Stopharage

14 minutes ago, Stopharage said:

Honestly, the way things are going, defenders are going to have to wear straight jackets. 

Right, own up. Which one of you is Martin Keown? 

Honestly, the way things are going, defenders are going to have to wear straight jackets. 

Haven't updated in a while. 

34. Devolution by Max Brooks From the writer of World War Z, son of Mel. I bounced off this majorly. Jam-packed full of plot-holes, dislikable characters and a main plot which is utter guff (volcano leads to Yeti invasion). Predictable all the way through. 

35. The Institute by Stephen King Haven't read any King in years but the premise of this seemed interesting. Kids with psychic powers abducted from their powers for use of a nefarious institute. I enjoyed it for the most part but found it all a bit underwhelming and under-baked. 

36. The Man With All The Answers by Luke Smitherd A group of friends meet up for a boy's weekend, witness something other-worldly in the woods and it has a profound effect on them all. The main protagonist appears to have the ability to see into the future. A quick read with some promise. 

37. Humankind by Rutger Bregman If you're feeling shit at the state of the word this pretty upbeat book is probably worth a read. Bregman does a great job of explaining why thinks aren't quite bad as you might think. 

38. What Seems To Be The Problem by Mark Watson and Adam Kay Pretty engaging audiobook designed to explain the inner workings of our bodies whilst also dispelling some of the misinformation out there. Watson's patter is a bit grinding at times but Kay keeps things ticking over well. 

Jesus wept. If any team was going to get a penalty after the final whistle it would be United. 

(Disclaimer: Mainz got one a few years back after the half-time whistle I think)

Brighton fully deserve that point; should have been out of sight by now. 

On 19/09/2020 at 10:22, squirtle said:

We're including the Wii u but not the Switch? In that case, where's Nintendoland? One of the most overlooked gems in recent history. There is so much in that game, so much creativity and technical wizardry it's almost overwhelming. The ninja throwing stars game is sorcery of some kind and the depth hidden in the Zelda, Metroid and Pikmin games is completely unexpected. And don't get me started on the fun to be had in Mario Chase or The Animal Crossing fruit game. It always saddens me that this got such derision from so many quarters.

During lockdown, I was going into school looking after the keyworker’s kids. For 90 minutes of each day they would have a ‘cultural’ session. Some teachers would bring in films, others might have them in the music room etc. I took in a WiiU with a load of games including Nintendo Land. None of them had heard of it or played it before and were clamouring for Mario Kart. 
 

The instant they played Mario Chase they were transfixed. The hilarity of it all, seeing the prey’s face on the tv, the urgent shouting that ‘he’s in the red zone’, the communal enjoyment of some fairly simple game modes etc. 
 

Great games don’t have to be complicated. They don’t need the most amazing graphics. Great fun and simple gameplay are what Nintendo Land delivers in spades. So many super gaming experiences, from the Luigi Mansion ghost hunt, to the Zelda arrow fest. 

Teaching can be a hugely rewarding job at times and it’s that sense of achievement  which keeps people in the profession. A few weeks back one of the students came up to me and said that after he’d raved about it to his parents,  his Dad picked up a WiiU in the holidays and that the family had spent hours playing Nintendo Land. All 5 of his family had played it, from his 7 years old sister to his sceptical Mum. 
 

It’s not a perfect game, but by heck it’s accessible, lovingly made, fun and engaging. There’s a very low barrier to entry so it’s a great way of introducing non-gamers to what we see in the medium. 

On 21/09/2020 at 11:56, metallicfrodo said:

Having loved this the first time I'm finding it hard going on second viewing. I don't know whether it's because I know what's going to happen or not but it just feels so pedestrian. Also we've just watched the episode You Can't Go Home and it's just utterly terrible, nothing about it make sense.

 

  Hide contents

So starbuck crashes down on the moon of a gas giant which has a poisons atmosphere. But it's sort of okay because she has an oxygen tank, well apart from the fact that she seems to have ripped her suit but that's fixed later on with some tape. She finally finds a Cyclon ship and discovers that they seem to be piloted by some kind of organic lifeform that has all kinds of wires plugged into its brain, although that does mean that it requires oxygen. Yet weirdly the controls are exactly the right size for a human and are physical. She's able to make the ship air tight again by seemingly shoving her jacket into a hole in the side of the ship. Then she takes off, fortunately she is able to convince Lee that she is Starbuck because she has painted Starbuck on the underside of the wings of the ship despited us never having seen her leave the ship to do this, ingnoring the fact that it was impossible to do as the ship wings were lying on the ground.

