This week on the Lost Spark Podcast the guys go hands on with the fantastic titles that have released over the last few weeks. Listen to full hands-on impressions of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battles, Life is Strange: Before the Storm and Destiny 2.

Listen in to James and Antony as they return to the world of Destiny and co-op their way through the fantastic new campaign and discuss best methods to get ‘Raid ready’

Also this week on the podcast James and Antony go ‘spatular free’ with Darren away and deep dive into the new Great British Bake Off and discuss the changes and the first 3 weeks of baking goodness.

In the news section this week, as well as a bevy of Nintendo news there was briefly cross-platform play in Fortnite between users on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, over the weekend, Polygon reported and Epic Games confirmed today.

Gamers in the Fortnite subreddit spotted what they thought was cross-console play in the co-op sandbox survival game over the weekend. While others were skeptical that Xbox One users and PlayStation 4 users were in fact playing together (thinking someone had mistaken a PC gamertag for an Xbox Live handle), an Epic representative said this afternoon that that’s exactly what was happening.

“We had a configuration issue and it has now been corrected,” the spokesperson said.

This is unusual because, while Microsoft opened the Xbox platform to cross-platform play last year beginning with Rocket League, Sony has been resistant to letting PlayStation 4 gamers share an ecosystem with Xbox One.

If you want more information on some of the items in this weeks Podcast here are some handy links:

If you would like to give us a rating or a review on iTunes then we have this handy link for you, click here to jump to iTunes and rate, review or subscribe to the Lost Spark Podcast!

Campo Santo Store

Welcome to another episode of the Lost Spark podcast. This week we have a bumper packed show with a bevy of all the latest news from this week in gaming. With thoughts on the Xbox One X Project Scorpio edition selling out pretty much everywhere worldwide and Microsoft’s elation and commitment to fulfill demand, all the games coming in September from PlayStation Plus and Games with Gold, right through to employees of KFC being trapped in a room by Colonel Sanders until they learn the hallowed Chicken Mastery in VR.

There’s also a good look at the latest Nintendo Nindies Summer Showcase that aired an hour before recording with a look at the highlights from the selection of over 20 titles for Switch that Nintendo packed into just 22 minutes.

Antony gets to grips with Nidhogg 2 and discovers, much to Dazza’s chagrin that he is in fact the lord and master of the game. Destined to forever wear the beloved Nidhogg Crown encrusted with jewels and claymation body parts and leaving Dazza shaking his head in fury at having Antony dance upon his face with his feet just one too many times. It really is some top notch non stop fun.

This week in What We’ve Been Playing – Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the big game of the moment. The guys discuss their thoughts on adventuring along with Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross through the Indian outback in search of the Tusk of Ganesh. The balance of gameplay, length of the adventure and the graphics all come under the Spark microscope along with thoughts on how the series feels in Nathan Drakes’ absence.

 

In the news this week Nintendo hosted their Nindies Showcase, the 22 minute direct gave  Switch owners their first look at a range of new titles, and some we already knew about coming to the console this year and early 2018

Stand out announcements were Super Meat Boy Forever, the sequel to the indie favourite was announced for launch in 2018.  Super Meat Boy Forever will include a range of new upgraded features;

“Dr. Fetus is being a jerk again (as he does), but this time he’s kidnapped Meat Boy and Bandage Girl’s adorable little baby girl, named Nugget!” the official game description reads.

“Meat Boy and Bandage Girl will be put through the grinder as they jump, slide, punch and kick through 6 chapters containing randomly constructed levels that increase in difficulty each time you rank them up.

“Beat a level, it ranks, next time you play it you get a harder version of that level until you eventually master it! There are bosses, secrets, dying, awesome music, beautiful art, and dying!

