Jimbob

I did look through the local council noise complaint stuff, and DIY (well, the noisy bits anyway) shouldn't start before 9am and must stop around 6pm. Can't start it before 10am on a Sunday either, outside of these times is considered anti-social. Was an update. Yesterday, the tenant who vandalised the house doing DIY had their house raided by armed police and arrested. I don't think he'll be around for a while, however he was shouting abuse at the owners doing DIY so i expect this isn't over between them.

Next door has been ripping their house down to the foundations and doing it up for the last 4 months. It's got that bad, that i've been losing sleep because they like to start around 8am and work right through to 7-8pm most days. Doesn't help matters when i'm working and all i can hear is hammering, jackhammering etc. Have been considering moving back to my parents for a while until it calms down. They have been down every day the last 2 weeks, including Christmas Day working on that house. Next door hasn't exactly been making a lot of friends in the street, myself and my partner included. Their house has been targeted for a lot of vandalism and the like, and they've asked me to keep an eye out for any troublemakers and call the police because i have a camera on the house. The house next door to them, the tenant spent Christmas Day in a police cell because he decided to smash next doors car windows because of the ongoing DIY.

That's true. I was expecting it to be close to, or near the old PS5 price of £450. Price does sting a bit, I definitely won't be getting it Day 1. It'll sell slow for sure. The stinger ATM outside of price is no backwards compatibility to older VR titles unless patched for free or a small fee.

Think this is the first time something that needs a console to use costs more than the actual console itself. Pretty hefty price. Technology, it's high-end. But this thing costs £50 more than a PS5, combine the headset and console you're looking nearly £1,000 before taking into account games and PS+ costs.

Was only a few titles of interest on the Direct for me. A new Splatfest coming end of the month, i'm in for that one. Interested in replaying Kirby's Return to Dreamland when it comes to Switch. Definetly getting the new Zelda when it comes out next year also, and have a soft spot for Pikmin. However, the rest didn't really pique my interest. Lot of farming sims, lot of RPG/JRPG reveals. I know many who are into the RPG side of things, so this would have been a great Direct for them.

For a game where you play as a cat, i thought it was pretty fun and an enjoyable experience. Had some good moments, nothing too frustrating.

They made the Accolades a bit tricky to find, which is probably why people didn't use it.

Surprised it wasn't shown off in a State of Play. But still, that's Christmas sorted for Sony this year. Bring on November.

That's good to hear, was slightly annoyed we (as in UK, EU etc) were getting the PAL versions. So far, so good. I've downloaded Mafia and Toy Story II from the classics to try over the weekend, if i can get off Sonic Origins that is

Decided on the Switch version last night, mostly because i have a few more friends on Switch who'll be interested in co-op play than on PS4. Played the first 2 levels, and i'm loving it. Lot's of nostalgia. Loved the notes where the boss flashes red when their health is getting low, as it was in the 80's and 90's games.

It's out for download now. See the Switch version is once again more expensive than other platforms, even with the 10% discount.

We've had 2 builders in to look at what needs doing, and her Mum had one in to give a quote. So we'll have 3 in (hopefully) in the next week or so. I'm estimating £15-£25k to fix everything. I plan to, once the quotes have come in.

Looks nice to see the game looking (graphically) as good as Last of Us Part II, but kind of a waste really. Doesn't look like they'll have an upgrade path either for owners of the Remastered edition on PS4, so looks like it'll be £69.99 (or wait until it "might" pop up on PS+ 6 months to a year from now)

Added bonus that it's coming to PS+ Extra on Day 1, so definitely will check it out more so.

I had a walk around the house the other day, was allowed to raid the garden for plants to move over to my garden (it's our garden, but the Mrs doesn't care too much (if at all) about gardening). We also "borrowed" the TV as ours broke. I had only seen the downstairs, but ventured upstairs. It's worse than i thought it was. Two internal walls (luckily, not supporting) are like jelly if you remotely touch it with your hand. The ceilings are dire (we're talking holes big enough to put your head through). Few missing floorboards and one of the supporting walls needs fixing. However, the Mrs Mum is offering to pay for all structural work to be done if it means we buy it and move in. There is a small catch, only if it's not stupid costs.

