Console Shock, Retro and Modern Gaming Chat.

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! Gaming hardware used to get cheaper as it aged, but those days seem to be over. This week, Trev and Stu discuss Valve’s surprise Steam Deck price hike, debate whether gaming is becoming more expensive, and explore how changing buying habits could shape the future of consoles and PC gaming. Valve shocks gamers with major Steam Deck OLED price increases. Does the Steam Deck still offer good value, or have rivals overtaken it? Comparing the Steam Deck against the Lenovo Legion Go S and ROG Ally. Why modern consoles and handhelds are getting more expensive instead of cheaper. A look back at the PS2, Nintendo 64 and the era of dramatic hardware price cuts. Is gaming really more expensive today, or are we getting more value from longer-lasting hardware? Budget PCs, second-hand components and why more players may be moving away from traditional consoles. Predictions for the Steam Machine, PS6 and the future cost of gaming hardware. Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about different episodes of the Star Trek franchise! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Title Theme – Pinball Dreams (1992) – Commodore Amiga – Composer(s): Olof Gustafsson

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! It’s another trip to the world of Xbox, as we’re joined by special guest Lee from the EternalLee HD YouTube channel—a prolific Xbox 360 collector who knows the system inside out. Together, we dive into CEX chaos, physical media quirks, and the golden era of the 360, from reprinted covers to rare oddities. It’s a proper enthusiast’s look at what made the generation so special—and so challenging to collect for! In this episode: CEX cover drama – Why “cover reprinted” games just don’t cut it for collectors (and shouldn’t cost the same) The CEX lottery – Ordering multiple copies, building one perfect version, and returning the rest—chaotic, but once very real Postage problems – How CEX’s store-to-store fulfilment model leads to inconsistent shipping costs and customer confusion Death of the manual – The slow fade from full booklets to flimsy inserts… to nothing at all by the end of the 360 generation Building the ultimate 360 database – A community-built database documenting every detail of Xbox 360 physical releases, from barcodes to inlays All-time greats – Fallout: New Vegas takes centre stage, alongside heavy hitters like Modern Warfare 2 and Red Dead Redemption Hidden gems & variety – From Blur and Split/Second to Enslaved, celebrating the sheer range of the 360 library Weird & wonderful moments – Rare titles like Handball 16, industry stories, and even a surreal Lips performance tale to round things off Check out Lee’s YouTube channel here:‪@EternalLeeHD‬ Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about different episodes of the Star Trek franchise! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Turn The Page (Tutorial Theme) – Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) – Sony Playstation – Composer(s): Hiroshi Okubo

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! We’ve hit a milestone — episode 150! And to celebrate, we’re welcoming back retro magazine collecting (and now magazine writing) legend Paul Monaghan for his long-awaited return! What’s he been up to over the last few years? How did he become a contributor to two of the UK’s top retro mags? And yes… what does he think of 90s boy band Let Loose? Strap in for a nostalgic deep dive into magazines, music, and memories from the golden era of gaming and pop culture. In This Episode: Paul’s latest work with Amiga Addict and Pixel Addict Thoughts on Perifractic’s purchase of Commodore A look back at the vibrant UK comic scene of the 80s & 90s Remember when Sky TV cost a fortune in the 90s? Reflecting on premium 90s gaming mags like Maximum The high price of PC gaming in the mid-90s Beyond gaming mags: Star Trek, NME, and more cultural touchstones GamesMaster – the mag that outlived the TV show by decades! Our personal favourite gaming mags of all time Bonus nostalgia: the long-forgotten UK computing mag PC Plus! Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Turn The Page (Tutorial Theme) – Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) – Sony Playstation – Composer(s): Hiroshi Okubo