A list of all the games and release dates supplied by Nintendo for future Switch releases, can be found below and trailers can be found on Nintendo’s YouTube page:

* Super Meat Boy Forever – coming 2018

* Shovel Knight King of Card – Coming Early 2018

* Mom Hid My Game – Coming Late 2017

* Golf Story – Coming September 2017

* Floor Kids – Coming Holiday 2017

* Wulver Blade – Coming September 2017

* Poly Bridge – Coming Holiday 2017 – Console exclusive

* Kentucky Route Zero TV Edition – Coming Early 2018

* Earth Atlantis – Coming This Fall

* Next Up Hero – Coming Early 2018 – Joy-Con

* SteamWorld Dig 2 – September 21 2017

* Mulaka – Coming Early 2018

* Yono – October 12

* Dragon Marked For Death – Exclusive launch Winter 2017

* Morphies Law – Coming Winter 2017

* Sausage Sports Club – Fall 2017

* Light Fingers – Coming Early 2018

* Nine Partchments – Holiday 2017

* No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again – Exclusive Coming 2018

This weeks’ episode of The Lost Spark Podcast delves into Gamescom, the Microsoft conference and the gaps left in the foreseeable future for Xbox One X.

With the 90 minute show managing to reveal almost nothing that wasn’t already known  and attempting to whet our appetite’s with warmed up footage that’s been around since E3, the common feeling from ardent and expectant fans has been one of disappointment.

Over at Spark Towers, we pride ourselves on an objective positivity as we dissect the industry we love, but in this case, although we fight for it, there’s an unmistakable air of underwhelmed surprise.

The fact that the Xbox One X is the ‘Worlds Most Powerful Console’ is such an exciting prospect and the idea of this new box and it’s potential has excited and enthused the gaming community as we have walked the road of expectation together, looking forward with baited breath to this beast of a console. The power of this console looks to have met expectation and to have met the promises of the Xbox team and for that we truly are thankful and a little amazed that all the power contained in the ‘X’ is held in such a tiny shell. It really does seem a technological wonder.

The reason for the excitement though, the reason for the anticipation in the wake of the power of the hardware in the Xbox One X, is the excitement of what the box provides, what it unlocks and that is of course – the games. The promise of better, faster, more powerful consoles comes to us as a gateway to better game experiences. Experiences that will show off our new shiny console and wow us with stunning graphics and fast framerate glory.

There is something else though, a desire for games that showcase a new system and in this case it really does feel like slim pickings when it comes to showcasing Microsoft’s’ new power house.

We have Forza 7 of course but beyond that, with Crackdown 3 being delayed until next year there just isn’t anything that grabs the gamer and says – look! Look here at what this console can do!

With the lovely limited ‘Project Scorpio’ edition of the console selling out pretty much everywhere within hours of going on sale, it does beg the question of whether the games matter anymore to the consumer and if content is perhaps taking a back seat to bragging rights at owning the Most powerful Console we have ever had the opportunity to sit beneath our screens

It’s worth saying also, that the sales of the console could well be a show of faith from the gamers who have opened their wallets to this new system. That they (and us), are buying the ‘X’ on an understanding and an expectation that the guys over at Xbox will surely be working on delivering the kind of games that are fit for the power of this new beast sometime… soon..?

Let’s hope that comes to pass, as if it does not, we could enter a future where gaming systems are no longer bought for the quality of the games they provide but merely for the hardware they contain and surely, that’s not what gaming is all about.

But it’s not all doom and gloom, at long last, Cuphead has awakened from it’s lengthy development slumber and is looking full of frantic fury in one of the best looking games of Gamescom. It has been a while getting to this stage but with a release date for the end of September and a style all of it’s own, Cuphead not only looks fantastic but also shows that myriad terraflops are not the be all and end all of great gaming.

Oh, and of course there is the new Minecraft skinned Xbox One S for the devoted diggers out there. A true piece of design beauty that you can really see has been crafted with love. Featuring grass block detail on the console and coming with a creeper controller this is a desirable console indeed. You can complete the set by adding the separate pig cont...

Welcome, come inside, take your shoes off, slip on your comfy indoor footwear of choice and settle yourself in for another adventure with the Lost Spark Podcast as special guest James Thomas (@BigSheep) joins Antony and Darren once again to discuss Pizza, Circus tricks, Cinema silence, oh and of course, the reason we are all here – Video Games.

