One Life Left

Well, dear listeners, did you invest in Gamestop? Are you listening to us from your new yacht in the Bahamas? Did anyone really understand what the heck was going on?! Will you buy all the Zelda games that will inevitably get re-released on Zelda's upcoming 35th anniversary?? We tackle all this and more in this week's, non-SSG, episode!

We also mention our friendly Discord server - a link to that is below!

Please do send your letters in to us at [email protected]. We promise we don't bite.

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
The OLL Discord Server!

Reviews:
Everspace 2
Star Wars Squadrons
Polybius
Google Earth VR

Tracklist:
Bodiless Exultation by Klamm
https://chipmusic.org/Klamm/music/bodiless-exultation
Bonus Theme by Chiplex
https://chipmusic.org/Chiplex/music/bonus-theme

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The land was covered with snow when this was recorded but the show must go on! We're in lockdown anyway so it's not like we've got anywhere to go... Settle down in front of the fire for another weekly dose of video game related news and chat. No SSG this week but we've loads to get through.

The first Maraoke of the year is this coming Friday, 29th January, at 8pm GMT on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/singmaraoke Come and join us! See what all the buzz is about!

Meanwhile, get your letters in to us at [email protected]. Tell us what you think the weird knocking noise in Ste's central heating system might be!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Reviews:
https://www.versovr.com/cricket-club
https://www.cyberpunk.net/gb/en/
https://elevenvr.com/
https://synthridersvr.com/

Tracklist:
Beautiful Death by Feryl
https://chipmusic.org/Feryl/music/beautiful-death
Resolution by Tsuwami
https://chipmusic.org/Tsuwami/music/resolution

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No, that was Bruce Wayne! Remember the song? No? I'm old... and kids are taking over the world already! Maybe it's for the best. We had a good run. Maybe. Anyway, we're back with more video game news and chat. No SSG again this week but we're working on it.

Meanwhile, get your letters/emails in! Send them to [email protected] to be read out and discussed on a future episode!

Stay safe and well, dear listeners!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Reviews:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/immortals-fenyx-rising
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1384820/Psychocat_The_Door/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1229060/Dungeon_and_Puzzles/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/944710/TurnTack/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1451120/Sunlight/

Tracklist:
In The Sprawl by Klamm
https://chipmusic.org/Klamm/music/in-the-sprawl
Happy New Year 2021 by 8-BITchintendo
https://chipmusic.org/8-BITchintendo/music/happy-new-year-2021

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Happy New Year, dear listeners! Welcome to 2021 where we won't let a lockdown keep us... down... No SSG today but there's plenty to talk about, including learning valuable tricks to pull on teacher during remote learning sessions. It's not just two old men talking about Roblox, honest!

Don't forget to send us your letters/emails. Let us know what you got for Xmas. Tell us your hopes and dreams for 2021. It's all good!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Reviews:
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/immortals-fenyx-rising
https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/
http://www.funomena.com/wattamgame
https://whitethorndigital.com/calico
https://sokpop.itch.io/pocket-watch

Tracklist:
Happy New Year 2021 by 8-BITchintendo
https://chipmusic.org/8-BITchintendo/music/happy-new-year-2021
Retrograde Amnesia by Feryl
https://chipmusic.org/Feryl/music/retrograde-amnesia

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It's Wednesday again! What? Already?! Time seems to be zooming by, dear listener. It's as if the universe itself wants to be rid of 2020! However, according to theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, time is an illusion and the perception of its flow doesn't correspond to physical reality! Before the Big Bang there was no time! Or space, for that matter, but if there had been would that have meant the entire campaign of a recent Assassin's Creed game could be played through in an instant?!

These questions, and many more, are not answered in this episode but Cyberpunk 2077 is out now and we have a good old natter about that amongst other, non-theoretical time-based shenanigans. We also have an SSG this week in the form of Sam Collins from UKIE!

Don't forget that this coming Friday (18th December) is the (Online) Maraoke Xmas Party!! Starting at 8pm GMT here: https://www.twitch.tv/singmaraoke Bring your own drinks and snacks of choice!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Xmas...

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/ukiesam
https://www.twitch.tv/singmaraoke

Reviews:
https://www.cyberpunk.net/gb/en/

Tracklist:
Bump by Daisy
https://chipmusic.org/daisy/music/bump

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Hello! As I type this, the entire world is waiting for Cyberpunk 2077 to land in their eager hands after what seems like an eternity. Nothing else matters. Are you looking forward to it, listener? If you live in New Zealand you might even be playing it right now... Exciting!

