Nicktendo

JBL got a lot of hate, but I adored his character. It was a nice throwback to the absurd gimmicks of the 90s and he played the role superbly. He was top drawer stuff on the mic. I know he was pretty bad in the ring, but his feud with Eddie in 2004 was fantastic, he really helped elevate Eddie to stardom. Evolution was a great stable too, pushed Orton and Batista into the big time. The turn on Orton and then Batista doing it back to HHH and Flair are still some of the best moments of the mid-2000s. Went to see a live event in Manchester when they were at their peak and Flair was great. Amazing that he was still able to entertain to such a high level at that age.

My favourite PPV of all time. The hardcore match between Raven, Big Show and Kane is also great. The promo video for the world title match between The Rock and Stone Cold still sends chills down my spine. Top Stuff. TLC II, Angle vs. Benoit, HHH vs. Taker and the main even are all 5* matches. This was peak WWE for me. While I enjoyed the Invasion angle a lot, and a lot of the stuff in the mid 2000s with Benoit, Guerrero, Evolution and JBL, it started going downhill significantly after that, especially with the roster split. 1997-2001 was when they were on a complete roll. Maybe it was just the fact I was a teenager during that time, but it was very special.

It really depends on the tech inside it. I expect £400 will be the ceiling for a Nintendo machine, and cannot really see them going over that. Having said that, if it is packing a lot of punch and is a competent rival (or better) than Steam Deck, I don't see how £500 could potentially be out of the question. I don't see Nintendo going down that road though. The family-friendly, buy-each-one-of-the-kids-their-own-device helped shift a lot of OG Switch & Lite units and I expect they will take the same approach here. OG model will likely be £350-400, a non-dockable "Lite" version will launch 12-18 months later at £300, and then depending on how balls-to-the-wall they go with the base model, we may see a premium edition 2-3 years down the line with the same tech, but improved storage, screen & battery life. Essentially, I'm expecting them to use the same playbook as the original Switch. Edit: I'm with Glen-i. Anything over £400 is likely where I'll question getting one day 1. Unless the launch line-up is astoundingly tantalising.

You could probably build a PC of a similar power level for around £1200-1500 (especially if you go with a 6800XT. Nvidia cards would put you in the higher bracket) if you choose your parts carefully. While that is considerably more than a PS5 pro, the value you can get out of such a product is considerably more when factoring in productivity / entertainment applications. Yes, you might need to buy a monitor, but consoles don't come with a TV and there's nothing stopping you connecting a new PC to a TV as a pure gaming device. Xbox Series controllers are not that expensive if you shop around. If a game is struggling to perform on a PS5 or PS5 Pro, you're basically out of luck waiting for a patch, if one comes at all. At least on PC you have options to downgrade the graphics or pull back on the resolution if 60fps is what you're after. Far more flexibility to tune your experience to your own tastes. Then you have to factor in PS Plus. That's going to set you back X amount a year for the 4-5 years of the console's life, so you can stick that onto the overall price of buying in to the Sony ecosystem. Online is completely free on PC. Finally, you're going to be paying more for games on a console. While discounts can definitely be had on PSN and other manufacturers' stores, they're almost never as deep as on Steam or Epic. That's without factoring in key resellers, where brand new games can often be had for ~£40 on launch, not the £60-70 you'll be paying on PlayStation. Really, over the lifespan of a console, a PC is a more front-loaded investment, but I would argue it works out cheaper in the long run up against a PS5 Pro. Also, when a console is done, you have to pay full price to go to the next step and your old box can be sold off at a low price, or sit around gathering dust. A PC can be incrementally updated as it starts to struggle with the newest releases, and there are no worries about back compat. While a new GPU can be pricey, you will never be laying out anywhere near your original investment to see significant gains from newer parts. A PC will always struggle to compete against a smartly-designed, solid, and well-priced console. There is a lot to be said about a manufacturer having a unified vision when it comes to parts / performance. But I think this is only true when they're working at the lower end of the price spectrum. It makes sense to be involved in an ecosystem which has a relatively low barrier to entry in terms of price. £300, £400, maybe £500 - it is undeniably good value in the long run if you're going to get software that makes the most of the machine. Nintendo have done a great job with Switch in understanding this philosophy. They make software for the hardware they have. The problem with both MS and Sony is that they (to some extent) but especially 3rd party devs are increasingly becoming restricted by their own hardware, and wanting to do more than they can work with, which is why the PS5 Pro has been greenlit a £700. It just doesn't make sense logically or financially stacked up against a PC. Astro Bot has clearly proved that the PS5 is an incredibly capable machine. It looks amazing, it runs at a buttery smooth 60fps, it is throwing physicals calculations around like Einstein on steroids. Hardware is only as good as the people working on it, and unfortunately, a lot of developers in 2024 are not doing that. A hugely powerful and expensive PC is a way of brute forcing a developer's vision into reality, and the PS5 Pro seems like it is trying to emulate that approach, but I predict that it will be categorically unsuccessful at doing that at £700.

Remember that the UK / EU price also includes ~20% VAT, and the US price is without it. The disparity is still quite large, but it's mostly down to this. Absolutely hilarious that they are asking this much, and as has already been pointed out, you may as well go PC at that point. And as has also already been pointed out, developers aren't even using the power they have available properly this gen. Giving them more is not the answer. You could argue that this is a "niche" product for the ultra-hardcore, but I don't even think that audience is a big enough market to really make this a viable product. I guess we will see. The differences highlighted in the trailer were negligible at best, especially when many games already don't run at a consistent 60 with ultra stable resolutions in performance mode on both the PS5 and XSX without some form of compromise (ugly upscaling or dynamic resolution). I think the story will be the same on Pro, especially when it comes to 3rd party devs. I see far more negatives with this machine than positives (particularly the lack of a disk drive), but then I'm not a Sony gamer.