This week the debate gets interesting when James brings the news of an expected shake up of Xbox Live Achievements to the table and asks, are achievements in need of a change, are we happy with them as they are or even protective of the current ‘cheevo’ status quo and if we had the chance to make a change what could be done to improve a system loved by gamers worldwide? Is there any achievement in changing achievements?

Mike Ybarra – Corporate Vice President – Xbox and Windows Platform at Microsoft – had this to say on the matter, (as reported by windowscentral.com), bringing the discussion out into the open:

“Those are all small things that we can do to the system and the team looks at them. They’re in our backlog of things that we want to get done, but there’s actually bigger, more bolder changes that we have in mind. Nothing that I can talk about now, but something that fundamentally changes the concept … we are working towards a bigger, more meaningful change about somebody’s gaming accomplishments in history, as a gamer on Xbox.

[We] can do a lot more to reflect and let people show their gaming history and their status. Whether it’s somebody who only plays multiplayer in Halo 5 at a professional level, maybe they only have 2,000 Gamerscore, you want to be able to celebrate that person. You want people to be in the know. This person doesn’t play a lot of games, but they’re world top ten at Halo 5. All the way to people [with over a million gamerscore]. It’s that range that we really need to look at and celebrate … we’re going to go big in the area of letting people show off and represent their gaming history and the type of gamer that they are, far more than we do with Gamerscore.”

Fair and interesting points made there. So are Gamers who don’t necessarily chase the cheevo’s but still game a heck of a lot missing out on a degree of kudos that they should be shown by means of a gamerscore or should it be left to gamers who want to prove their prowess to hunt for the achievements in order to sparkle among their gaming pals?

Achievements in games have become synonymous with gaming since Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service debuted back in the day and as strange and perhaps unnecessary as they may have felt at first, it wasn’t long until they found their footing with thousands of gamers seeking out rare achievements to show off their chops and even giving games that would not have been the wisest purchase a degree of value if you could run through and get that easy thousand gamersore.

From these humble beginnings the concept has grown and spread, with Sony implementing their own Trophy system on the PlayStation Network and even Apple using similar concepts in their Gamecentre in iOS. The seed was sown, it grew and the gaming public have loved it for years.

Whether giving gamers a reason to strive for a highscore, adding value due to luring a player back in for a re-play of a loved title, or even leading players to discover parts of games they would never have discovered if not for the cheevo hunt, the value of these little badges of honour cannot be disputed.

So, is it wise to change them? What could the extent of change be? Or should the powers that be just back off and don’t fix what isn’t broken?

What, given the opportunity, would you do to enhance theses beloved feathers in a gam...

Facebook

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Welcome to episode 101 of the Gamers of the Lost Spark Podcast where you can bank on fun and frolics galore as the guys reflect upon the week that was in gaming.

The news that set the European PS4 community to lament this week was the surprise announcement from Sony that their Playstation Network subscription is set to increase by a whopping 25% after August 31st this year. Details of why and reasoning from the Japanese giant were thin on the ground in the email announcement which stated it’s case thus:

‘From 00:01 BST on 31 August 2017 we are changing the prices of PlayStation®Plus.

– Annually, the price will change from £39.99 to £49.99 per annum.

– Quarterly, the price will change from £14.99 to £19.99 per quarter.

– Monthly, the price will change from £5.99 to £6.99 per month.

What this means for you

We will alter the price of a PlayStation®Plus membership at 00:01 BST on 31 August 2017. As you are an existing member, this means that all recurring subscription fees payable by you on or after 31 August 2017 will be charged at the new price. Up until 31 August 2017, you may purchase a PlayStation®Plus subscription at the current price, which will then be added (or “stacked on”) to your current membership period.

If you don’t want to continue with PlayStation®Plus

If you want to prevent your PlayStation®Plus membership continuing at the new price, you will need to cancel it – turn OFF “auto-renew” in your account settings at least 48 hours before your next payment on or after 31 August 2017 is due. There’s some guidance on how to cancel your membership on PlayStation.com.’

Website Eurogamer reached out to Sony and got a little more info regarding the reasoning being;

‘We are changing the pricing to reflect various market conditions while enabling us to continue providing exceptional value to our members.’

