Mickey, Miners, and a $150 Controller Dream

Good2Game Radio debuts its brand-new Play, Pay, Pray segment, where Tony, Jaime, and Vance break down what’s free, what’s worth the cash, and what’s wildly irresponsible (but tempting). The crew highlights Epic Mickey Rebrushed and Core Keeper as January PS Plus Play picks, blending nostalgia, discovery, and chill vibes. Vance makes a strong case to Pay for Arc Raiders, praising its value-packed looter-shooter action. Finally, the team Prays over the ultra-premium 8BitDo Ultimate 3E controller, diving deep into tech, stick drift trauma, and gamer wishful thinking.

Transcript

00:01.11
Tony Sisk
Hi, folks. Welcome back to Good to Game Radio. I'm your host, Tony speaking. And tonight we have our new segment, Pay, Play, and Pray. ah And joining me is Jaime and Vance to to go over our our selections for tonight.

00:19.42
Tony Sisk
Guys, how's it going?

00:21.53
Jaime G
Hey, it's going good. I'm ready to talk some some new new info. How are you doing, Vance?

00:26.53
Tony Sisk
All right.

00:28.49
Sentfrmheaven
I'm doing good, doing good, good. Good night. in

00:32.44
Tony Sisk
Right. All right. So to familiar familiarize everybody with the the new segment, ah Play, Pay, Pray, we're just going be going over, you know, for like our play, know, games at are fun to play, right? What we're playing, what's fun to play. And then pay is games you should pay for, right? That are actually worth dropping some bucks on. And then pray is something just, you know, ridiculous.

01:04.76
Tony Sisk
You have to take a mortgage out or something to, to get your hands on this. So i mean, leave us off.

01:11.64
Jaime G
All right. So welcome to the first ever Play, Pay, Pray. Right? This is the segment where we're going to dive into, as Tony was saying, video game wins that you can play, full price debates that we're going to talk about, and also the games or accessories that we dream of owning.

01:22.91
Tony Sisk
Thank you.

01:29.38
Jaime G
now The rules are are simple. We're going to do this once a month. There's a lot of things that happen, but there's we're looking into different materials, different vendors, different things. So in this segment, we're actually going to be talking on how you can play it smart, pay if you dare, or pray for the dream, right? And to reiterate,

01:51.42
Jaime G
Play the freebie that you can grab right now. Pay is the one you're considering, but maybe worth the splurge. And pray is that wishlist item that might require explaining your life choices to your family or get in trouble for buying.

02:06.20
Jaime G
So let's break it down for the first ever to what's hot, what's tempting, and what's living rent free in our heads. I'll kick it off. The first segment that we're going to reach, talk about tonight is Epic Mickey Rebrushed.

02:22.04
Jaime G
This is our first pick for this this week, and we are going nostalgic on this. But we're doing this with a fresh coat of paint. No pun intended. I'm talking about you know the game, Epic Mickey Rebrushed. If you missed the original, it came out on 2010 for the Wii.

02:40.92
Jaime G
This remaster is your chance to go and experience one of Disney's most creative games, but now fully modernized for the PlayStation 5, Xbox PC, and the Switch. And here is where it gets a little bit personal for this gamer.

02:57.88
Jaime G
When the game originally came out, I remember that I always wanted to buy this, but for one reason or another, I never did. So now getting the chance to revisit this game via the PlayStation Plus catalog or one of the free games that they're giving out this month amazing.

03:16.40
Jaime G
that's a That's a win, right? So what's new? First off, the visuals are gorgeous. High res textures, smooth 60 FPS, and way better camera controls than the original.

03:29.43
Jaime G
Mickey even gets new moves in this game, like a dash, a ground pound, and a sprint. which make exploring the waistline area that you're that you're going into way more fun and actually tells me that they did spend the time to not just give it the HD remaster ah treatment like other games have. They actually took the game, made it look better, made it play better. Now, the core mechanic for this game, if you're interested in checking this out, is this paint and thinner approach.

04:00.79
Jaime G
Paint helps you restore the world. Thinner erases it. And your choice actually changes the story. It's not just a cosmetic issue that that comes up throughout the game. It actually affects character relationships and even affects the ending that you can get. So this game actually was a pretty bold move for Disney back in the day when the, you know, 16 years ago.

