Player 2's Podcasts Player2.net.au

Remember Demo 1? First of all, if you're too young to remember Demo 1, please grow old very fast and die. Now, for those of us who are starting to find the odd white hair... remember Demo 1? Those demo discs that came with the original PlayStation seemed so special at the time - as did those cover mount discs that sold official tie-in magazines to us for several years! Then demos seemed to mostly go away and die. At least, until fairly recently.
This episode sees Tim joined by a truly rounded crew, with Renee, Sarah, Ken and Rob all jumping in to talk about the re-emergence of the playable demo as a thing that a lot of bigger games seem to be getting on board with again. With this year alone having treated us to tasters of FF7 Rebirth, Unicorn Overlord, Princess Peach, Sand Land, Stellar Blade and PoP: The Lost Crown already, it seems that this more hands-on form of promotion is making a comeback!

Games: Doronko Wanko, Dragon's Dogma 2
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Memories of a Master by Captain Hogan

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Renee O'flynn
Sarah Ellen
Rob Caporetto

Things were simpler when we recorded the first ever PixelCast. Well, aside from how we kind of started at episode three for reasons that aren't worth going into here. In any case, the Rocksteady superhero game was surprisingly excellent, Microsoft seemed to have finally figured out the console market, and indie games were real goddamn indie games. And now? Look at how messy all of that has gotten in the years that have passed since!
With Ken steering a ship manned by Tim and Renee, this fortnight's PixelCast braves the waves of trying to figure out just how do we even define an indie game in the current era. It was obviously going to be a messy and complicated topic of discussion going in and yet, somehow, they still failed to properly anticipate just how messy it would ultimately get.

Games: Omega Crafter, Alone in the Dark, Helldivers 2
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Tomorrow's Starting by Michael Hudak

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Renee O'flynn

In the interest of fun things such as, um, feeling very, very old, we decided to look back at another classic year in gaming for this episode. The year in question 2007? Many of us were underway in our careers, or at least moving out of home already at that point! How the hell could this already be considered retro!? Is Mario Galaxy somehow as old today as Super Mario Land was when Galaxy released? Surely that can’t be right…
… Sadly, it is, and Tim, Rob and Hewso spend this episode mulling over this grim reality while trying to cheer themselves up by simply recalling how electric the year 2007 felt for new game releases. They also talk games, or, at least, game-related media. It’s a bit of an odd duck, this episode.

Games: Last Epoch, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (kind of a game), Tetris (not actually the game)
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Gusty Garden, But it Sounds Like T-Square by WillRock, PROTO.DOME

Cast
Matt Hewson
Tim Henderson
Rob Caporetto

We're 128! 128 bits!? Is this the episode of the Dreamcast and PS2!? Were either of those consoles truly 128 bit machines? The answer to those questions is no. Also, that answer doesn't really matter. We're here to chat RPG's today; specifically, we're supposed to be here to talk about what exactly makes a JRPG and if that genre label is even relevant today, but we kind of distracted and were probably lucky not to end up trying to answer questions like 'what even is game?'

Ken's in charge of this one, and he does his darndest to keep Tim and Renee in check. Sometimes he even succeeds! At least he kept Tim from going too heavy on the whole there is too much Sephiroth in FF7 Remake thing.

Games: Outcast: A New Beginning, Splatoon 3: Side Order, Rogue Trader
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: A Deus ex Harpa by DrakeSword

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Rob Caporetto

With the current console generation finally getting its engine properly warmed up, we couldn’t help but stand back and realise that – damn, the PS5 and Xbox Series machines are over three years old already! Last generation, following the same timeframe, the PS4 Pro was out already! So, yeah… things feel like they’re moving slowly, so we decided to look back and see if a sense of technical leaps used to be more frequent or not (spoiler: they were).

Tim’s back in charge for this one, with Ken and Rob… also playing demos on the side! Everyone was playing demos! So come one, come all, and check out our thoughts on a mix of Steam Next Fest drops, and that tiny demo of that tiny Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth thing.

Games: Blue Sky Aces, Space Trucker, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Sounds of Liberty by CarboHydroM, Scaredsim

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Rob Caporetto

Gurgle Somehow, we're already a whole month into 2024 and, despite living in a time of timid publishers being unwilling to gamble on many new ideas, wherein both Last of Us titles have been remastered for PS5 before we've even received a whisper of any new project that Naughty Dog may be working on, there still be a bunch of old properties that a few of us are left wondering why their shambling corpses haven't been reanimated in the interest of being able to sell a thing to a pre-existing audience.
Hewso is back on the cast and fully in charge here. He's even joined by three extra panelists by way of Ken, Rob and Tim. Of course, everyone had been playing the odd game here and there, so there's a good chunk of time up front dedicated to that. Or, specifically, how great those Like a Dragon (Yakuza) games can be.

Games: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Counter Strike 2, Project Wingman, GoW: Ragnarök
Theme Music: Visitors from Dreams by Mathieu Stempell Dma-Sc
Break Music: Legend in the Making by Sbeast

Cast
Ken Lee
Tim Henderson
Matthew Hewson
Rob Caporetto