That’s a Retron 77 if you were wondering.
Phil Fogg reviews the RCA to HDMI upscaler from Gana, a solution to how to connect old systems to new televisions.
At $13.99 delivered is it too good to be true? Find out here.
Game Under Podcast Episode 126
If screenshot mode was a common thing when I was reviewing games, my screenshots would have been slightly more inappropriate than they already were. Unfortunately I only figured out how to get the GeForce overlay to work with A Plague Tale after finishing the game (windowed mode, FYI), so this is all I have to offer; the wonderful lens distortion and great imagery (not pictured: worth seeing for yourself if you ever play) really makes taking screenshots in it fun.
In episode 126 of the Game Under Podcast Tom Towers and Phil Fogg show solidarity by purchasing the biggest game bundle in history (what could possibly have motivated itch.io to make such an incredible bundle, I wonder?) and playing A Mortician’s Tale from said bundle, offer their thoughts on the PS5, Streets of Rage 4 and A Plague Tale: Innocence.
The dice also rolls on Sky: Children of Light, and the battle between modern history’s biggest tyrants (Hitler and Hobbes) is settled once and for all!
Listen here!
Game Under Podcast Episode 125
Imagine two of these placed leg to leg with a disc levitating between them. That’s Tom’s concept for the PS5.
After seven years Tom and Phil re-play and give their impressions of That Game Company’s Journey, but not before giving impressions of Minecraft Dungeons (and Diablo III on Switch), Final Fantasy VII Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake and final impressions of Sky: Children of Light (coming soon to Switch). We also spritz in some Trademark Banter about the SNES and cover some of the latest news in gaming.
Phil also discovers that he can rip ESRB rating descriptions for his review copy.
Art of Rally Demo Impressions
Game Under Podcast Episode 124
In episode 124 of the Game Under Podcast, Phil Fogg take a trip down memory lane to remind the listeners that the show has been obituarising people for seven years! While the times may indeed be unprecedented, these obituaries certainly aren’t.
On listening, Tom was a little disappointed to find that there was no mention of Ryan Davis whose death resulted in one of the more interesting discussions of death on the show. However, he was pleased to note that, in fact, the biggest diss of all the Game Under obituary was that Terry Jones didn’t get one.
Listen here, and let us know who else we missed below!
Ghostrunner Demo Impressions
Remember demos? They’re still a thing, apparently. Tom Towers played one: Ghostrunner (obviously just because he heard it had ray-tracing!) It’s been compared to Superhot and Mirror’s Edge but, ever the contrarian, Tom thinks it’s more like Hotline Miami.
Read about why here.
The Lore of NAMCO's 1993 SNES Vehicle Combat Game: Battle Cars
At the time I bought my first SNES (around 1994), I’d been a PC gamer for a while and disconnected with console gaming. But a friend had a co-worker who was selling their daughter’s SNES with a copy of SimCity and Super Mario World for $36, and since I was curious (and actually just wanted to help out my friend’s co-worker), I bought it and was immediately in love with the console. I was taken back to the time of the console’s launch when I would play endlessly with my fellow teenagers, amazed by games like F-Zero.
So after a couple of months with SimCity, the NAMCO release, Battle Cars, was an easy selection for my first new game purchase. In essence, it is F-Zero with vehicular combat and story scenes that act as interstitials between each race. Speaking of race, these are often laden with racial stereotypes, which believe it or not somehow made it into the 21st century, despite the extreme woke-ness of the population.
Imagine my delight when I read the manual for the first time a few weeks ago and found a deep lore behind the game. Don’t strain your eyes by reading it from the image below, as I have transcribed it for your reading pleasure, but it involves climate change, nuclear weapons and such.
I did not make this up.
“The excess of the industrial revolution was doomed to haunt the earth. As the 20th century faded into the 21st, the planet’s largest economies were focused on the service industry. Over population and few environmental quality regulations created an exodus of traditional industry to less developed nations. Fuelled with cheap labor, factories churned out consumer products with obsolete “dirty” machines purchased from the former industrial giants. Each year billions of metric tons of pollution were dumped into the biosphere. Global warning increased exponentially.
As the 21st century progressed the greenhouse effect began to take its ugly toll. The polar ice caps melted at an ever increasing rate. International tensions rose with the water level at a time when the world had never been better armed. The end of the cold war over a hundred years earlier saw huge arsenals of weapons capable of mass destruction. As coastal cities sank under the oceans, people demanded action. Politically the easiest solution was to point fingers and launch attacks against “environmental terrorists”. Between global warning and global warfare the earth was forever changed.
The start of the 22nd century saw a true new world order. Survivors of the devastation lived in city states. Technologically sophisticated and jaded by years of war the people demanded a new sport for their new age… Battle Cars… technology…aggression…Battle Cars. Afforded the same popularity earlier cultures had given artists or pop musicians, battle Car drivers are heroes. The only rule is to win.”
Beautiful. If you wrote this, please contact us, I’d love to interview you for the Game Under podcast.
Phil Fogg
Game Under Podcast Episode 123
Phil Fogg hastily prepares for Episode 123
Tom Towers Reacts…to the news in our most recent episode and we also review a couple of indie games, The Last Day of June and Death and Taxes. We also have some Trademark Banter and lots more.
In Case You Missed It
Tom Towers and Gagandeep Singh return for Smugcast 3
Though we’ve just published the 122nd episode of the Game Under Podcast, you may have missed last week’s release of Smugcast 3, featuring tom Towers and Gagandeep Singh from endlessbacklog.com.
They discuss the following series Bayonetta, DMC, Resident Evil as well as Ori and many other games. Gagan also gives his thoughts on the various top ten lists we’ve been doing lately.
Game Under Podcast Episode 122
Tom and Phil return to discuss the latest gaming news, some Trademark Banter, and Forza Horizon 4 and What Remains of Edith Finch. We also toss out some book recommendations and also the above happened during the show.