04:28.54
Jaime G
And here's a bit of a trivia. Right. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which is a character that came out in this game, was one of Walt Disney's original characters before Mickey Mouse even existed. Did you know that, guys?

04:44.15
Jaime G
I didn't. I thought there was a made-up character for the game. um So this game marks the first time that Oswald comes back in a big way you know, decades after being forgotten, nobody even even knowing. And I was playing this game with my son. were watching like some of the shorts that come up like steamboat Willie or whatever the name of that episode was. My son who was sitting next to me said, dad, you have to be a hardcore fan to actually get all these references. And that's one of the things that I love about this game is that the game, um,

05:19.54
Jaime G
really knows its history. um At one point I found an old n NES and an SNES cartridges that were lined like in this pat of thinner.

05:27.44
Tony Sisk
Thank you.

05:30.30
Jaime G
And I really said, I had that game on the NES when I was seven or eight years old, right? This game is a love letter to longtime fans who have either stuck with the, with the Disney franchise or have played a lot of these games. And even Recently, I want to talk about this game because when I reached out to Tapumi and I said, hey, I'm playing Epic Mickey Rebrush, he said, oh, the old Wii game.

05:54.63
Jaime G
I was like, no, no, no, it's not the old game. This is a full remaster with modern control, new moves, updated visuals. If you're thinking it's just a port, nope, it's the real deal deal.

06:03.62
Tony Sisk
you

06:05.26
Jaime G
So if you're a PS Plus search subscriber, here's the kicker. I said this before, Epic Mickey Rebrushed is free this month. So if you've never played it, now's the perfect time to check it out.

06:17.70
Jaime G
And for completionist, there's tons of hidden pins and concept art to collect. So truly a collector's dreams. um So why is it a play pick for me is because nostalgia meets modern visual controls. It's the mechanic for paint and thinner. And again, it's free this month. So that's that's why it's it's a pay ah play for me.

06:43.93
Jaime G
So Tony, you got one for us?

06:47.58
Tony Sisk
Awesome. So yeah, I'm going to be talking about Core Keeper, which is another one of January's free PS Plus games that PlayStation made available to us.

06:58.90
Tony Sisk
Now, Core Keeper a 2D action adventure sandbox game where you are a minor Well, you were an explorer and you've come ah you came across something and when you touched it, it zapped you to an underground world.

07:22.04
Tony Sisk
ah So when you get into this underground world, you don't know where you're at. There's these three items that require, they're like a relic statue things and you need to...

07:35.06
Tony Sisk
turn them on for whatever reason hopefully to get out of the predicament that you've ended up in. In the meantime, you're going to be doing mining.

07:45.98
Tony Sisk
So you're going to be digging tunnels, crafting. The game has a extensive crafting system where you create these work benches. Sound familiar? You create these work benches and then you start crafting different items, weapons, gear, equipment.

08:05.82
Tony Sisk
you know everyday items you might need to survive and then uh explore the caverns dig new uh pathways and stuff fight enemies there are bosses uh it's a it can be a you can play it solo or you can play up upwards to eight people can share a map ah and it's pretty ah you know extensive really it's it on the surface it's like 2D 8 bit or whatever 16 bit art think Stardew Valley or Terraria or you know

08:46.14
Tony Sisk
maybe a little Maybe a step up from Minecraft, maybe. ah But it's kind of got that colorful world to it. And yeah, so you just, at first, when I started playing it, not knowing anything about the game, there's not really a tutorial.

09:04.73
Tony Sisk
or anything like that. So you just jump in um and you start just kind of figuring things out. And then the more you kind of figure things out, it's like, oh, there's another layer of things you can do. Oh, I can, I can fish, you know? Yeah. They're like underground lakes and ponds and stuff. So you could do fishing and, and find stuff that way. This, it, you could put a, a railroad system in where you travel, you know,

09:32.96
Tony Sisk
explore big distances ah quickly over railroad track so the maps are pretty big they're procedurally generated so they're random so but they're they're very large so you're covering a lot a lot of ground and you clear like the first three bosses after you defeat the first three bosses that's just a prologue then the game opens up And then you have ah all kinds of new biomes and stuff that you have to explore. So it's a really big game and a very unassuming package when you start to play it. And it's like, okay, I didn't know what to expect.