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! Stu’s got his hands on the Nintendo Switch 2 and gives us his honest review — no over-the-top YouTube theatrics here! Plus, the long-rumoured Microsoft x ASUS collaboration is finally official: meet the Xbox ROG Ally, a new handheld console. But will this be the Steam Deck killer, or is the real story the custom gaming-optimised Windows OS it runs? Here’s what we’re covering: How does the Switch 2 launch compare to the original Switch? First impressions of Mario Kart World Did the Switch 2 really need groundbreaking innovation? How do Switch 1 games perform on the Switch 2? External controller support: Switch 2 vs Steam Deck Where the Steam Deck still outperforms Windows-based handhelds The most exciting part of the Xbox Ally: a gaming-optimised Windows OS How will the new custom Xbox Windows handle launchers, UI quirks, and game libraries? Is Xbox Ally’s branding confusing? Does the average gamer think it’s a portable Xbox console, not a Windows handheld? Gaming-optimised Windows vs SteamOS performance speculation Will Xbox Windows support all generations of Xbox titles? Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! In the latest instalment of our “Saving the System” series, we turn our attention to our all-time favourite gaming platform — the legendary Commodore Amiga. Its fate was sealed the moment Commodore collapsed, but can Trev and Stu breathe new life into this classic machine? Join us as we dive into what could have been, what went wrong, and what should have been possible. This episode includes: Thoughts on Oblivion Remastered Could the Amiga 1000 launch have been handled better? Why the Amiga 500 was pure perfection Should Commodore have canned the CDTV and CD32 to focus on CD-ROM add-ons? Did the Amiga 1200 arrive too late? Why the 68020 CPU was already showing its age in 1992 How the unreleased AAA chipset might have kept the Amiga competitive Imagining what successors to the A1200 and A4000 could have looked like Fire up your Workbench disks — it’s time to rewrite history. Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Turn The Page (Tutorial Theme) – Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) – Sony Playstation – Composer(s): Hiroshi Okubo

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! #marchintosh is here! Trev and Stu join in the annual YouTube tradition of Marchintosh, dedicating an episode to all things Apple Mac in March! This year, we’re flipping through a couple of Macworld UK back issues from 2004 and 2005, reminiscing about an era when Apple was transforming into the tech giant we know today. Join us as we dive into: Stu’s new obsession: Robocop: Rogue City Were 80s and 90s movie-licensed video games actually better than we remember? Was Macworld UK just a reprint of the US edition? Trev’s 20th anniversary as a Mac user! The long-forgotten Apple eMac desktop. Apple’s simple pro vs. consumer product matrix in 2004. The never-ending saga of gaming (or lack thereof) on Mac. A look back at iPods and the entire iPod family. Remember when buying Mac OS X meant getting a massive box? Where did Brits buy Macs before Apple Stores? A look at Mac retailers in the UK. How mid-2000s Apple computers still hold up today. And more! Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Turn The Page (Tutorial Theme) – Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) – Sony Playstation – Composer(s): Hiroshi Okubo

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! Are console generation leaps becoming less significant? Back in the day, each new system felt like a revolution—but have we reached a point where improvements are harder to notice? Has graphical fidelity gotten so good that new technologies struggle to stand out? Trev and Stu look back at console generations from the 90s to today, breaking down whether the leaps were truly bigger in the past or if we’re just seeing things differently. Stu’s been streaming Call of Duty on our channel Trev’s revisiting Donkey Kong Country Returns on the 3DS—was the 3D effect actually worthwhile? Wind Waker on Wii U—a timeless classic or just a glow-up? The massive shift from 8/16-bit to 32-bit 3D—was this the biggest leap in gaming history? Stu breaks down his four distinct eras of console gaming When do console generations truly begin and end? Is there anything on PS5/Xbox Series that last-gen couldn’t do? Do most gamers even care about ray tracing? Why are console generations lasting longer than ever? Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Turn The Page (Tutorial Theme) – Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998) – Sony Playstation – Composer(s): Hiroshi Okubo

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! Trev and Stu are finally back together after the Christmas break, with a whole bunch of new retro/modern gaming ramblings. This time around we dive into Bazzite, a SteamOS-like operating system that can turn Windows machines into Steam Decks, as well as looking into some of the PC gaming handheld news to come out of CES 2025. We also speculate what we might see in the upcoming Switch 2 reveal. This was recorded before the actual reveal a few days later! General overview of Bazzite, and why you might want to use it. The pain of using Windows with a controller on a gaming handheld. Trev’s experience of using Bazzite on the Lenovo Legion Go. The future of SteamOS and gaming PCs in the living room. Where will the Switch 2 fall in terms of graphical performance? How the OG Switch launched into a very different climate vs the Switch 2. Will the Switch 2 launch at £350 or £399? How will backwards compatibility look on the Switch 2? Check out Trev and Al’s other podcast where they reminisce about a different episode of Star Trek every month! : https://longrangesensors.com/episodes Intro/Outro Music – Special Stage Theme – Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) – Sega Mega Drive – Composer(s): Brad Buxer, Bobby Brooks, Darryl Ross, Geoff Grace, Doug Grigsby III, Cirocco Jones, Sega Sound Team