Pixel Vision

Ben and Tao step aboard a floating shanty town in the purgatory of Afterlife, meeting spirits and harvesting crops in 2D platformer farming sim, Spiritfarer. Ben is grumpier than usual, testing the question, ‘How bad tempered is too bad tempered to record a podcast?’ While Tao stoically hunts for redeeming game design features. It’s an admirable effort. The duo touch on minor story spoilers but nothing that would detrimentally affect gameplay more than the game mechanics themselves. (Guess who wrote these Show Notes?)
 
Content Warning: PEGI 13. Cancer, protracted dwelling on death, dead kids. It’s a bundle of laughs.
 
Clarifications:

• All Spiritfarer game music is composed by the brilliant, Max LL


• The YouTuber Ben refers to is Jack Pierce, with his video, The Power of Music in Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSkJFs7myn0


• Othercide is a horror-themed tactical role-playing video game developed by French independent video game development studio Lightbulb Crew and published by Focus Home Interactive. The game was released on July 28, 2020.


• Agricola is a board game Tao loves and Ben is rubbish at. Both recommend it: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31260/agricola 

Audio extracts:

• Oasis - Live Forever


• Back to the Future 2 - music by John Williams


• Ayub Ogada – Kothbiro (from ‘The Constant Gardener’)


• Rhod Gilbert at the Comedy Store


• John Denver - Thank God I'm A Country Boy


• Stardew Valley OST by Eric Barone (who also did everything else in that game. The whole shebang.)


• A Clockwork Orange


• Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring


• Jesus Christ in Richmond Park - Fenton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GRSbr0EYYU


• Circle of Life - The Lion King by Elton John


• Breath of the Wild OST - original score composed by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata, and Hajime Wakai


• Eastenders - Julia's Theme (sad theme)


• Jack Pierce YouTube Channel - The Power of Music in Film


• Pyre Original Soundtrack - Downside Ballad by Darren Korb


• Othercide


• Man of Steel directed by Zack Snyder feat. Henry Cavill

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao prove their '90s credentials and try not to drop the ball as they get happy flappy paddle slappy in 2D micro-adventure, Yoku’s Island Express. They talk pinball, completionism, sound effects, map modes, and what makes a ‘phone game’ a ‘phone game’. There’s some nostalgia, some gentle and not so gentle mockery, and very minor story spoilers (flagged in advance) towards the end of the ep. Hop on the bug wagon.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 7. Druidic rituals and balls, balls everywhere. Fruity balls. Suitable for kids? You tell me.
 
Clarifications:

• Yoku’s Island Express official soundtrack is composed by Jesse Harlin.


• The Wolverine game Tao is referring to is X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged, and yes Ben got completionist on it. He still brags about it. I mean, it’s pretty cool, right?


• DJ Jumps has now, sadly, left The Cat Empire. Hopefully it wasn’t anything Tao said.

Audio extracts:

• Metamorphosis (Original Game Soundtrack) - Music by Garry Schyman and Mikolai Stroinski


• Skype SFX


• Harry Nilsson - Everybody's Talkin' from Midnight Cowboy


• College & Electric Youth - A Real Hero


• The Who - Pinball Wizard


• The Ricky Gervais Show - Rockbusters


• Microsoft’s 3D Pinball Space Cadet


• ‘Beautiful butterfly’ - A Bug's Life


• Ralph Wiggum - The Simpsons


• GTA Vice City - Tommy Vercetti


• Worms Armageddon


• Hollow Knight OST - Enter Hallownest


• X-Men Origins: Wolverine game


• Rayman 1 OST


• Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay


• Portal


• The Cat Empire - Beanie feat. DJ Jumps


• The Who - My Generation

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Those renowned legends of the Frontier, Ben and Tao, plummet into the Apex Games, where they compete for small change, notoriety, and ideally, at least one victory as Apex Legends. But do they succeed? The chaps discuss running and gunning, the legacy of Titanfall 2, and the sinister viability of the freemium model. Tao regales us with his exploits playing hide and seek, and Ben rages against short TTK and the deathmatch exodus. It’s the first Battle Royale on the pod - but will it be the last? And the next time you're at the checkout and you hear the beep, think of the fun you could be having…listening to Pixel Vision. No story spoilers because there’s no story. I guess that’s a spoiler.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 13. Effin’ and jeffin’ and reveling in the glory of the hunt. But it’s all pretty tame this week.
 
Clarifications:

• Both Tao and I got the podcast email address wrong. Strong start. It’s [email protected] and it’s always listed at the bottom of these show notes! Say hi!


• Stephen Barton composed the Apex Legends OST.

