.930 place i have to give an honorable mention because 01:10:18.930 --> 01:10:21.909 i do have to i do want to give some credit to 01:10:21.909 --> 01:10:26.869 this game um but it's definitely not my top three 01:10:26.869 --> 01:10:31.189 so i do just want to mention minecraft yeah i 01:10:31.189 --> 01:10:35.170 played minecraft for about 10 years solid and 01:10:35.170 --> 01:10:38.409 there is no other game i've ever played i have 01:10:38.409 --> 01:10:42.680 played that long and that consistently and watched 01:10:42.680 --> 01:10:46.520 more content it's unreal it's such a good game 01:10:46.520 --> 01:10:51.000 um for i've massively outgrown it now and i don't 01:10:51.000 --> 01:10:54.220 think i can go back to it but when i was in the 01:10:54.220 --> 01:10:58.279 height of my gaming it was all i did um but i 01:10:58.279 --> 01:11:08.829 think um number two for me so i know what my 01:11:08.829 --> 01:11:15.850 number one is hands down and i think if i'm gonna 01:11:15.850 --> 01:11:17.930 go with number two i'm gonna go with the tomb 01:11:17.930 --> 01:11:23.989 raider series but the new stuff just because 01:11:23.989 --> 01:11:28.510 the new uh the new trilogy of tomb raider has 01:11:28.510 --> 01:11:34.909 been so much fun to play and i don't think i've 01:11:34.909 --> 01:11:40.220 had that good that much enjoyment out of a set 01:11:40.220 --> 01:11:42.680 of games where it's consistent across all three 01:11:42.680 --> 01:11:46.140 titles it's really well built it's really well 01:11:46.140 --> 01:11:49.199 designed the story is great and it was really 01:11:49.199 --> 01:11:54.340 good fun to play really good puzzles and so enjoyable 01:11:54.340 --> 01:11:56.920 i could quite happily go back and play them again 01:11:56.920 --> 01:12:01.140 it's got that replayability um so i think i would 01:12:01.140 --> 01:12:05.710 definitely put them in my top three um And I'm 01:12:05.710 --> 01:12:07.689 going to bounce it back over to you for your 01:12:07.689 --> 01:12:11.630 number one. I can't believe I'd even forgotten 01:12:11.630 --> 01:12:14.789 about the Tomb Raider franchise. Like, I played 01:12:14.789 --> 01:12:22.329 two and three, and then Chronicles, but I sort 01:12:22.329 --> 01:12:26.170 of lost it after that. Have you played any of 01:12:26.170 --> 01:12:29.250 the Tomb Raider, the Rise of the Tomb Raider, 01:12:29.289 --> 01:12:32.090 or the Shadow of the Tomb Raider? No. do it no 01:12:32.090 --> 01:12:33.930 would you you would recommend those absolutely 01:12:33.930 --> 01:12:37.569 no it's been reborn a couple of times no this 01:12:37.569 --> 01:12:41.649 is this definitely go start with tomb raider 01:12:41.649 --> 01:12:45.189 just see if it's your feel it is completely different 01:12:45.189 --> 01:12:48.189 to what you had from the old school tomb raiders 01:12:48.189 --> 01:12:50.050 but they've done it really well they've done 01:12:50.050 --> 01:12:58.970 it really well that's fantastic um okay so you 01:12:58.970 --> 01:13:00.989 know what i'm not sure i'm even building up here 01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:12.520 i so i have i'm gonna say probably my favorite 01:13:12.520 --> 01:13:17.979 one of my favorite games is uh destiny 2 and 01:13:17.979 --> 01:13:22.840 that's just because um like i i played it with 01:13:22.840 --> 01:13:26.359 my brother for um a good couple of years now 01:13:26.359 --> 01:13:31.899 and you know it doesn't always go uh like perfectly 01:13:31.899 --> 01:13:36.659 and it's definitely it really does annoy me that 01:13:36.659 --> 01:13:40.739 with the season pass like so at the moment what 01:13:40.739 --> 01:13:44.119 they've done is like with the the story and stuff 01:13:44.119 --> 01:13:47.079 uh they have one of the characters hit you with 01:13:47.079 --> 01:13:54.239 a really emotional um kind of monologue yeah 01:13:54.239 --> 01:13:57.220 which i hate to admit it just gets annoying the 01:13:57.220 --> 01:14:00.460 second time you hear it yet it pops up on every 01:14:00.460 --> 01:14:07.039 single loading screen until you go and do what 01:14:07.039 --> 01:14:12.680 that character is telling you to do. The problem 01:14:12.680 --> 01:14:18.140 is, of course, that you can't do what that character 01:14:18.140 --> 01:14:24.439 is telling you to do until you've physically 01:14:24.439 --> 01:14:31.500 bought the next season pass so that going there 01:14:31.500 --> 01:14:37.340 does something and that that for me it really 01:14:37.340 --> 01:14:40.159 undermines things but i would say i still love 01:14:40.159 --> 01:14:43.260 that game simply because i've spent loads of 01:14:43.260 --> 01:14:48.960 time building my warlock up and i i think about 01:14:48.960 --> 01:14:51.079 the times that i've gone up and visited my brother 01:14:51.079 --> 