This unexpected change to the fee has unsurprisingly riled many subscribers, especially as there seems to be no silver lining here to sweeten the pill. No added value to assuage the community’s shock at the rise, which has caused some animosity out there in the PS4 gaming sub space.

Once the dust settles however, is this an unreasonable change in pricing? After all the service has been charged at a flat rate of £39.99 per year since it’s inception on 29th June 2010 so is a price increase in line with inflation after 7 years really that unreasonable? Maybe with better messaging this rise could have been introduced in a more sympathetic fashion and garner, whilst not an open armed acceptance, perhaps at least an understanding of the need for the fee hike.

On the other hand, there’s the concern that the PlayStation infrastructure has never been rock solid and so people could well feel reluctant at having to pony up the extra cash for what some may regard as a platform that has fallen down on numerous past occasions.

One thing is certain though, companies love a subscription model in place to bolster their businesses which is understandable but could this kick off an increase on other platforms and ultimately, when households weigh up their wholesale entertainment costs of gaming, TV, film and music, could the cost eventually mean that something has to be struck from the list?

Join Antony and Darren once again as they discuss this and the rest of the weeks news.

The Sparks dream of cross-platform play for all takes a step in the right direction this week with news of the ‘Better Together’ beta for Minecraft.  This update means that players on Mobile, Xbox, PC and Switch platforms will be able to join each other in-game, create, cooperate or compete together on massive servers, and access whatever swish skins and Marketplace adventure maps they...

Welcome one and all; old listeners and new! Thank you all so much for joining us, make yourselves at home, get yourselves comfy, sort out your audio listening preferences and please jump in and join us on our 100th episode.

It’s been a thrilling journey since going live on May 15th 2015 and as much as the last 100 episodes are an amazing chronicle of our gaming habits, hypes, thrills and the odd let down over the last 2 years or more, we sincerely hope that you, our listeners have enjoyed Antony, Darren and occasionally James’ unique brand of gaming views, news and critique. The idea behind what we do has always been to stand by a positive outlook in an industry that can sometimes take those negative downturns and on the whole the guys hope you will agree and have enjoyed our little corner of the gaming world.

With no massive fanfare but more of a humble and enthusiastic nod to the time spent on their endeavor, Antony and Darren verbally fist bump their 100 podcast journey so far and dive straight on in to more of what’s been going on in the world of pixels.

Dazza has taken a trip back in time to 2002 and re-aquired Kingdom Hearts on the PS4 with the 1.5 / 2.5 Remix Edition after getting his desire ignited by the Kingdom Hearts 3 Toy Story trailer and is very pleasantly surprised at the value of the package and the fact the the game is enhanced on PS4 Pro to a 4K 60fps feast.

Enjoy a wealth of Kingdom Hearts facts and trivia from Daz as he gushes about this really great, or indeed definitive version of the Square-Enix classic. This game really is your single ticket to get you up to speed and ready for Kingdom Hearts 3.

Meanwhile, Darren talks about his visit to PlayExpo Blackpool 2017 while Antony tries to keep calm as he prays for adult only Pixar showings in cinemas.

in ‘What We’ve Been Playing’ this week Antony jumps into Splatoon 2 on the Nintendo Switch, and even though the game is great colourful splatting fun the online setup and user interfaces are just so, well ‘Nintendo!’.  Listen into this week’s podcast for a full hands on of Splatoon 2, the ‘Salmon Run’ mode and the new Nintendo Online iOS app and hear why Antony, along with his gaming buddies have switched to Discord.

It’s that time once again for the new Games with Gold announcements for Xbox Live Gold players, for August you will be able to download the colourful and zany, Slime Ranchers, available from the 1st – 31st August.  From the 16th August to the 15th September you will be able to download the awesome and incredibly addictive Trails Fusion.

For Xbox 360, playable on Xbox One via Backwards Compatibility you have, starting 1st August Bayonetta through to the 15th August.  Then on 16th August 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download Red Faction: Armageddon for free through August 31st.

If you want more information on some of the items in this weeks Podcast here are some handy links:

If you would like to give us a rating or a review on iTunes then we have this handy link for you, click here to jump to iTunes and rate, review or subscribe to the Lost Spark Podcast!

