Hello, Sunshine.
I'm Maria.
My name is Rory and we're the hosts of the IELTS Speaking for Success podcast, the podcast that aims to help you improve your speaking skills, as well as your listening skills along the way.
I was just playing a video game.
I see.
Well, that's interesting, because today we're going to talk about video games.
Oh, video games, dear listener.
Wow, what a topic.
For the first time ever, video games.
Do you play video games?
Yeah, but just on my PC when I have a free moment.
I don't really have the time to play around with controllers and consoles right now.
What kind of video games do you like to play?
Usually strategy games real-time strategy games from the turn of the century.
They take up a lot less memory and usually they're easier to run on the computer.
To be honest with you.
Would you watch others play video games?
I have in the past, yeah.
There's a YouTube channel called the Templin Institute that does let's plays of different strategy games.
And then they make up videos to go with the sort of the lore in their heads that they build up over time.
Oh, and of course, when I was much younger, I used to watch my little brother play as well.
Do people spend too much time playing video games?
I mean, define too much.
It's the middle of winter and it's freezing, so why shouldn't people take time off for a little digital distraction?
Thank you.
Dear listener, we have our premium episodes for you, where Rory and I are discussing speaking part 2 and 3.
This week on our premium, Rory is describing an occasion where he had to wait for a nice thing.
And in speaking part three, we are talking about waiting in general.
Do check out our premium episodes.
They are super cool, full of awesome vocabulary and quality grammar for your speaking.
The links are in the description.
Rory, do you know why cats are so good at video games?
Oh god, why?
Because they have nine lives!
I feel like I've just lost one of my lives.
So Rory, what do you call this thing?
It's a controller.
Specifically, it's like a two-handed controller, I guess.
Some controllers require two hands and some require just one.
I think the Xbox needs two hands and the things like the Wii or the Switch just need one hand.
A one-handed controller, a two-handed controller.
Yeah so, dear listener, if you are a gamer a gamer is a person who is into gaming games so you can talk about different gaming equipment like this is a controller.
We also have gaming mouse headphones, you know, or a head set, you know, um specifically designed to play games.
Or you can have a gaming keyboard, you know, like a special gaming keyboard.
Or if you are into racing, you can have Wait, wait.
Vehicle control system with you know, like a simulator, full-size steering wheel, control panel and even pedals.
It's just amazing.
That seems like a lot of work, a kind of hobby that's supposed to be just casual yeah, but like if you play tennis, for example, you have all this tennis gear like a uniform, like a, you go to some space.
Like the same with gaming, I think.
If you're into gaming, you have the whole, you know, like room full of gaming equipment.
Not just only this, you know.
Rory, you told us that you play games on the computer.
So on the computer, right?
Yeah, you play games on a computer or on a console or you watch them on the TV or on a screen.
Or you can say that I don't have any time to play around.
So play around is when you're kind of like crazy.
Yeah, so I don't have time to play around.
So I don't play video games.
I'm not into gaming or I'm a gamer.
Yeah, I'm crazy about video games.
You can also play video games on your mobile phone, Rory.
Did you know that?
Mobile versions of lots of games are there.
I know that you can, yeah.
I play chess on my phone as well.
I just realized there.
Yeah, and did you know that mobile games... have generated more profit than games on the computer.
Well, that doesn't surprise me, because lots of people have phones, but not many people have the money for computers or different consoles, do they?
So what do I say?
I usually play games on my phone, on my computer, on my phone.
Yeah, well, if it's most people, then we would say they play them on their phone.
You can say like, well, sometimes I play video games to relax and unwind from my hectic life.
Hectic, crazy.
Unwind to relax.
So, play games to unwind from the stress and hectic life.
Oh, Rory is into strategy games or what did you call them?
Ah, they're older strategy games, first of all, but they're also called real time strategy games.
That means that you do not have to take a turn and then wait for the next player.
Everyone is playing at the same time, which makes it a little bit more complex because you have to deal with different things going on at the same time.
They take up less space.
So a game needs a lot of memory from your computer.
So a strategy game or a game takes up less space.
Yeah, take up, like Occupy.
You can take up space.
In fact, it's usually take up space or take up time or take up memory.
So you can say that I prefer real-time strategy games like Age of Empire Warcraft, so you can drop some names.
And I like the games which are set in fantasy.
So a game is set in a fantasy world.
Or, dear listener, you can say that I prefer puzzle games.
I play them on my phone.
Puzzle games kind of like.
I have mobile apps or I play games on my phone in special apps applications.
Maybe you prefer shooters.
Rory, what are shooters?
Shooters.
It's games that simulate the experience of being in modern combat.
So you're shooting things instead of killing them with swords or knives or bows and arrows.
Counter-strike, Call of Duty.
So these are shooters.
When I went to school, I used to play Quake.
Yeah, old classics.
So you can say I prefer old classics.
So I sometimes play shooters.
Rory, so what's this Templin?
Oh, it's a YouTube channel that I like to watch.
And basically what they do is they explore the stories behind different game and fictional universes.
And a lot of their content is based around the stories behind video games, because that's their specialism and the structure is watch other people play.
So, for example, Rory told us that I watched my brother play video games right, but that's offline yeah, so your brother was like playing and you were watching, yeah.
And also, dear listener, when examiner asks you like, do you watch others play video games?
And you say, like, well, do you watch other people play football?
Do you watch other people play hockey?
So, yes, I watch other people play video games.
There's a special genre video, I think.
You watch people on channels like Twitch, but you can also watch videos on places like YouTube, for example, and the genre is called Let's Plays.
So, for example, Let's Play Call of Duty or Modern Warfare.
Activision, pay us for advertising, please.
What was your answer to this one?
When the examiner asks you, like, do you spend too much time playing video games?
Yeah, you can do this anytime someone asks you if something is too much.
I mean, how much is too much, to be honest?
Some people think that playing video games for...
Like a whole day is too much.
And other people think that it's not nearly enough, because some people can play video games for days and weeks at a time.
So because this is subjective, it's about your opinion, You could say, well, define too much.
Like what else should people be doing with their time?
You can't really tell people what to do with their time.
Well, you can, but I don't think they would listen.
Define, give a definition.
So, explain.
Too much.
How much is this?
Do you eat too much sugar?
Well, depends what you mean by too much.
And then you say like, what else should I be doing?
It's winter.
It's freezing cold.
What else should I be doing?
So you can ask a question.
We said this, we're recording this in winter now, but this could also work in the summer.
Like it's summer.
It's too hot outside.
So what else should I be doing?
Video games. are a digital distraction.
So video games distract us from our problems.
So you can say that, yes, like why not play a video game to distract myself from all the problems
