Unofficial Controller Podcast
Are we the fifth element ?
Switching gears, let's dive into the world of video games and horror movies! From my nostalgic love for "Ratchet and Clank" on the PS2 to the evolution of video game commercials, I'll share my personal reflections and gaming memories. We'll also explore the chilling yet fascinating realms of horror films, ranging from the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to the heart-pounding "Train to Busan." Whether you're into the gory fun of "Dead Island 2" or the complex narratives of the "Mad Max" franchise, this episode blends gaming reviews, movie critiques, and personal anecdotes, creating a must-listen experience for all enthusiasts.
Could you design a video game?
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Switching gears, let's dive into the world of video games and horror movies! From my nostalgic love for "Ratchet and Clank" on the PS2 to the evolution of video game commercials, I'll share my personal reflections and gaming memories. We'll also explore the chilling yet fascinating realms of horror films, ranging from the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to the heart-pounding "Train to Busan." Whether you're into the gory fun of "Dead Island 2" or the complex narratives of the "Mad Max" franchise, this episode blends gaming reviews, movie critiques, and personal anecdotes, creating a must-listen experience for all enthusiasts.
Could you design a video game?
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Hello, hello and welcome to another episode of the Unofficial Controller Podcast, episode 222, apparently, because that's what last week's episode was 221. I don't know why my voice sounds like this. It sounds like Matthew McConaughey moved to New York City, but I kept his droll. I don't know why I sound like this. Drink three cups of water. I'm not sick, I feel fine. My voice has a bit of a depth to it, I guess. Not sure what's going on, but I gotta say sounds great to the headphones, at least to me. Or this could be the most annoying episode we've ever heard, I'm not sure. Anyway, this is just a solo podcast. It's just your boy. Bobby George is watching the Mets play the Phillies RGT is locked in a game of shed and I'm here doing an episode.
Speaker 1:I wanted to do a few more solos. I am writing some stuff down to complete them. I broke it down to like three. It's definitely um, the adult video game, part two, which is great, and then I have a couple other ones I'm working on. Should be pretty funny and interesting.
Speaker 1:But for some reason I woke up with a major headache I have. I have no idea why. I mean I'm I'm hydrated. There is a quart-sized plastic I have you normally put. It's like if you go to Chinese takeout. It's like the big one for the wonton soup. I have that filled with ice, lemon and lime with water. I drink about four or five of those a day. I even had one this morning Well, one and a half now, officially, during the podcast. I'm drinking that and my head is killing me. I have no idea. It feels like someone just punched me in the head six times before I recorded the show. It's crazy, but on, we go, on, we go. So, as everybody knows, I live if you don't know, you will know now I live in New York City and Queens, in Astoria can't get more specific than that. But they have this Astoria party. I don't know the exact name of it, but it's in a park and I'm telling you it's 2024. The year is definitely 2024. I had to look at my phone several times to ensure myself that we were living in 2024.
Speaker 1:Because I feel like we are living in the fifth element. I watched a group of teenagers. I watched a group of teenagers. They were, you know, ages 15 to early adult, 21, 22. They all look like they're in their 30s and 40s, but you could tell that they're young teenagers, because they're dumb, and nothing is dumber than a teenager who knows everything you know. They were dressed like it was a fifth element. I thought maybe there was a fifth element screening, because we do that. We do outside movie watches. You go to the park, they set up all these benches and everything. They have the biggest screen you can imagine and they project a movie onto it with speakers. It's, it's pretty cool, it's not bad. They do it towards sundown, um, so you don't get that sun glare and and then when the sun officially goes down, the movie starts. So it's pretty cool. So I thought that this was a Fifth Element party, but I was completely wrong. It's not a Fifth Element party, it was just a Astoria general party in Astoria Park.