Audio extracts:

• Jaffa Cake Song (1990s Advert)


• Dale’s Supermarket Sweep (Theme)


• Family Guy


• The Prodigy - Their Law


• Fader Gladiator - Battle Of The Planets (Imperial March remix)


• Ttanfall OST Cosmology by Stephen Barton


• Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring


• SSX Tricky


• PUBG theme (Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds) by Tom Salta also known as Atlas Plug


• Titanfall 2


• Richard Simms aka The Simms casting PUBG


• Ninjas first game of Apex (allegedly…)


• Halo 3 announcer - Killamanjaro


• The Big Lebowski


• Astroneer OST by Rutger Zuydervelt


• WOW Classic farming stranglethorn vale


• I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside sung by Kidzone


• HiTMAN 3 - Death Awaits (OST) by Niels Bye Nielsen


• No Time To Die - Billie Eilish 


• Valorant OST


• Splitgate OST by Christopher Tin


• The Office UK


• Gladiator - Are You Not Entertained?


• Hearthstone OST by Peter McConnell


• Overwatch OST by Adam Burgess


• The Matrix feat. Keanu Reeves


• Halo 3 theme by Martin O'Donnell

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao rock out with their Gods out adventuring through the beautiful, peacefully fraught open world of Breath of the Wild wannabe, Immortals Fenyx Rising (no colon). After introducing the pre-jingle jingle - a novel feature nobody asked for - they discuss what makes great comedy writing in games, the power of narration (reliable or otherwise), how first instincts can be misguided, keeping things fresh with limited game mechanics, and the merits of learning about Greek Mythology, be it through games or literature. Story spoilers are dramatically announced around half way through, but some minor game spoilers appear earlier on.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 12. Cavalier language, some sexual innuendo, rampant silliness.
 
Clarifications:

• Credit to the two top voice actors: Prometheus is voiced by Elias Toufexis, Zeus by Daniel Matmor.

Audio extracts:

• Bosch S07E02 - ‘housekeeping’


• Hades


• Breath of the Wild


• Goldeneye - ‘I am invincible!’


• Futurama feat. Bender


• Austin Powers - ‘fricking lasers’


• Friends - Ross’ British accent


• Disney’s Recess theme


• Control OST - Voces Ignotas


• World of Warcraft OST - ‘Elwyn Forest’

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao ride the ferry to forever and back again, and again, in time-twisting, ghost story campfire-and-click, Oxenfree. The duo revisit teen angst, past selves and old features - etymology disco anyone (no, sadly, it’s not a thing), introduce new characters - who is Henri’s gran anyway?, coin new terms - (‘wadsy’, you heard it here first), and hopefully flesh out what makes an indie adventure game win friends or alienate people.

Spoilers from early on but with extensive discussion about them beforehand.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 12, bad impressions, casual anti-Americanisms, and some swearing.
 
Clarifications:

• Oxenfree soundtrack is by American music composer and sound designer Andrew Rohrmann, known under his alias scntfc


• "Olly olly oxen free" is a catchphrase or truce term used in children's games such as hide and seek, capture the flag, and kick the can to indicate that players who are hiding can come out into the open without losing the game


• According to GoodReads, Mark Twain’s full quote is: “When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.”

Audio extracts:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)


• Skyfall - Adele


• Halo 5 - ‘Reunion’


• Kentucky Route Zero - ‘The world is not my home’


• The Usual Suspects (1995)


• The Simpsons


• Inside OST by By Martin Stig Andersen & SØS Gunver Ryberg


• Theme to No Code's Observation composed by Nine Inch Nail's Robin Finck


• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia


• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)


• Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson


• The West Wing


• Alan Partidge


• Arrested Development S04


• Syd Matters - To All Of You from Life is Strange OST


• Gone Home OST by Chris Remo


• Comedian Pablo Francisco


• Extras feat. Stephen Merchant and Barry (from Eastenders) played by Shaun Williamson

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao sit down to overcome their differences through Dr Hakim’s therapy-with-a-difference in the maritally redemptive, cooperative 3D platforming genre mangler, It Takes Two. In a very grown up discussion, they chat relationship difficulties, target audiences, comparable cooperative games and the confusion of critical acclaim, the role of minigames - charming or cheap? - and there’s even some bonus audio from their hilariously incompetent gameplay together.
 
Spoilers from early on and with warnings, but nothing that would ruin the gameplay experience.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 12, argumentative and petty, with poor parenting tips. We are not counsellors. Very coarse language.
 
Clarifications:

• It Takes Two is rated PEGI 12 for moderate violence and use of bad language. Violence is non-realistic, and no blood or injuries are shown.


• The Stanley Parable is an interactive drama and walking simulator designed and written by developers Davey Wreden and William Pugh. The game carries themes such as choice in video games, the relationship between a game creator and player and predestination/fate.


• The therapy podcast referenced is Where Should We Begin with Esther Perel.


• Ben references (and highly recommends) Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari


• The music for It Takes Two was composed by Gustaf Grefberg and Kristofer Eng.