Ready Player One Trailer

Digital Foundry’s Kingdom Hearts 1.5 / 2.5 Remix Analysis

Kingdom hearts trailer

‘Bad Ape’ YouTube Clip

Wolf Among Us Season 2 Announcement Video

PlayStation 4 Beta Programme

In the penultimate episode until our crowning centenary, episode 99 of the Gamers of the Lost Spark podcast kicks off with the latest ripples from the world of gaming assisted by recurring special guest, James (@BIGsheep) Thomas.

Antony presents us with a section that is so in beta phase that we have called it ‘Beta Corner’. The guys discuss the exciting beta versions of Destiny 2 and Star Wars Battlefront 2 that are not too far away from our eager reaching gaming hands.

Destiny 2 will be with us first and we’ll get a first proper hands-on with Bungie’s behemoth as part of a beta, which kicks off at the following times (there’s a few intricacies here so pay attention):

* Destiny 2 PS4 Beta early access start time – July 18th, 10am PST / 6pm BST – for those who pre-order

* Destiny 2 Xbox One Beta start time – July 19th, 10am PST / 6pm BST – for those who pre-order

* Destiny 2 Open Beta start time for all players on consoles – July 21st, 10am PST / 6pm BST

* Destiny 2 Beta end time for all players on consoles – July 23rd, 9pm PST / 5am BST – for consoles

* Destiny 2 PC Beta start time – some time in late August

Bungie has confirmed to Eurogamer that the following is in the beta:

* Opening story mission, Homecoming

* Two Crucible modes, Countdown (new to Destiny 2, attack and defend based) and Control (classic zone control)

* Co-operative Strike, The Inverted Spire

* New sub-classes, Warlock (Dawnblade), Hunter (Arcstrider) and Titan (Sentinel)

* Social Space, The Farm (for one hour only on July 23 at 6pm UK time / 10am PST)

* New emblem to unlock in the full game if you play the beta

After digesting the dates, times and the what’s included’s, the guys chat it out about the value of the beta as we know it in the current day and discuss what they think are the pro’s and con’s of this, now commonplace practice. Are there risks it could put a potential buyer off? Could a hyped up gamer get their fill of the experience from a beta alone and then feel a purchase is not required and in contrast, does that matter in comparison to the data and testing that this process affords the developer to deliver the best experience to the buying faithful?

Tune in to hear the full debate.

In the ‘What We’ve Been Playing’ section this week Antony reviews the brand new game from Sand Sailor Studios, Black The Fall.  In a time of a gaming lull and as the Sparks search for something new and fresh to play this ‘dystopian puzzle-platformer’ really hits the spot.  Seen as a cross between George Orwell’s 1984 and last years ‘must play’ title Inside.

Although Black The Fall treads a somewhat familiar ground it presents you with some great moments and tricky puzzles that have you high-fiving yourself upon completion.  Listen to Antony’s full review on this week’s Lost Spark Podcast.

Also this week the guys finally get together to play Mario Kart 8 on the Switch and even though James is still the man to beat, Darren gives him a run for his money, taking the crown on more than one occasion. As for Antony, well he “almost’ pipped James to the post in the last race (James – he really didn’t!).

And as if all that wasn’t enough, you can also get to hear about E3 from the inside, as James recounts his recent experience showcasing Sea of Thieves there and also...

This week, Antony and Darren make the best they can out of the snippets of news flying around in a quiet week for the industry. There’s never a dull moment though as the most eye opening stories of the week get the Sparks’ unique analysis.

Among the topics this time on the pod, is the phenomenal success of new release – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, as it shot in straight into the number one spot in the UK gaming charts.

We have had a bit of a nostalgia renaissance recently with the likes of WipeOut and Tekken getting recent releases and doing well, thank goodness Yooka Laylee didn’t spoil the vibe.

It seems that gaming nostalgia is a powerful force for all of us and who can blame us for having such affections for the games of yore that we loved when we were younger. Maybe it was a game we got with a system at a young age, maybe it was a title we had looked forward to for a long time and loved, or maybe a title can just take you back and remind you of a time of your life that is preserved around the memory of enjoying your gaming and life back in the glory days.