 

All that ignores the fucking ridiculous 'emotional' side of the story with the Adamas willing to put the entire fleet at risk, including using almost 50% of their reserve fuel to fly resuce missions. 

 

What amazes me is looking this up on IMDB to check the name of the episode it's actually one of the highest rated in the first series! It's just dreadful.

I’m watching this very episode now, never having seen the series before. Not totally convinced I’m into it yet; there’s some decent performances in there but all seems a bit under-developed. 
 

My pet hate is the ‘coming up’ part at the beginning of the episode. 
 

Just now, Wallace said:

 

You've probably got a mountain of bog roll in the house as well 

As I’m almost shitting myself at telling my wife what I’ve bought today, a mountain of bog roll may well be necessary. 

5 hours ago, Popo said:

 

Mate.

 

You do know people on this very forum are struggling to place a preorder?  I'll admit you've got some balls to come bragging about it though. 

Just for clarity, as I don’t want to be seen as an evil, scalping capitalist. I only wanted one Series X but this morning’s clusterfuck online meant that when my first order crashed, I bought another. The Series S is for junior Stoph. 

Got the PS5 Disc, one Series S and two Series X. Cancelling one of the Series X; seemed to be an issue with the initial purchase. 

I hate myself. I'm not convinced there is any real need to upgrade yet, what with a Pro and an Xbox One X. Ho hum. 

Managed to buy one Series S and two Series X through Amazon and Very. Whilst not hassle-free, it seemed a lot smoother than for the PS5. 

After the Bethesda announcement I might cancel my PS5 and wait for next year. 

On 19/09/2020 at 21:29, Loik V credern said:

Van de Beek with a look that couldn't say 'why did I come here' any more

 

 

United should be ashamed of losing any game with this guy in the team. He’s massive. 

When that kind of thing happens to someone else, it is pretty funny. When it happens to you, it's utterly infuriating. I'd be raging if I was a United fan, a ridiculous couple of minutes. 

3 hours ago, Boothjan said:

 

I'd be absolutely gutted if we sold Jota - I love the guy.  Hoever would suit us so I can understand the link, assuming there's something in it.

I'd be wary of Hoever, he absolutely sucks. 

Ooh that Wolves kit is lovely. Wish Leicester had gone with that red kit rather than our maroon effort. 

6 minutes ago, Bazjam said:

Is Very a reliable site to use?

Yep.  Very is basically Littlewoods. I buy my Apple phones/watches on there whenever they have a deal on them. Added bonus is you you can buy stuff on Buy Now Pay Later, so I did that with the PS5. Will have it paid off before the console is out but gives me leeway to pay it off incrementally. It’s 9 months BNPL on this instance. 

15 minutes ago, Danster said:

https://www.very.co.uk/playstation-5-playstation-5-console-with-optional-extras/1600485230.prd

This morning I secured a disc PS5. Thought I’d check my bank balance and realised it might be more prudent to pay off my credit card with the money. Told my wife that I may have finally become an adult. 
 

And here we are. You post that link and I add the console to my Very account. Thanks for keeping my childhood alive!

Argos have them back in stock now - only disc by the look of things. 

11 minutes ago, probotector said:

Just woke up and I just reordered through the app no problems!

 

Do they charge in November or now? It wasn’t clear 

Argos will charge you. 

If anyone is struggling to get one Scan are still accepting pre-orders. They take money straight away though, rather than on release. 

19 minutes ago, DeciderVT said:

 

Is this another poorly explained Sony thing for me to be confused about? I can't keep up these days.

Ganeshare effectively allows you to share your digital purchases with another person, and vice versa. 
 

I bought Ghosts of Tsushima through PSN, my friend bought TLOU2. I end up with both games on release day for £50. 
 

Very easy to do. 

Just now, DeciderVT said:

Only Resident Evil and DeS aroused any interest in me. The rest looked pretty but like they'd be really bland to play.

 

The digital-only console for £349 is laughable as well. You'd have that saving swallowed up after your first few PSN purchases.

Not if you gameshare. 

Me and my big mouth...

I think I might have to change my avatar. We look like 2 penguins having a domestic. 

I think this will be a comfortable win, especially if Finch goes early.