• One track (‘The Extermination’) also includes reference to "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov

Audio extracts:

• Puss in Boots (2011)


• Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 Op. 46, III: Anitra's Dream


• Portal ‘Still Alive’


• All Shook Up - Elvis Presley


• Super Mario Party


• Battlezone 1980


• Honey I Shrunk The Kids (1989)


• Hercule Poirot - Murder Under The Sun


• The Lion King - Mufasa’s Death


• Wall-E (2008)


• Olympics Long Jump Final Rio 2016


• A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley


• A Way Out OST by Sam Hulick and Gustaf Grefberg


• Fortnite title music for seasons 3-10 by composer Pinar Toprak


• Hitch (2005)

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao conceal their weapons and don disguises as they pit their wits and murderous imaginations against operatives of the shadowy organisation, Providence, in Hitman 3. They introduce an exciting new feature to the show...Housekeeping...Tao’s a fan. Long may it continue. The chat covers replayability, title menus, spectacle and spectating, realism versus photorealism and why everybody relishes pushing the boundaries of in-game violence.
 
Spoilers from around an hour in, heavily forecast in advance.
 
Content Warning: PEGI 18. Wanton killing. Violent confessions. Spurious parenting advice and the usual swearing.
 
Clarifications:

• The original Hitman music is composed by Niels Bye Nielsen. In a first for the series, Nielsen also wrote all of the music in the game rather than incorporating other tracks.


• The Order: 1886 is a 2015 third-person action-adventure video game developed by Ready at Dawn and Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 4 on February 20, 2015.

Audio extracts:

• James Bond theme


• Jonathan Pie - Reporter gets angry… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P979HaI5qlk


• The A-Team theme


• Quincy Jones - Soul Bossa Nova


• Johnny English 2 theme


• Cuno voiced by Dot Major from Disco Elysium


• The Apprentice feat. Claide Littner


• Mission Impossible theme by Danny Elfman


• Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol


• Grape Lady Falls! (Youtube Viral Clip)


• Mozart in the Jungle feat. Gabriel Garcia Bernal


• Collateral (2004) feat. Tom Cruise


• Man On Fire (2004)


• Sinnerman by Nina Simone (Thomas Crown Affair version)


• Casino Royale (2006)


• Knives Out (2019)


• Skyfall (2012) OST - Adele


• Jonathan Creek theme ‘Danse Macabre’ by Camille Saint-Saens


• Mac Miller ‘Best Day Ever’


• Hitman 2 - Miami Drivers Lounge - Composed by Dynamedion specifically for Hitman 2


• The Order 1886 OST ‘The Knights Theme’ by Jason Graves


• The Matrix (1999)


• Eminem - My Name Is


• Hitman 2 - Yoga Lesson


• The Simpsons


• Invisible Inc. OST by George Watsky and musicians Daniel Riera and Max Miller-Loran


• It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia - What Are The Rules?


• Whirling Cafeteria - Disco Elysium OST


• Rockstar’s Manhunt (2003) by Craig Conner

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao take a deep dive into the awe-inspiring underworld of Subnautica: Below Zero. Is everything as it seems or is something fishy going on? Nah, it's as it seems, I just really wanted to use that pun. They talk breathtaking moments, the exciting and troubling possibilities of VR, the magic of sound design, vocal protagonists, photorealism, and why horror works best when it's unintentional.

Big story spoilers from around 45 minute mark. Warnings given in advance.

Content Warning: PEGI 12. Playful and exasperated swearing, and longer than usual - sorry not sorry.

Clarifications:

• There are four difficulty levels, Survival (survive alone on 4546B while investigating the death of your sister), Freedom (like Survival, without hunger or thirst), Hardcore (Survival mode with only one life. No O2 alerts) and Creative (build anything with no constrains. Oxygen, food, story and death disabled).


• Here’s a link to the People Make Games piece by Chris Bratt that Tao mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVnOcmiEdIE


• The overview of Amazon’s growing dominance over the supply chain that Ben mentioned: https://logisticsviewpoints.com/2021/03/24/amazon-supply-chain/ 

Audio extracts:

• Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999)


• Memories - Elvis Presley


• Good Morning, Vietnam! - feat. Robin Williams RIP


• Foreigner - Cold As Ice


• Black Mesa - Xen Homeworld - Transcendent OST


• Chris Rea - It's All Gone (1986)


• A Bug's Life (1998) - Francis The Ladybug


• Under The Sea - The Little Mermaid (1989)


• Eye in the Sky (2015) drone scene


• The Lion King ‘Circle of Life’ (1994)


• Ready Player One (2018)