01:14:55.420 and with um I've brought a TV with me, which 01:14:55.420 --> 01:14:57.460 is a ridiculous thing to do. I wouldn't recommend 01:14:57.460 --> 01:14:59.340 it. The more I think about it, the more stupid 01:14:59.340 --> 01:15:07.479 it seems. I've taken up my PS4 and a TV. A shout 01:15:07.479 --> 01:15:09.380 out to the friends who bought me that PS4. I 01:15:09.380 --> 01:15:16.479 really do appreciate it. I've done that and then 01:15:16.479 --> 01:15:20.630 I've sat down and we've played together. i remember 01:15:20.630 --> 01:15:23.449 the time i went up there and like we we spent 01:15:23.449 --> 01:15:26.170 hours and hours so that i could get this rocket 01:15:26.170 --> 01:15:30.149 launch called the galahorn that was uh that was 01:15:30.149 --> 01:15:34.869 an amazing time yeah talking about um taking 01:15:34.869 --> 01:15:40.270 your tv uh to go play video games one of my greatest 01:15:40.270 --> 01:15:44.409 memories of playing black ops 1 zombies was the 01:15:44.409 --> 01:15:48.390 old system link i took the xbox 360 and my tv 01:15:48.390 --> 01:15:52.210 to my friend's house we system linked to xbox 01:15:52.210 --> 01:15:57.050 360 played four player call of duty zombies uh 01:15:57.050 --> 01:16:01.850 hours one one game lasted about four and a half 01:16:01.850 --> 01:16:05.729 five hours because there were four of us and 01:16:05.729 --> 01:16:08.090 all of us were pretty good at the game right 01:16:08.090 --> 01:16:12.189 and i mean the hero missions that we went on 01:16:12.189 --> 01:16:15.949 during that game was insane um we had so much 01:16:15.949 --> 01:16:19.569 fun yeah i can remember like you just pitch up 01:16:19.569 --> 01:16:23.109 with having an extra tv in your friend's friend's 01:16:23.109 --> 01:16:24.869 bedroom or something like that being able to 01:16:24.869 --> 01:16:29.909 put your console up next to them um that's it 01:16:29.909 --> 01:16:32.350 that's exactly it i suppose it speaks volumes 01:16:32.350 --> 01:16:37.130 to my um flavor of play but my favorite game 01:16:37.130 --> 01:16:40.909 of all time actually a single player game we'll 01:16:40.909 --> 01:16:45.149 talk about mr billing no mates um but my favorite 01:16:45.149 --> 01:16:52.130 game of all time final fantasy 7 and loads of 01:16:52.130 --> 01:16:54.909 people love that game and love that franchise 01:16:54.909 --> 01:16:59.170 i am embarrassed that i've never never truly 01:16:59.170 --> 01:17:03.010 played that game all the way through like i've 01:17:03.010 --> 01:17:06.590 never sort of owned the right thing or just been 01:17:06.590 --> 01:17:10.350 into it but that game is iconic like i've been 01:17:10.350 --> 01:17:12.869 to orchestra events where they play the final 01:17:12.869 --> 01:17:18.510 fantasy um music yeah yeah i know that that game 01:17:18.510 --> 01:17:21.489 has had such an effect on such a large number 01:17:21.489 --> 01:17:24.350 of people i can remember playing it in 1996 when 01:17:24.350 --> 01:17:28.229 it came out and is it really that old yeah man 01:17:28.229 --> 01:17:31.590 i can remember playing it in 1990 came out i 01:17:31.590 --> 01:17:35.989 can eating it for the first time in about i learned 01:17:35.989 --> 01:17:39.310 how to play properly um and learned what a save 01:17:39.310 --> 01:17:43.689 point was um and i have since completed that 01:17:43.689 --> 01:17:49.750 game 15 20 25 times i can't even think and i've 01:17:49.750 --> 01:17:53.630 done it vanilla i've done it modded more recently 01:17:53.630 --> 01:17:56.329 i've done it where they've got the mod for there's 01:17:56.329 --> 01:17:58.810 a whole bunch of fans that have voice acted the 01:17:58.810 --> 01:18:02.489 entirety of the original game and there's a so 01:18:02.489 --> 01:18:07.039 there's a mod for that um and i'm currently playing 01:18:07.039 --> 01:18:13.039 through the second installment of um the remaster 01:18:13.039 --> 01:18:17.939 rebirth reconstructed re -galvanized final fantasy 01:18:17.939 --> 01:18:24.819 7. fantastic that's amazing to hear buddy yeah 01:18:24.819 --> 01:18:28.399 so much fun i think that rounds us off doesn't 01:18:28.399 --> 01:18:31.319 it for the end of this podcast it does it does 01:18:31.319 --> 01:18:35.369 for today So I will say a massive thank you for 01:18:35.369 --> 01:18:38.829 everybody who has hung on to this slightly extended 01:18:38.829 --> 01:18:42.390 version of a podcast, but excuse two old men 01:18:42.390 --> 01:18:45.789 as we take a trip down memory lane and have a 01:18:45.789 --> 01:18:48.310 rant on our soapboxes about the state of the 01:18:48.310 --> 01:18:51.949 gaming industry. Thank you all very much for 01:18:51.949 --> 01:18:55.109 listening. I'm going to say goodnight. So is 01:18:55.109 --> 01:18:57.189 James. Goodnight, everyone.