Speaker 1:I don't know what they were wearing. I'll tell you something I've seen so much skin and there was so many wild. I have to say it can't be clothes, because it has to be a costume. Because it has to be a costume, because it's like female wrestling costumes for the WWE or AEW or whatever else is out there now. Like, why are you wearing white high boxing boots with knee pads, a g-string and a bubble jacket? What is going on. What is going on. Someone had a jean jacket where it looks to me like they cut up a hula hoop and they attached all of those cut hula hoops to the shoulder of the jacket and they put in those um, you know those lights that you snap. They have the neon lights. Looks like they put them inside and they were flashing and I'm like, what is? What is going on? Um, you know to me. Now I'm like, well, this is not a party, this is a rave. You know where's the cocaine? Because, I mean, that's what it felt like to me. Even the guys were wearing things, like one dude was wearing a camouflaged, skin-tight unitard with Jordans. What are we doing? What is going on?
Speaker 1:And there was music that I've never heard before. I don't know if it was even composed on this planet. I was at a loss for words, and that doesn't happen very often, I'll tell you that, but it was very interesting and I stood there for about 10-15 minutes and that's really all I needed, because I had to go home and get back to some place that I can call Earth, because that was not Earth. Where I was, I was transcended. Get back to some place that I can call Earth, because that was not Earth where I was. I was transcended or transported into another dimension for some reason.
Speaker 1:In that park I thought the Dudley boys were going to come down by the baseball field and I thought that Legion of Doom was going to come from the east side of the river. And then I thought that you know, I mean, at any point I thought even you know, the Hardy Boys were going to just fly off the top of the trees with their music. Or you know even the rockers with Martin Jannetty and Shawn Michaels. I was prepared for that. I was prepared for that. I was prepared for the ultimate warrior to zigzag around a section of the park, because that's what it was like Chris Tucker could have came down from a helicopter with a microphone. Really, that's what I was watching.
Speaker 1:You know, I thought maybe I walked into some hallucinogens, like airborne hallucinogens, because what was I looking at? I mean, it was unbelievable. But that was just a typical Saturday night, I guess in Astoria. Definitely when I'll be around that again, because it blew my mind, it made my mind, I felt confused and I'm like, don't like that feeling at all. That was. It was weird.
Speaker 1:But you know what? I'm sure those kids had mad fun because they were doing everything. I'm sure they were doing everything. If they can sniff it, they were doing it. They could drink it. They were drinking it. Yeah, it was going down. It was definitely going down, but it's just crazy. And I'm sure they were on the TikTok. I'm sure we can find it on TikTok. This has to be a thing. Everything's on TikTok. Now you don't know how stupid you look doing a TikTok until you look at yourself doing a TikTok from another person's recording. Look at yourself doing a TikTok from another person's recording.
Speaker 1:When they do the dances, it looks phenomenal. You got the music, they're dancing and I love synchronized dance. I think it's amazing when you can hit a two-step or a flip flip over, do some dance, and you're all doing it in unison. It's amazing. The coordination is phenomenal. But when you're watching them do it without the music and at other angles, it looks pretty dumb. It looks, it looks, um, it looks weird. It looks very weird. There's no music. They just look like a bunch of idiots dancing in front of a phone.
Speaker 1:But when the final product comes out, was it worth it, I guess. So you know, influencers, that's where we're at now. That's where we're at Influencers, and just remember influencers are only going to influence what they're being paid for. Just keep that in mind. They're only going to influence the product that they are being paid to influence Because they are just now a spokesperson. Like the guy with the diabetes commercial, he was sponsoring diabetes help medication Because he was being paid to do so. These kids are doing the same thing, but instead of being a spokesperson, they are an influencer. They're just influencing what they're being paid to influence. Just think about that. And maybe not every soap is the best soap you ever had, because to them, it's the best soap they had, because they just got paid to say so. So a lot of people are being influenced by a lot of, you know, random people from the street. That's all I gotta say.