I think @Dcubed is bang on the money with his take. Xbox and PlayStation have really floundered since the release of their new consoles. I hope this game gets a PC release because it does look wonderful. Miyamoto lawsuit when?

I saw a video about this phenomenon on the Youtubes.

@Julius email Ubisoft quickly. There are... *checks notes* An in-game Trailblazer trinket and *gasp* 100 Ubisoft Connect Units to pick up for free for this surely very minor inconvenience. Thank you for being a Ubisoft customer. Source: https://www.gamesradar.com/games/open-world/early-star-wars-outlaws-ps5-players-paid-dollar110-only-to-have-ubisoft-issue-a-new-patch-and-tell-them-to-start-a-new-save-file-or-face-game-breaking-bugs/

Same, I almost always use cash unless it's a big purchase.

It would be absolutely glorious. Big fan of the Brucemeister General.

Stroopwafel: for me, it's absolutely Agent 64. A Goldeneye/PD-inspired FPS that is currently coming to Steam, but not confirmed for other platforms just yet. I don't care how much it is nonchalantly borrowing from those games, whether it be taking people out while they're on the pisser or the Severnaya-esque snow level, they are doing everything right for me right now. Loved the demo and cannot wait to play more. Surströmming: no doubt should be Hollow Knight: Silksong. I'm not convinced that this game is still even being worked on. Very sad situation. I'm tired of waiting now. Here's the most recent trailer. It's from 2022, but for all we know, the developers may already be dead. Soufflé: it has to be the most recent Mario & Luigi game, Brothership. I've not played a single game from this series, but the Nintendo Direct trailer positively charmed me. I was expecting a ton of remakes in that Direct, so I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I'm in love with the fact the cutscenes seem to take inspiration from the 90s TV show with Captain Lou Albano. At the very top of my pre-Switch 2 wishlist.

Books will be written in the future about Xbox circa 2012-2024. How to throw away 10 years of goodwill and alienate your core audience. Surprised that giving away product for nominal sums of money doesn't convert into a healthy base of paying customers? Don't be! Your vision isn't working? Ask your boss for more money! Just literally throw money at the problem. How to make your fiercest rival's business proposition exceed your own. A 10-step guide. Can't compete? Buy the competition! Gold & Pass - the long three-year-road from 25 million to 26 million. A how-to on merging products and changing branding to give the impression that business is booming. Respecting IP, is it really necessary? Why success can lead to failure: A guide to closing successful studios and avoiding a backlash. Foreword by IGN. Hoodwinked: A CEO's guide to speaking and acting like the customer.

Strange, I feel entirely the opposite about this. I love badminton and love the small little subtle things you can do in it to win shots. Tennis I simply cannot comprehend at all.

Lies! The Bowling jazz-a-thon is spectacular.

No, you can still get the old stuff. Once you've got all the available items for that week, you'll get a random week from the back catalogue that you can go for.

I was sceptical too, but I've managed to get a good 50 hours out of it so far. Almost all of this time has been spent on Bowling and Golf, which are both superb. Volleyball and Badminton are great too. Barely touched the other 3 sports, and Tennis is really, really bad compared to the Wii game, but maybe I just can't my head around the controls this time. The way the online is integrated is great, much better and more rewarding experience than just playing the CPU every time. It has a nice levelling system.

Five absolutely superb penalties. Amazing stuff.

I had the wife call me during the credits Thanks for the game, that was fun! First time I've ever played it.

Read an article somewhere, maybe the BBC, where they were lamenting how bad the big teams have been at this tournament, blaming it on the long and demanding elite season across Europe. I'm inclined to agree with that POV. It's only going to get worse next time with the revised bigger European club tournaments coming in this year.

Spent about 75 bones in the sale and picked up: System Shock (Nightdive Studios version - Loved their work on the Turok games & Forsaken) Dead Rising OG Sea of Stars Balatro Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (because of my DF boy @Dark1x John's involvement) Batboy Forza Horizon 4: Ultimate Edition (Loved this on GP, but wanted to try the Lego DLC) Legend Bowl (Have a big soft spot for NFL games, especially retro-inspired ones) So far, so good. Loving Dead Rising, Balatro and Forza at 4K60. Yet to dive in to the others.

I didn't register in time. I thought I could vote in the embassy, like I have done once in the past, but apparently not these days... I applied on the gov.uk site and thought I was done in early June, but then they asked for a scan of my signature, which turned out to be a whole hassle and a ton of waiting for snail mail. Then I was away for a couple of weeks in mid-June so wouldn't have managed to do everything in time anyway. My last registration was Bolton North East, and I haven't lived there for 8 years, and didn't vote in 2019. Oh well. . It was strong Labour seat for around 20 years, but swung back to the Tories in 2019. Having looked at recent by-election results over the past ~2 years, it seems the Cons are losing 60-90% of their vote from 2019, so it will be very interesting to see how me ol' constituency goes this time and whether the threat of ZERO SEATS is actually the real deal.

I won't be able to tonight @Glen-i but if there's another game going down over the weekend (or tomorrow evening), I'll be free.