Is it as simple as this though for the marketing folks? Are we as easy to target as looking down a list of 20 year old games and picking a popular one for re-release, porting it over, adding a lick of HD and then sitting back and letting the cash roll in? This latest release of ‘Cash’ Bandicoot (ho ho), has been snapped up by an adoring gaming public with open arms (and wallets). So much so that gamesindusrty.biz has reported that it is the biggest single format release of the year, narrowly beating triple A powerhouses like Horizon Zero Dawn to this coveted spot.

Looks like we all have a soft touch for these games of our youth and if there’s a market there then who can blame the publishers getting updates out there for us all. It would be hard to imagine for instance, anyone being averse to the likes of the Final Fantasy VII remake that has it’s feet well and truly grounded in the swirling pink mists of adoration that thousands of gamers had for the original way back when.

With it’s surprising success – and at full price too – it looks like we have our proof once again that our nostalgia can be spun into gold and if this means more coveted games of yesteryear will be given the same treatment, then bring it on.

There’s a slight slump in the gaming ecosystem! The Spark’s are struggling to find new amazing games to tide them over to the likes of Splatoon 2 and Shadow of War and so, the guys find themselves enjoying some of the fantastic treats we have already been fortunate to play. Revisiting Zelda on the Switch and appreciating how great this games still feels, the guys discuss some of their favourite moments from Nintendo’s wonderfully accomplished game and also talk a little about what games they turn to in a gaming lull.

This week in the news we discuss the strong hints that developer PlatinumGames has dropped on twitter about it’s awesome hack-and-slash series coming to the Nintendo Switch.

In a tweet the developer posted these Bayonetta pictures with the background colour scheme bearing a obvious reference to the neon JoyCons that Darren is currently rocking on his Switch.

Adding more flame to the rumours, the developer has “liked” several comments where fans pointed out the colour-coded connection to the Switch

July’s PlayStation Plus free games are now available. PS Plus subscribers have a total of six new games to download across PS4, PS3, and PS Vita.

PS4 owners can grab the awesome teen-horror game Until Dawn and Telltale’s episodic Game of Thrones series right now.

This week in the vacuum that the behemoth that is E3 has left, Antony and Darren talk about the official announcement of the SNES Mini from Nintendo. A console that has been snapped up and out of stock from retailers even before the pre-orders became available – yes, that’s how massively popular this retro piece of nostalgia is.

Learning lessons from the last iteration – the NES Mini, Nintendo have promised more supply this time, in order to meet the intense demand that this desirable console will garner. It looks as though, however that consumers have also learned lessons from the last versions’ popularity too with the SNES Mini being almost instantly completely wiped out of stock over the face of the earth.

It’s the same old story. Great coup for Nintendo and for the lucky few who manage to secure their pre-orders in those first precious seconds of the console going live on the web. After which, it’s the struggle for the majority of eager fans that would be owners of this dinky gem – the website crashes, the furious refreshing, the scouring stock at every store you can think of and then, finally, the reality kicks in as you finally give up and grudgingly admit that the only way to obtain your cherished Nintendo throwback is to succumb to the nefarious re-sellers that have somehow snapped most of them up and advertised them on Amazon or eBay explicitly to take advantage of the likes of you (and us).

‘What can be done though?’ cries the throng of frustrated customers as they struggle to attain this lovely little system and only silence and a temptation to pay two or more times the price through one of the re-sellers remains.

So, what can be done? And can this familiar situation ever be dealt with?

UK gaming chain GAME have tried to make a stand by increasing the deposit required on the SNES Mini to £50 instead of the usual £10 they require in order to presumably discourage this behavior. It’s a stance that can be appreciated but in the long run may do more harm than good as your profiteer type will no doubt think nothing of putting down the full £50 deposit to secure an item that they are sure to sell at a profit later – not phased at all. However there may well be plenty of gamers who haven’t got that kind of money to put down as a deposit and so they may miss their chance of securing one due to that policy, which is really sad.