Speaker 1:Am I a game journalist? Absolutely not. Do I influence people? Oh, who knows, who knows when I do my chronicles of a gamer I instagram page. A lot of people think that my instagram page is me. Just it's a review page. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I'm just telling you my story behind the game I played. I might throw some gameplay elements in there. I might tell you my thoughts on it. It doesn't mean it's a review, it's a masterpiece. It's a masterpiece for me. I'm just letting you know what I thought what I played was a masterpiece or a heaping pile of trash. It could be to you, the greatest game you ever played and that is fine. I'm not trying to influence you. I'm not trying to put a price on the game and tell you to go down to the local store and and buy it for 500, when you can emulate it for free, because the game is, you know, 30 years old, 20, 20 years old.
Speaker 1:Now, at this point I I'm up to the ps2 era. Um, you know what? What lever am I on? Let me see. I just, oh, ratchet and clank three. I just I just reviewed ratchet and clank up your arsenal there's of, you know, uh, if you're. So let's rewind a little bit.
Speaker 1:If you don't know, I review games. Well, I talk about games. I don't really review them. I'm not a reviewer. I guess you could say it's just an experience I had with the game. So I am reviewing the ps2 right now, every game that I personally played, in the alphabetical order. So we're in letter R Because Ratchet and Clank. I did the Nintendo, I did the Super Nintendo, I did the Sega Genesis. I did the PS1. Now I'm PS2.
Speaker 1:At this rate, I have loads of games. I can keep ticking off, but a lot of games. I watch a lot of movies, but I'm not influencing anybody. I'm not putting a price out there. I'm not saying go to the Ebays and all the other stuff. If you can emulate it, great. If you can't, or you think that's wrong, that's fine too. But really like who am I To be like? You know, the gameplay is really good. It's just my opinion.
Speaker 1:I'm just a regular dude doing a podcast, doing an instagram, where I used to treat the instagram and try to get likes and this and that, and you know, now I I more do it for like almost like a journal. It's almost like a personal journal which I'm trying to convert all my reviews to a like another website which, because you just don't know when or if you do something wrong and Instagram flags you, takes you down. Who knows right, who knows? So I'm trying to put all my reviews somewhere else. I'm trying to put them in like a notepad or an email. I have a website. I'm trying to figure out. I've had the website forever Not the most computer savvy guy, so I'm trying to maybe convert all my reviews into a website based on system or console, whatever, because you never know, they could be lost forever and I'll be like bro, I'm not reviewing everything again. So it's a bit of a process copy and paste, copy and paste.
Speaker 1:I have to go back to all my reviews and when I first started, this was like I don't know five years ago, I think, or no, maybe even longer, maybe even six years ago. You know, my reviews were simple. It was just me. I was scared to go social media because of my job. I just put a picture of the game, a little brief summary 900,000 tags. Thought that was the best way to do it, whatever. So now you know, you live and you learn.
Speaker 1:I don't even tag anymore. I don't even think tags work anymore. I don't even know how Instagram works anymore, but I don't even think tags work anymore. I don't even know how Instagram works anymore, but I don't care. It's just really for me to journal myself and if you want to come along for the ride, great. If you don't, cool.
Speaker 1:I'm probably not going to reach any more people than what I already reached, because I don't do reels or I don't do anything special to get my name out there. So you know, it's really just for me. But then you have people who can just put themselves out there with a you know a nickel flipping around and they're getting 5 million views and it is what it is. It's. It's the age of the, of the, of the influencer, just as long as everybody knows that they're only influencing when they're getting paid to influence, because nobody does anything for free, no matter how much you like it. That's just my opinion on that. So, as many of you know, I'm still on a hiatus from work because of the surgery, and my wife, eva, hates horror movies.
Speaker 1:I watched horror movies my whole entire life, but it's funny how you could watch a movie you've already seen that you may love, have loved or hated. It just depends on how old you were or your maturity level of when you saw that movie, or where you were in your life when you saw that movie, or where you were in your life when you saw that movie, because I thought, for example, I rewatched Killer Clowns from Outer Space. How did this happen? It's a mystery. I was watching the news and I guess I went to the bathroom. Maybe the cat hit the remote. Sat on the remote, something happened and it went to I forgot the name of the channel, but some horror channel. And while I was peeing I heard the Kill the Clowns from outer space theme song.