10:14.01
Tony Sisk
ah and it took me, you know, a little bit to kind of get used to like how the menus work or the, the, the, the system for, you know crafting and, and, and that sort of stuff. So, but now that I'm, you know, I play a little bit more a few hours into it. I'm like, okay, I can see where this is going. like this, this is like an endless world that you can just keep building. So it is perfect for like, Oh, you know,

10:43.19
Tony Sisk
I just want to put an hour or so into this, to this game and see, my progress and progress a little bit more. And it's just, you know, it's a fun game. It's been out for about a year and it's, it's well received and PlayStation has made it available for you as one of its PS plus games. I encourage you to try try it out.

11:08.02
Tony Sisk
And if you have the patience to build like you know your own ah buildings, and you can like build structures and stuff, and everything like that. So ah it's kind of it's a great game for you know just just chilling and and taking it easy. It's solo. like I'm playing it solo, so you can just do your own thing. If you get tired, just, you know, put it on pause and walk away. So it's perfect for just chilling and gaming, you know, on the and taking your time with a with a pretty cool looking game. You'll be surprised by the visuals of this game, how colorful is, and actually just how much, how much, how fun it is, actually. I was like, I was pretty skeptical when I first started playing it. I'm like, okay, this just doesn't look like, it's like dark, you know, I'm in a cave, and but then you just kind of,

12:03.16
Tony Sisk
build that out and so i uh i'm i give this one you know a big thumbs up to to try out

12:15.10
Tony Sisk
all right so our next segment our next portion of the segment is pay advance you want to take it away

12:28.26
Sentfrmheaven
All right. So this game, I want say it came out in October, November. Right,

12:36.73
Tony Sisk
Like, yeah, that back half of October, very first in November.

12:42.35
Sentfrmheaven
right, right. Art Raiders, Art Raiders. I was hesitant to buy it. I played the beta and I was like, okay, I, you know, just, you know, just kind of looking, but when I did buy it, I ended up having to, uh, having to work a week straight, but I do recommend paying for this game.

13:01.82
Sentfrmheaven
It is a solid game. It is a great community game. Um, it is a looter shooter. I believe it's labeled as PVPVE. So, um, you know, there is, uh,

13:15.54
Sentfrmheaven
there's a pvp available there's pve available but um the graphics are great the colors are great it's easy on the wallet it's only i think uh you can find it between anywhere from like maybe 35 to 40 depending on if you're buying it on xbox steam or uh playstation um It is well worth the money.

13:39.70
Sentfrmheaven
um it Like said, easy on the wallet. um You can play solo. You can play duos and you play trios. ah My favorite is is ah probably duos.

13:50.77
Sentfrmheaven
But, you know, with the right person. It not um it's ah is not like the maps are like 30 minutes long, but but sometimes you can get in with maybe like 15 minutes, 15 minutes left.

14:03.96
Sentfrmheaven
But I feel like the game is, is long enough in each play where like you is fast enough where you got to get it and go. You know, it's not one of those like, ah you just kind of hanging around, lollygagging, like, no, you have to be about your business. It's an exciting game.

14:21.16
Sentfrmheaven
ohm Once I get more into it, I think I have about, Maybe 18 hours in so far. And ah I'm loving it. Like, I'm loving it. It's best $40 I spent, let me tell you. Especially in today's prices where everything is like $60, $70, $80. Like, these $40 definitely went a long way.

14:39.88
Sentfrmheaven
And so far, everything that's in the game you can get by playing. So it's not like you have to pay for, you know, virtual coins to get... you know something you can actually play the game and earn you know everything you need in there so um you don't have to worry about you know the micro transactions you know only if you want to but like i said you can really play and get everything you need so art raiders pick it up have great fun

15:09.91
Jaime G
All right. So let's segue into our prey segment. All right. Let's talk about CES 2026. There was something that came up that's focused on gamers that caught a lot of the attention of people like me.

