Retro World Order - Episode Four

Monday started off like any other day, but then Chase reached out and said, "Me and Larry on an episode? The current state of gaming is making us go back to the golden age!" Los and I decided the only responsible thing to do was to make it happen. Welcome to Episode Four of Retro World Order. Mike is joined by Chase and Larry from Geeks Gone Raw. As for Los, well, yeah, sometimes the best-laid plans of mice and men go awry. Who said Mike wasn't well-read!

The crew talks about revisiting older games on everything from original Xbox 360 hardware to the Steam Deck, Android phones, and modern retro handhelds. Oh, you want more? How about Steam Input, emulation, game preservation, DroidDeck vs. GameNative, and the realization that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games are somehow becoming "retro."

There's also plenty of discussion about why older games continue to pull us back, whether nostalgia is really responsible, and why today's AAA gaming landscape sometimes makes looking backward even more appealing.

In This Episode

• 00:00 - Welcome to Episode Four
• 01:34 - F.E.A.R. 2, Steam Deck, and Steam Input
• 09:52 - Revisiting forgotten Xbox 360 games
• 15:06 - What counts as retro and why we're going back
• 24:25 - Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
• 28:15 - Retro gaming and emulation on Android phones
• 35:58 - DroidDeck vs. GameNative
• 49:22 - Blur, Split/Second, licensing, and game preservation
• 55:15 - Xbox, PlayStation, and the state of modern AAA gaming
• 1:06:09 - GTA and the future of single-player games
• 1:06:42 - Single-player recommendations
• 1:11:51 - Agent 64: Spies Never Die

Single Player Recommendations

• Larry: Heavenly Sword - Ninja Theory's PlayStation 3 action game starring Nariko. Larry thinks it's still worth going back and experiencing.
• Chase: Fallout: New Vegas - Chase's pick for an older single-player game that remains easy to get your hands on and still delivers a great experience.
• Mike: Singularity - Raven Software's 2010 shooter and a longtime favorite of Mike's. Now the question is whether it holds up as well as he remembers.
• Larry's Bonus Pick: Dark Sector - Digital Extremes' Xbox 360-era action game, remembered for its distinctive glaive weapon and its connection to the studio that would later create Warframe.

Links & Resources

• Geeks Gone Raw
• Silent Hill 2: Enhanced Edition
• DroidDeck
• GameNative
• DroidDeck on the Retroid Pocket Nova
• XenDroid
• Agent 64: Spies Never Die

Featuring

Mike - Retro World Order / Play It Again
Chase - Geeks Gone Raw
Larry - Geeks Gone Raw

Los couldn't join us for Episode 4, despite being assigned show-note homework in his absence.