Speaker 1:If you don't know the movie, somehow you heard the theme song. I recognized it instantly and I'm like what is happening? Because I know it's not the video game commercial, because I haven't seen a video game commercial in years. I don't even know if they do commercials for video games anymore because I haven't seen one. The last time I remember seeing one was for God of War, ragnarok, and before that it was for Final Fantasy. That seems to be the only video games and Kingdom Hearts that I can actually remember in the last few years. So I think that video game commercial art is definitely lost because I just don't see it. So I come back to the living room and I'm like, oh my God, this movie was pretty funny. I thought it was interesting when I was a kid and I kind of got creeped out by it because I didn't like clowns.
Speaker 1:Then you realize that it's supposed to be a horror comedy and it does neither Horror or comedy. It doesn't do anything, horror or comedy, it just does mediocre-ness or comedy, it just does Mediocrity. And that's even a word, because what was it supposed to be? Just think about this for a second. The character designs. They don't even look like people, they look like creatures and that's okay. But people see them and they act like this is normal, like look at this individual's face. His head is about the size of your body, he is tremendously large and he's moving in a way that's not natural. But you're like, oh nice costume, this ain't Halloween, my man. So you know, and if you look at the, if you watch the movie, people's reactions to these things are not like, it's like a normal thing that they've seen, you know. And then the way people get killed in this movie, it's hilarious, but in a way that's stupid. So it's not really funny, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:You got to see it to believe it. You got to see it to believe it, but it was on and I must have watched I don't know 40 movies, whether they were like a rewatch or just something I haven't seen. I've been doing this since I've been out, so at least 40-45 movies I've watched. So that was the most recent one. I was just on the other day and that was an accident. I would have never put that on because I remember being stupid as a kid. So, um, I've watched sleepaway camp, which I've seen a long time ago. But when was I when I first saw this? I must have been like nine or ten and it freaked me out because I didn't really understand what was going on at the time and I don't want to spoil it or anything, so you should watch it if you haven't seen it. Um, but the ending was crazy and as a kid I didn't get it. I get it now. Um, it is what it is. It's just a basic movie. I get it. I get it now. It is what it is. It's just a basic movie.
Speaker 1:Marrowbone with Mia Goth and their weird brother from Stranger Things. What's his name's character? Mike's character, brother the older one? No, it's not Mike's brother. Mike's friend, brother the older one no, it's not Mike's brother. Mike's friend's brother is in the movie. I forgot his name. Interesting, mia Goth is pretty good in this, but it's not really a Mia Goth film, it's just she just happens to be in it as a fan member. So is Anna Joy Taylor.
Speaker 1:Scream Queens new Scream Queens of our generation wasn't bad. Thought it was good again. Can't really discuss it because everything you mentioned would be a spoiler and you have to see it to believe it. I thought it was interesting. I thought it was pretty good. Actually, because horror is subjective, I don't really get scared anymore, but at least I want a good film. So if I can get a good film, I'm happy, rather than just, oh, I was scared of the horror movie Because that's not going to happen to me. Probably Rewatch Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That's a classic. You just can't go wrong with that.
Speaker 1:Now I've been trying to see Train to Busan forever and I just saw it and it was fantastic. I actually cried during the movie. I felt emotions during the movie. Was I scared? No, can it be scary for people? 100%. Was it a good movie? Yes, yes, it was. I highly highly recommend that if you haven't seen it. And then I actually saw Furiosa opening day in the theater with my wife, who can care less about it. She saw it for me because she loves me. That was fantastic. I thought it was. Was it as good as Fury Road? No, does it compliment the film? Yes. Will I see it again? Yes. What about the DVD? Yes. So that's what I feel about Furiosa.