15:25.14
Jaime G
And this is the 8Bit. How do you pronounce it, guys? Is it 8BitDO or 8BitDO?

15:34.28
Tony Sisk
not sure.

15:34.39
Sentfrmheaven
because I think it's 8-bit though, because I believe I have the controller for the bow

15:39.83
Jaime G
right, let's go with that. So the 8BitDo Ultimate 3E, this is being labeled as a modular marble. And honestly, from everything that I've been able to look at, it's it's quite accurate, right? This controller is built to compete with the best controllers out there at the pro level. And let's talk about it for a second. Now, if you're on the PlayStation 5, obviously the DualSense is still the undisputed champ for game immersion with adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, built-in microphone. Those things are baked into the PlayStation experience. That's why they're core to every single controller.

16:22.68
Jaime G
But the ultimate three, it's actually chasing a different a different crown. It's taking a different approach. Rather than the immersion experience, it's looking at performance and customization. We're talking about swappable button modules, interchangeable D-pads, even you know thumbsticks that you can change out.

16:45.48
Jaime G
That's the first in this space. Now, here's the biggest tech flex for this component, right? Little known fact, I have an engineering background. So when I was reading these things, I was like, whoa, this device uses TMR joysticks. All right.

17:04.53
Jaime G
That's not too much info. It's actually TMR stands for tunnel magnetor resistance, which is basically a magnetic sensor technology that's even more precise than the Hall effect. And if you're wondering what the Hall Effect is, that's another ah another magnetic system that avoids physical contact inside of the joystick, meaning no wear and tear on your joysticks, and it'll completely virtually eliminate stick drift. So TMR takes that idea of the Hall Effect concept and pushes it further for insane accuracy and durability. So if you've ever have had a controller start drifting after a few months, this is the fix that you've been praying for. Now, I feel this personally. I've had to replace not one, but two PlayStation 5 controllers in 12 months because of stick drift. And actually, it was really frustrating that one of the ones that I recently had to replace,

18:06.04
Jaime G
It started with stick drift issues like at month 13, exactly when the warranty expired. So the idea of a control that the technology eliminates that problem is a game changer for a gamer like me. Speed, the Ultimate 3E runs at ah at a thousand hertz polling rate, which means very low latency on PC. So competitive gamers are totally going to love that.

18:31.83
Jaime G
Now, from a specs face-off, the DualSense, as I said before, has adaptive triggers, advanced haptics, built-in microphone, about a 6 to 12-hour battery. At the rate that I'm playing these things, it's more like 4 to 6 hours, to be quite honest, and starting at a price point of $75. You can get these on sale on different times of the year, but that's the base price.

18:56.06
Jaime G
The Ultimate 3 is... is, as I said, TMR joysticks, modular parts, RGB light rings, 18 hour battery, and it's expected to run for 150 when it drops in So here's the verdict.

19:14.33
Jaime G
If you're a PS5 gamer, stick with the DualSense because it's designed for that ecosystem and nothing else replicates those adaptive triggers right now. And also, the 8-bit though doesn't license controllers for the PlayStation yet.

19:29.53
Jaime G
But if you're on Xbox or PC and want a forever controller, the Ultimate 3 looks like it's the one to beat. Again, no stick drift, customizable feel, and pro-level performance.

19:41.69
Jaime G
So, There you have it. That's a wrap on our very first ever play, pay, pray the segment where we celebrate the wins, debate the splurges and dream big. Remember, play it smart, pay if you dare and pray for the dream. So if you have your own picks, hit us up, let us know what you're playing, what you're paying for, or what you're praying to get your hands on. And maybe we can do a review on that. You have our contacts on the discord and Tony.

20:12.06
Tony Sisk
the link in the show description where you can leave your comments. You can send the comments directly to us by clicking on that link. It's in the ah show description of every episode. So check that out.

20:23.99
Tony Sisk
All right. Thanks again for listening on the podcast. And we hope you enjoyed the new segment and we'll catch you guys on the next episode.

20:36.38
Sentfrmheaven
Later.

20:37.68
Jaime G
Later.