• The Forest title theme by Gabe Castro


• Spock and Captain Kirk, Star Trek


• The New Secretary. Hancock's Half Hour Series 4 feat. Kenneth Williams


• Heat (1995) feat. Al Pacino


• Gimlet’s Homecoming podcast Episode 1


• Diamonds Are Forever (1971) theme


• Faster Than Light OST by Ben Prunty

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod 
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao gear up to destroy everything and take no prisoners in dieselpunk real time strategy (RTS) barn stormer, Iron Harvest 1920+. Ben goes on the attack while Tao rallies to defend as they discuss RTS versus base-building, retro-futurism, parallel histories and the rising [insertgenre]punk trend, destructible environments, micro-squad management and balancing enemy AI, and Nvidia Geforce Now issues. As always, they cover the gritty questions, like: how many employees constitute a ‘small studio’? Is there such a thing as a grating language? Is everything better with legs? Was cowardice the reason Ben dodged every invite to a multiplayer game that Tao sent? (We may never know.)

Some story spoilers, warnings given in advance.

Content Warning: PEGI 12. Machines! The acrid stench of war! Casual cursing.

Clarifications:

• Turns out there really was a bear rescued by Polish soldiers, called Wojtek, who ended up going to war: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twr38iHXYVw


• According to their own website, King Art Games do indeed have 70+ employees: https://kingart-games.com/page/1-about-us


• When Tao says C&C, he means Command & Conquer (1995)


• Company of Heroes is a 2006 real-time strategy video game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. Company of Heroes 2 was released in 2013.


• Cossacks: European Wars is a real-time strategy game made by Ukrainian developer GSC Game World, released on 24 April 2001.


• ‘Red Alert 2’ is Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, released in 2000.

Audio extracts:

• War Horse (2011)


• HBOs ‘The Pacific’


• Dawn of War 2


• Starcraft 2 Wings of Liberty theme


• Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings theme


• Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos theme


• Frostpunk Theme by Piotr Musial


• Age of Empires Soundtrack - Track #1 - Conquest


• Nancy Sinatra - These boots are made for walkin’


• Tombstone feat. Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp


• Gandalf Leaving Edoras - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)


• Hercules (2014)


• Miss Congeniality (2000)


• Iron Man feat. Robert Downey Jr.


• Age of Mythology OST - A Cat Named Mittens


• Rawhide by Frankie Laine


• The Simpsons - Look At All These Idiots


• Cossacks - European Wars OST


• Salutations from Subnautica OST


• Red Dead Redemption 2 - harmonica


• Telegram notification sounds

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod 
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]

Ben and Tao take a walk on the wild side in Lost meets The Descent survival game mash-up, The Forest. The duo share their adventures in the deep and discuss inventory management, save mechanisms, enemy AI, slaughtering animals, big breasted naked mutants and getting wood. The latter is not connected to any of the former. Promise.

Major story spoilers from around 45m, heads up given beforehand.

Content Warning: PEGI 15. Dead babies. Nuff said.

Clarifications:

• The Beach (2000) is an adventure film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Alex Garland. It was filmed on the Thai island of Ko Phi Phi Le.


• James Cameron’s The Abyss and Sanctum were actually neither 10 nor 30 years apart, but 22! Cameron was Exec Producer for Sanctum, rather than director.


• Spawn points are randomised to a certain degree, within certain areas.

Audio extracts:

• The Hills Have Eyes theme


• Silent Hill theme


• Resident Evil 1 ‘save room’ theme


• Monty Python - “Lumberjack Song”


• Kill List (2011) OST by Jim Williams


• Breath of the Wild ‘Main Theme’ OST (Live)


• Bear Grylls gets stung by a killer bee.


• ‘Life and Death’ from the Lost OST


• BBC Springwatch theme by David Poore


• Ali G feat. Shaggy - Me Julie


• The Village OST ‘Noah Visits’ by James Newton Howard


• The Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the Birds


• Michael Jackson - Earth Song


• The Royal Welsh Show 1996 - log shopping feat. Mike Perceval


• The Descent - extract from first sighting of the creatures


• Sanctum OST - ‘main theme’ by David Hirschfelder


• Autumn Leaves feat. Chet Baker and Paul Desmond


• The Mighty Boosh - Isolation song


• Firewatch theme by Chris Remo


• Roadrunner ‘meep meep’


• Sexual feat. Dyo by NEIKED


• Black Books S03E01 - Manny Come Home ft. Simon Pegg


• Olé guitar group, live at Patrick Sébastien: Music-Hall et Compagnie.


• Christian Bale singing on set of Terminator Salvation


• The Silence of the Lambs


• Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana


• Thomas the Tank Engine narrated by Ringo Starr


• Grease - Summer Lovin


• I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (full theme) - The Schickel Shamble


• Astroneer OST by Rutger Zuydervelt


• Spaced feat. Simon Pegg


• Cocoon OST by James Horner

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pixelvisionpod 
Twitter: @pixelviz
Email: [email protected]
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