Speaker 1:Then because of that, I downloaded Mad Max again. I beat the game, got the platinum in 2015 when the game came out. You can no longer platinum it because you cannot get scrap online because they closed the servers. But some people say they've been able to get it, but that might only be because they have an old save file. I don't know if you have a new save file Like you started new. Never played it before, don't have a save file. I don't think it'll work anymore. I'm not sure, but I've heard you could. I've heard you can't. I'll never know Because I'm not going to try to replant the game. However, I did play it again after Furiosa because I love Mad Max. This is my most underrated game of all time. I love this game.
Speaker 1:I wish we had a sequel and while it's not exactly canon to the Mad Max films, a lot of elements from the game are in Furiosa because it was supposed to be a game set into the world of the world building of the Fury Road storyline. So George Miller gave WB plenty of scripts and descriptions of characters and XYZ and WWE decided to just do whatever they want with it, make their own thing, and a lot of it is confusing and doesn't make any sense. But when you watch Furiosa you can notice a lot of. First you think they're easter eggs. Then you're like, wait a minute, what's this doing here? Why is that over here? What's going on with this? Because, again, george Miller gave some storyline stuff. Remember. People don't understand.
Speaker 1:George Miller wrote Fury Road in the 90s after after oh dear god Thunderdome, beyond Thunderdome, mad Max, the third film. He wrote Fury Road for the 90s to be man max. But then there was development hell. He was suing them, xyz. Then fear was supposed to come out in the early 2000s. Then that got sidelined in 2010 and that got sidetracked. Now we're at 2015 and then, nine years later, you made a sequel, a prequel, to the fury road, so that. So it was a whole bunch of drama trying to get these films out.
Speaker 1:But the game had several elements of it and wb did this thing. I think he sued them too. I'm not really sure. That's why he hates the game, because they stole his ideas. They didn't really steal his ideas, but they just took their own interpretation of what he wanted to do and they ran with it. That's w WB for you. I mean, look at Suicide Squad. Where are they going as a game company? New Batman game. This is put in VR. Who wants a VR Batman game? Who plays VR anymore? I just don't. It's just I don't get it. But you know what? I'm not a game designer or a developer or a publisher, so what do I know? So I started playing that game mad max again. I loved it, thought it was phenomenal. Dead island 2 got the platinum.
Speaker 1:Hilarious. When you run in a first person view game and you can actually jump, kick. It looks so dumb because you could see your character be lifted and then two legs fly out from the bottom of the screen and it just looks stupid, but it's hilarious Same time. And when you kick a zombie 20 feet across the street or down the beach or into the beach or off the pier, it's hilarious. And the game is full of these. Full of these hilarious moments. Um, it's also extremely graphic and, depending on what weapon you use, is how you will decimate cleave, dismember the zombies, how you will decimate cleave, dismember the zombies, and it's amazing. And playing it with friends is even better Because when you see your friend do a dropkick on the screen it's even more funny or funnier than you can ever imagine. Definitely a really good, fun co-op game if you're in the mood for that Now.
Speaker 1:Darkwood I played many years ago and I really enjoyed it, but I just played it under under like a um my second account. Because I don't really like to play horror games and try to get the platinum, because I hate replaying games and a lot of horror games. You have to replay them over and over and over and over again because it's just like Resident Evil. You play a Resident Evil, you beat Resident Evil. Why do I have to knife my way through the game or not die or don't use a save or this, this, that, yada, yada. So I really don't like to do them because I just don't have time to replay a game six, seven, eight times. I don't. So it's a one and done for me. But I went back to it because I didn't think the game is challenging, but not really. Once you know what you're doing, it's not that hard, but that's anything. That's anything in life, but that's anything, that's anything in life. But I went back to it.