Meanwhile, this week we have an SSG! None other than UKIE's Dr Jo Twist! Also don't forget we have the OLL/Maraoke Xmas party on the evening of Friday 18th December on the Maraoke Twitch channel - link below!

It's starting to feel a lot like Xmas! Maybe! Send us your Xmas lists and we'll be sure to pass them on to the man himself: [email protected]

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://twitter.com/Doctoe
https://www.twitch.tv/singmaraoke

Reviews:
https://sniperelitegames.com/en/games/sniper-elite-4
https://captaingames.itch.io/golf-on-mars
https://noitagame.com/
http://www.thegamebakers.com/haven/

Tracklist:
Climbing for Flowers by Sharp Edge
https://chipmusic.org/SharpEdge/music/sharp-edge---climbing-for-flowers
Blasphemy by amateurlsdj
https://chipmusic.org/amateurlsdj/music/blasphemy

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Another jam packed show for you, chock full of video game related shenanigans! Plus we find out how Ste's True Confessions talk at Nordic Game 2020 went - did he save your soul, listener? Not that you can tell us, that'd blow the anonymity!

Meanwhile, it's December already! Meaning it won't be long before Father Christmas pays us all a visit, as long as we've been good... and this year we might all get a Covid-19 vaccine from him as well! That's how the distribution works, I'm sure... What are you hoping to get for Xmas, dear listeners? Write in and let us know at [email protected] 

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Reviews:
https://likeadragon.sega.com/home.html
https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/assassins-creed/valhalla

Tracklist:
Circuit Circus (LSDJ) by Hide Your Tigers
https://chipmusic.org/Hide+Your+Tigers/music/circuit-circus-lsdj
Hope by Falling For A Square
https://chipmusic.org/Falling+For+A+Square/music/hope

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Hello! No SSG again this week but there's news, letters, reviews and general video game related banter galore! Meanwhile, Ste offers to Save Your Soul by offering to hear your confessions! Links for more info are below... Plus, as mentioned in the show, here's Phil the (Under)Caretaker's full review of the Xbox Series X:

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Here's my cutting edge review of the Xbox Series X, offering in depth and personal analysis that would make Digital Foundry mad with jealousy!

I'm sure I'm the ideal target demographic for next gen in that I don't have a 4K TV, nor had any previous interest in getting one. I initially only made moves to get the Series X because my original Xbox One was on its last legs with days firmly numbered. I became more determined to bag a pre-order when one of my older brothers passed away in August – this coming just 4 months after we lost our Mum to Covid-19 in May. I had three older brothers but this one in particular introduced me to gaming, amongst many other things (like Star Wars, D&D, Ghostbusters and swearing). We already had a black and white, multi-game, Pong clone in the house but I can still remember the day I went home from primary school to find he’d bought an Atari 2600 that blew us all away – this would’ve been around 1983/84 so I’m pretty sure he got it cheap, post-‘crash’. Playing on this glorious technicolour, albeit blocky, graphical experience quickly became a family spectator event, similar to whenever we rented a video from the shop down the road. He later picked up a Commodore Vic-20, then a C64 and later an Atari ST (my best mate at the time had one and that swayed our loyalty for the Atari/Amiga wars to come). So, basically, video games and my brother went hand in hand. They were one of our things and, despite him not being an active player for the past few years due to ill health, he was very much an active spectator and you could tell he was still awed by even the slightest advancement in the technology, still clearly remembering how far we’d come from the tech we had in the early 80s. So, no, I certainly didn’t need to go next gen just yet but considering the year we've had I felt allowed to treat myself, not that I’m trying to justify the spend! And my brother would’ve approved, I’m fairly certain. It’s gaming as a deeply personal, connecting, activity.

Anyway, after a week and a half with it, I've found the Series X to be an impressive piece of kit. It’s a leap similar to (but bigger/more than) when I went from my original PS4 to the PS4 Pro. Everything that should be enhanced for the Xbox One X and XSX just 'is' (apparently as long as the Devs/publishers have approved it…) with differences being noticeable despite my lack of 4K telly – improved textures, frame and draw rates being the noticeable differences along with load times. It's bloomin' fast, which you'd expect from hardware like this! Resource hungry games like Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Valhalla, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Elite: Dangerous load up from a standing start much quicker than on the old Xbox One - we're talking seconds rather than minutes - plus "Quick Resume" is very good indeed and makes "getting a quick game in" much less hassle. Yes, I know we've had it on phones, tablets, PCs and, in a way, the Switch for years but, you know, better late than never. There are still bugs in the system though – I’ve noticed that AC: Valhalla certainly used Quick Resume for the first week or so but doesn’t anymore. Microsoft have said some games have had it disabled while they fix things so I assume that’s what has happened here. Luckily I’ve not had any of the other reported issues with my day one tech – hopefully writing this doesn’t jinx that! I’ve not suffered any random shut downs or disc drive failures, or noisiness. In fact, the system is very quiet indeed but, yes, it runs hot. As a PC gamer as well, I’m used to that, though. Nature of the beast. It’s certainly not ‘burning’ hot, though, and has never had smoke billowing out of it like a chimney... Size wise, it’s not a huge distraction sitting on my TV unit – It sits next to my telly like one of the monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey only much less imposing. It’s about as tall as the PS4 Pro when stood on end and just happens to be a bit wider.