The only way that this frustrating trend can be effectively dealt with is by Nintendo providing such healthy supply that eager consumers can pick one up without jumping through hoops for hours on end. Or, consumers rally, stay strong and make a decision. A decision that enough is enough and they won’t allow themselves to be exploited anymore and refuse to pay double or more RRP for these tempting toys.

If the profiteers efforts could be rendered useless and null with supply and/or consumer resistance leaving them stuck with their bulk buys that no one took off their hands then perhaps the practice could be quashed and the honest gamers would join hands and cheer as one in light of a new dawn of fairness.

Or is it unfair of us to resent people trying to earn a few pounds out of an almost sure thing? It’s not illegal after all, just really annoying for those that missed out.

All this is not even mentioning the dreaded fear that the fantastic games housed up inside the SNES Mini could mean a lack of them appearing on the virtual console when it becomes available for the Switch. Let’s hope that isn’t a thing that’s going to happen. We want our classic Nintendo games liberated and portable in these days of the Switch. Let them roam with us and keep us company during train journeys and plane trips.

So are you interested in the SNES Mini and if so, are you going to buy one (should that be try to buy one)?

It’s Episode 96 of the Gamers of the Lost Spark Podcast and with E3 out of the way (just), Antony and Darren get together once again to discuss all the happenings after the dust has settled. Braving the blistering heat of their respective studio’s as the UK swelters beneath an intense heatwave, nothing as paltry as ridiculously high temperatures will stop the guys from having their say.

This week the guys raise the issue of 4K console storage capacities. In light of recent news that there is a strong possibility the 4K version of Forza Motorsport 7 will be around the 100Gb mark, the guys question the included storage offered in consoles targeting 4K games and ask if this is something that needs a little reconsideration.

Back in the day, let’s say 2010, the Xbox 360 S came with a 250 Gb hard drive – an ample amount of space for the time as most big titles came in at around under 8Gb. As an example in 2010 we got some great games such as Red Dead Redemption – 7.46 GB and Call of Duty Black Ops – 7.66GB. This size was average for the time with the odd game – such as Mass Effect 2 -weighing in at more than this with a staggering (for the time) 13.23 GB.

Taking the average as 8GB for a top tier game at this time this meant that your included storage would allow you to install 31 games of this size onto your included internal disk (sizes taken from the Microsoft Store).

Now as we enter the 4K arena, it makes sense that install sizes are going to be larger to take into account all those extra shiny bells and whistles that are added and so with a game like Forza 7 looking like it will take a 100GB slice of your storage, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that at 1TB of internal storage provided in the box (like the Xbox One X that Major Nelson recently showed to Geoff Keighly at E3), this is only going to give gamers room for 10 games before it’s time for a further investment in an external drive to house the over-spill.

Of course, using an external drive has it’s benefits. You don’t have to do that transfer of data when you get a new console, you can just plug it in and it’s all there and that is fantastic. It’s quick and it’s elegant.

Storage is also fairly cheap and readily available with 4TB external drives going for around the £120 mark on Amazon and the relatively cheap price makes it even more surprising that a larger drive as standard has not been introduced.

The question is, is this something that we are ready for? Is the fact that the 1TB size of the included disk in current 4K targeting consoles is a fair assumption of how much data the consumer is going to need?

Plus, is the task of factoring in the price of an external hard drive becoming a necessity as opposed to a luxury something that gamers should be expected to be adding in to their new console budgets?

Listen in and hear the guys discuss not only this but much more.

This week in the What We’ve Been Playing section, Daz took Antony’s advice and got himself a copy of Ori and the Blind Forest having passed it by upon release. Listen in to hear Dazza overflow with love for a game that he could have missed, a real gem of challenge, beauty and the most wonderfully tight controls that is now up there with his most loved games.

Antony, chats about boldly going nowhere fast when Daz is on board the crew in Star Trek Bridge Crew as the guys cross play and join PSVR and HTC Vive in Ubisoft’s social sci fi simulator and gives us his view on Telltale’s latest episode of Guardians of the Galaxy.

As the dust settles on another amazing E3, we look back at what games grabbed the most interest during the show and thanks to YouTube, who kept a tally of views for all of the E3 announcement trailers we have a top 10 most watched trailers.