So, the Mrs told me this morning that her Mum and Uncles want us to buy the house their parents lived in (recently, her Grandad passed away so it remains empty). They want to keep it within the family. And, as it's just me and the Mrs, they eyeing us up for it. It's in a better location for getting to/from the railway station and for the Mrs to get to work than where we are now. And the electrics and boiler are all brand new, only done 3-6 months ago. However, that's probably where the positives end. It's on a flood plain, which last year flooded (river is literally a stones throw away). The bathroom is downstairs, and it's tiny. The Mrs and her Mum (on separate occasions) struggled to fit in the shower/bath. There's no back garden, only a front garden (but it's fenced around, so pretty private). Structure-wise, possibly needs a new roof. Needs damp proofing as there's mould inside in parts. Bathroom would need moving and a new one installed upstairs in a bigger room (pipes would need moving, electrics redone in that room). And a new Kitchen is needed, it's very dated and small at the moment. So with the bathroom being moved, the room at back would be knocked through for the kitchen to be fitted. The other factor is, the last time we listened to her side of the family, we got screwed financially with our bathroom installation and we're still waiting on the electrician to finish the work they started (he's no cost as it's being paid by her step Dad, but that's not the point). On the financial side of it, we probably couldn't afford moving again so soon. We'd need legal fees and all that to cover the costs. And as we've just moved, those costs would possibly be swallowed with what we'd get back so far. Then, have to factor in the structural and cosmetic costs too. If we were still renting and didn't already own this house i'd probably be more in favour of it. As it stands, i'm against it because it'll basically screw us over (the cost of living atm is insane). She is more for it because of the family connection. The other thing is, we'd be giving up super fast internet (which is great for working from home) where we are now for something with an average of 30-50mpbs (and reliant on old copper BT lines), whilst we currently have fibre with speeds upwards of 200mpbs

Why so many versions, i'd have been happy (and most others) with just 1 version across all platforms. Will probably get the Switch version, unless it's more expensive than the PS5 version (probably will be, Nintendo tax and all that)

Did read somewhere that current PS+ subs get upgraded to the Extra tier for no charge with what remains of the current PS+, but can't find a source. I suppose the next question is, and i know it can't be answered now is, will Sony offer a discount for those on PS+ as it is to upgrade to the Premium tier (depending on what time you have left on your sub). I doubt Sony will be nice enough to allow those who've stacked PS+ for a few years to get Premium to run that long. Nintendo did similar with NSO if you upgraded to the Expansion Pass

They've mentioned that PSNow subscribers get a free upgrade to PS+ Premium. But, no mention if PS+ subscribers get a similar upgrade, if that only to the Extra tier.

Whoever fitted the kitchen in my house should be talked to. The panels under the kitchen cabinets, usually they're hooked onto the legs holding the cabinets up from the floor. Oh no, screwed in and the screw heads stripped and hidden under a glued piece of wood on top. Spent this past weekend redoing the panels. Think I have shares in Gorilla Glue now.

I agree with you on this. Yes, the characters were likeable. I came straight into this after LiSII, which in itself was ok at best. Wasn't a huge fan of how they did the 2nd game, but still. This is about the 3rd one. Story-wise, it was not that bad. Compared to the previous games, it felt weak in places The story itself felt rushed overall, sort of like they needed more time in the oven per say. It had some nice nods to the previous entries in the franchise, if just through Alex's clothing available on storefronts. There's more nods about, which I liked. The previous game had plenty of nods to LiS too as you'd expect

Check your accounts, just had my 1 million credits pop up.

Chuck the "always need to be online" requirement, and i'll be a happy person. A good step in the right direction for GT7. I'm especially looking forward to the Endurance races coming back.

I get free to play titles like Fortnite having MTX, that's understandable. However, £70 games like GT7 cutting back on how much you can earn from racing in-game and pushing MTX is something else. GT Sport had MTX in a way, you could basically buy a car you wanted with real money instead of earning credits. I'm not a huge fan of MTX, especially in games where you've already paid (in this case) a premium to even play. If PD had it in the same way as GT Sport, probably wouldn't be as bad (still bad none the less, but at least you know that £3.99 will get you a car in-game instead of credits towards a car/parts etc.

Not as such DIY, but we're having the bathroom done. I'll share some snaps when it's done, but it's been an adventure so far with a few issues. To name a few Electric blew twice when taking the old shower out, even with the switch in the fuse box switched off. Gas line was cut with a nail going right into it Water leakage from the newly installed pipes New shower tray cracked when installing