Speaker 1:Now I'm stuck trying to get a trophy or killing a chomper in a dream sequence. Let me tell you something. It is impossible. I mean, obviously it's been done. People have already done it. I cannot get a hit on this guy and you have to almost be like a matador and hit this thing five times. It's dead. However, if you get hit three times, you're dead, and if you don't quit to the main menu by hitting like, you could pause it and go to my menu. But if you don't do that and actually die, you have to wait and do another playthrough of the game. So you have to quit the game, load the game, wait for the sequence to happen, try again not the easiest thing to do. You also have one of the worst weapons in the game because it's so slow. Um, and then you watch youtube videos of kids. Do it and they do it in 10 seconds, because the kids are amazing and they could play video games better than us, I guess. But, um, I'm didn't give up on it. I still want to do it, but I just put it down for a second. I moved on. I might come back to it. Uh, so I played the glass staircase.
Speaker 1:I would have been the first person in the world to get the platinum for this game, but there was a glitch and you couldn't, and the collectible trophies were not unlocking. So a few people contacted Puppet Combo, which I love. They're a game I think they're hilarious Not hilarious, but old-school PS1 fun. They contacted them and they patched it. However, I was not aware of the patch them and they patched it. However, I was not aware of the patch and um, someone I met through the forum to complain about the game not working correctly or glitch trophies. She contacted me and told me hey, the game's been patched. Man, go get the platinum. I said thank you so much. And when I got it I was seventh. But you know what? Seven in the world is not bad. It's pretty cool, is it? Is it going to be the most popular game in the world? Absolutely not. You're not. You're going to have to really enjoy puppet combo and um blockhead polygons to enjoy the game.
Speaker 1:It's resident evil silent hill is, but it's really just like Italian horror. That's what it's based off of. So not bad, pretty fun, enjoyed the game. But now I'm going back to a game I got for my birthday two years ago with my sister, katie, tormented Souls. I played a demo and I loved it. It reminded me of resident evil.
Speaker 1:Old school resident evil game isn't that long and there's some really creepy stuff in the game. I like it. It has that old school. You gotta find a save ribbon to save it. In a typewriter, just like resident evil. There's creepy creature designs like silent hill. It's set in a mental or not a mental, but it's a hospital with um, you know different sections mental. There's even like a experimental section. There's a labor section. It's a hospital clinic, basically large clinic, super creepy. I like it.
Speaker 1:One jump scare got me. I didn't expect that to happen. It was hilarious. It got me good job, but it is. It's pretty hard. I mean, they went old school, even with difficulty, like you could be playing for an hour and a half and if you didn't save the game you lose the hour and a half. So I'm sort of making notes of what I collected, didn't collect. So if I do happen to die, I know it's okay. Well, I have to get this, this and this and this before I save again or try to get all that and save.
Speaker 1:So saving is important because you want to make sure you've done enough to save so you don't waste the ribbon, but you don't want to go too far. Or maybe you're in trouble with no health and you can't save because that's. That's pretty much all I've been playing, hopefully to Platinum Terminated Souls. It is again. It's a horror game, right, and you have to play it multiple times, but it's not long.
Speaker 1:So you have to do a no save playthrough and a no health playthrough. I think the easiest way to do it is just to do one playthrough no saving and one playthrough no health, unless you can get both good. But if you can't, don't, because you can't play the game in danger the entire time and not save and be in trouble. So you're better off just doing a no save. Use all your health, all your weapons safely and then do a no save because now you know the layout and just run around and it doesn't matter, you don't have to worry about that. Just don't save, use all the health you want, doesn't matter, you don't have to worry about that. Just don't save, use all the health you want. And the no save playthrough or no health playthrough, you can save all you want and if you make sure you're going to die, just reload the game. I mean no health, no health items. So with no health items, saving was important because if you mess up, you can just reload a save when you're doing a no save playthrough. Use all your health items and all your weapons. So I think it's easier to do two playthroughs.
Speaker 1:But that's just me. Um, and that's really it. That's the end of the episode. I have nothing else to say. So thank you for listening and I'll catch you on the next one. Peace out, outro Music.