Ashley

I was going to create a new thread as I thought this was too old to bump but I can see I last posted last year so whatever. I've recently tried to get into Spanish. Dabbled in the past but now giving it more welly and feeling better about the approach. I did dump Duolingo (Italian), as I said I probably would in my last post. I gave up on day 2222 but was using gems to maintain the streak but was without internet for several days in the Galapagos so now that's gone. But with Spanish I'm trying to be more active. Found a few YouTubers that I'm finding useful. One does videos for about 20-30 minutes going over a concept and just encouraging repetition, another is about 10 minutes and is a mixture between language learning concepts/approaches and actual linguistic topics. In addition I'm reading a book that was highly recommended and is good, although being from the 50s some of the vocab is superfluous (I don't think I'll need to talk about sending a cable or buying a pipe) but it does a good job of teaching through repetition. Next week (I'm away for a few days) going to start building an Anki deck as well based on these resources to help and trying to read and watch more Spanish stuff. Plus I've got the finale of The Good Place dubbed in Spanish saved as an audio file of my phone and listening to that as I've heard suggestions if you listen to the same thing like 50 times your ear becomes more attuned to hearing a foreign language. Overall I think I've got a better approach to learning now and Duolingo was definitely a placebo affect. Which I had known for a while but didn't make the jump.

Ah so they're bringing back The Phantom? A breakout surprise from the first game. Their introducing is a really unique moment.

I don't see upgrade patches being free (and nor am I that fussed about it). This is Nintendo after all and they've happily charged us £5 to buy Super Mario Bros multiple times and now we don't even get to buy it.

I look forward to seeing this kind of thing again

Rumours/speculation/insight (delete as appropriate) from industry insiders suggest late next year and dev kits are starting to be distributed: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/sources-nintendo-switch-2-targets-2024-with-next-gen-console/

Not confirmed but seems likely.

Donald Glover and his brother (that kind of rhymes) will be writing the Lando series once the writers strike is over.

controllers have peaked. There will never be a better one

We're now over half way through the year and have a pretty good sense of what will be out, although we'll likely get a few more surprises, so what do you plan to pick up? Feel free to include recently released stuff that you've not yet got. I will probably get Pikmin 4 at some point. The excessive hand holding in the demo did annoy me, but the core loop is good and I would assume the non-stop dialogue would eventually die out. Will probably get Super Mario RPG too (but maybe ask for it for Christmas) because I have dabbled in the original years ago through means but I'd like to play it properly, I think in part because it was denied to us for so long. And in terms of stuff already out*, Ghost Trick, Advance Wars and play through the Mario and Rabbids DLC. When exactly I'm not sure as I don't game much now but by the by. *Yes technically Pikmin 4 is "already out" as of today

Jeremy Hunt in "not a good look" shocker.

I always assumed the Mario universe had an elastic timeline like The Simpsons

Maybe they'll surprise everyone and have that nightmare-fuel horse man mascot from Everybody 1-2 Switch.

I knew this was coming for mobiles but didn't consider its potential impact on the Switcha2.

Rick! I can but dream

Wonder if that means Steve Martin will be back.

Quick Ubisoft, release Just Dance for the GBA after this. They can't be allowed to take your crown!

Sorry yes, the issue with checking these things on the go. In fact, the FTC has filed an appeal.

Gex is back, in trilogy form! Switch, PS4/5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam.

The FTC has agreed for Microsoft to purchase Activision: https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/11/23779039/microsoft-activision-blizzard-ftc-trial-win And the CMA is apparently going to reconsider it's earlier decision:

Oops https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-66141339

Given Meta's love of harvesting data (I have an Instagram account so I know it's no different, but don't feel the need to go deeper), the fact your timeline is a mess of people you don't follow and not in chronological order and the fact if you remove your account you remove your Instagram account too I'm just not going to bother. I feel like I need less social media, not more.

Oh I wasn't trying to say Microsoft officially announced it or anything, just amusing they have potentially revealed stuff before Sony wanted to.

I could have warned them

Oh yeah the information itself isn't that shocking and of course the companies have information about the others but it's more the way it came about and the fact if it's true the information will have come from Microsoft instead of Sony. We all know the pain companies feel when information is leaked just before an event, imagine the feeling of your direct competitor do it in a court of law.