The controller is... an Xbox controller. It feels both very familiar and also a little bit different, like someone has been moving the furniture around while I've been out of the house... It feels a tad smaller than the Xbox One controller and the sides seem to be angled inwards a little more (or it feels like they are!) The 'grips' are hard plastic so I'm not sure how effective they'll be in the long run and the D-Pad is the “satellite dish” variant from their Elite controllers which I always avoided but, OK, it's not too bad in practice!

It’s been widely reported and moaned about on social media that, yes, there is a distinct lack of unique launch titles and, sure, that is the case but I went in eyes wide open knowing this. I picked up Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla which I could only imagine takes about an hour to load on a last gen machine and probably runs like a 3-legged donkey. In black and white. Allegedly. On the Series X it loads in no time, runs smoothly and looks lovely (you could view it as Assassin’s Creed does Witcher 3 with Vikings. Vikings!!! 7/10). It shows promise and potential for what is to come and as likely as night follows day follows night we all know it won’t be long before some amazing games come along that will take full advantage of the tech.

With the Series X, it's definitely evolution rather than revolution. A kind of "PC Gaming Lite" and I’m completely fine with that. With not having to work out a whole new system whilst at the same time having something set up to handle the next 7+ years of new gaming, as well as a catalogue of games stretching back to 2001? I'm very happy with that. It also doubles up as an innovative fan heater which could be a welcome boon to some as we enter the cold winter months! 7/10

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Please do send your emails to us at [email protected] for inclusion in future shows!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://nordicgame.com/true-confessions/
Games Industry Absolution Form Link

Reviews:
https://www.thefalconeer.com/
https://likeadragon.sega.com/home.html

Tracklist:
Gelegenheitsmusik (LSDJ) by 9-Heart
https://chipmusic.org/9-Heart/music/gelegenheitsmusik-lsdj
Reminiscence(Stars) by Dissimulation
https://chipmusic.org/Dissimulation/music/reminiscencestars

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Well, after a good run of SSGs, this week sees us return to a cozy (virtual) fireside chat between Ste and Simon, but now we're officially in the "Next Gen" there's news aplenty to get through!

Meanwhile, the next date for online Maraoke has been set for December 18th. This will also double up as the (virtual) OLL Xmas Party, maybe even with a (virtual) Secret Santa! Link below, more info to come!

Don't forget, please send any letters in to us at [email protected] 

Let's be careful out there!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
https://www.twitch.tv/singmaraoke/

Reviews:
https://rocksteadyltd.com/#arkham-knight
https://www.fuser.com/en-gb
https://likeadragon.sega.com/home.html

Tracklist:
Midnight Flight and the Dream: You by ScanianWolf
https://chipmusic.org/ScanianWolf/music/midnight-flight-and-the-dream-you
Cloak & Dagger by Hide Your Tigers
https://chipmusic.org/Hide+Your+Tigers/music/cloak--dagger

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Well, it appears none of us ended up becoming the next President of the USA but, for the third week running, we have a Super-Special Guest: James Parker from Ground Shatter Games! Three SSGs on the run! Is this the new normal??

Meanwhile, the next generation of gaming has begun! Yesterday! Did you get a new Xbox this week, dear listeners?? Phil the (Under)Caretaker did and he's very happy with it so far, though this might be being swayed by the ailing state his original Xbox One was in... Anyway, let us know your thoughts on the new next gen and gaming in general at [email protected] and your letter may be read out on a future episode. There are no prizes but you'll get a warm fuzzy feeling inside!

Remember: Stay safe out there, listeners!

Cheerio!
Team OLL x

Links:
http://groundshatter.com/
https://twitter.com/GroundShatter

Reviews:
http://www.teardowngame.com/
http://www.pillowcastlegames.com/
https://www.descendersgame.com/

Tracklist:
The Outside by donotrunwithpixels
https://chipmusic.org/donotrunwithpixels/music/the-outside
High Five Clubhouse-Vision by Christopher Brown
https://chipmusic.org/Christopher+Brown/music/high-five-clubhouse-vision

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