Nicktendo

3.0 firmware update is live. Not much new stuff, mostly general QOL improvements. Oh and you can now use pro controllers wired by plugging into the system or dock directly, neat. Nintendo Switch - now 3.0 times more stable.

Given that my laptop is coming up to three years old this Summer and I'm struggling to run some of the latest Steam releases above 720p / medium graphics settings, I'm looking at upgrading. Does anyone have any good sites or advice for budget gaming or custom build PCs? I've done a bit of googling and there seems to be a hell of a lot of choice out there, I don't even know where to begin. I'd be looking at spending about £600 max (ideally less), and certain extras like Windows 10, a DVD / Blu-Ray drive etc. are surplus to requirements. I already have a couple of HDD and SDD drives spare, so can even skimp on them if necessary. If anyone can point me in a decent direction or even recommend some sites / stores they've used, I'm all ears. I'd be looking to play Fallout 4 / Rocket League / Project Cars at 1080p60 as close to high settings as possible, not interested at all in 4K, so any set up doesn't have to be super future proof, I'd rather gradually upgrade, or go for a new build in another three years. Cheers.

I'm in this week.

Thursdays would be much easier for me!

So are we expecting any more reveals tonight? I'm still holding out hope of seeing Smash Bros DX or something else for the Switch, we've heard nothing with regards to indie games yet, though most likely we'll see another 3DS reveal or Hey Pikmin gameplay.....

This looks absolutely incredible! Day one.

It gets more hilarious by the minute! Tories releasing a statement on a deal with the DUP, which was then retracted and said to have been released by mistake, when the DUP said no deal had been reached. Corbyn bossing Andrew Marr and grinning from ear to ear, May nowhere to be seen... In other news, England have just won an international football trophy, albeit in u-20's competition. Parallel universe confirmed.

I can agree with this completely. I have a lot of respect for Ruth Davidson, she always comes across well in debates and interviews and seems to be a very principled politician, she has leadership potential for the main party. This alliance with the DUP has already got a lot of Tory voters and councilors grimacing. I was all for Scottish Independence back in 2014 and I think Sturgeon has shot herself in the foot talking about it again so soon, even though she does have a point that at the end of Brexit negotiations the Scottish people deserve to have some sort of say, considering the country voted remain. The absolute shit-show that is Scottish Labour should have done much better in this election but it's wholly unsurprising that they didn't. I struggle to see how even with DUP support and a very slim working majority in the HoC how much, if any legislation will get passed, especially with mavericks like Ken Clarke in the ranks. I think we'll be having another General Election in the near future, probably within a year. I do hope Boris Johnson becomes leader, it would be the icing on what has so far proved to be a very sweet cake.

Tories going into potential partnership with the DUP and all the questions that raises on Brexit, the Irish border and the Good Firday Agreement, May pretending the election didn't happen, the Torygraph reporting on a split within the Conservatives and Ruth Davidson wanting to separate form the main party and then calling "bollocks" on Twitter, Alexander Johnson, of all people, shaping up for a leadership bid (a proven liar and incompetent worm), the mental gymnastics some in the right-wing are going through to present this as anything other than a Tory collapse. This is absolutely anything but strong and stable. As a staunch supporter of Jeremy Corbyn from his election in 2015, my biggest hope before 10pm on Thursday was that the Tories would only increase their majority by 5 or so seats, where as my biggest concern (and something I really thought was a realistic proposition) was seeing 380-400 Tory MPs. Now my biggest concern is that I don't have enough wine to really fully enjoy this. Fireworks.

How to EA on Nintendo: Release half-assed, half-baked version of popular game on Nintendo weeks or months after release on other consoles at full price with numerous features omitted. "No one buys our games on Nintendo" "Not financially viable" Ignore platform until release of next one. "Unprecedented partnership" Repeat.

*Enters thread* *Leaves*

@Glen\-i that was INTENSE.

I'm in tonight

Might be able to play this week, will confirm on Friday afternoon.

Really enjoyed the game last night, wasn't too fussed about which team won but I'm kind of glad Huddersfield did. While the Premier League has been lacking a decent Yorkshire team for team for years (Hull don't count), it would have been nice to have a team with the history of Wednesday to go up, especially considering the size of Sheffield. Huddersfield seem to be a well run club though and Wagner has been a revelation since his appointment, genuinely exciting and efficient manager. Hudds have a bit of a Bournemouth vibe about them, well-structured and financially sound club with a good, young manager and a decent squad. Even if they have had an injection of cash, but them seems to be the rules from Premier League football these days... Reading can do one. Another yo-yo club from the South with a quiet crowd. You're spot on, a painfully uninteresting club who'll just be making up the numbers. Here's hoping Huddersfield cap off their incredible season with a Wembley victory.

It makes me sick how Theresa May is avoiding any kind of debate in the run-up to this election. She's been in my hometown and where I live now in the past week and I'm reading all over social media that these events were closed to the public. It's almost as if she knows her manifesto doesn't appeal to people in these cities and she doesn't want people asking her tough questions. These stage-managed appearances in the North are being endlessly shown in the media as her "meeting with Joe Public" and listening to people's concerns. The words "strong and stable" make me want to put my fist through a wall. I've already resigned myself to the fact that the Tories will win, purely because the media campaign against Corbyn and Labour is so strong. A lot of my friends and acquaintances are going to vote Conservative purely because of Brexit, immigration and because they see Corbyn as "unelectable", such is the power media has over the population. Lambs to the slaughter. I know Corbyn isn't the perfect leader, there's a lot I disagree with him on, but he's a far sight better than Blair or Brown ever were and has the potential to really change the lives of millions of people in this country. More years of austerity and cuts will only drive Britain further into the ground. with the poorest, sick and disabled bearing the brunt of it. As someone who has regularly used the NHS all of my life and would be dead without a life-saving operation at the age of 1, it makes me despair at just how bad things have got here, particularly in the NHS. Living abroad for five years was a wake up call, almost every small to medium sized town center in Greater Manchester is in decay spare betting and charity shops (take a trip to Bolton and see for yourself). Investment is non-existent and the vast majority of our working population is working in the service industry. Continuing down this path genuinely worries me, especially when a "hard-Brexit" is on the cards, where will the breaking point be? Bonus picture: Corbyn in York last week.

Amazing direct. I was on the fence about ARMS but will now be buying day one. Looks mega, mega fun and seems to have tons of content. Free DLC is just the icing on a very tasty looking cake. Splatoon 2 single player mode looks like Mario Galaxy levels of epic. 2017 man, feels good to have Nintendo back.

I can only very sparodically play if it's going to be Friday, but when I can, I'll be there.

Been playing this with the missus all evening. It's so awesome playing split-screen on the TV. Really reminded me of the golden age in 2012 when me and my housemate sunk hours into it over LAN. She's only really played Yoshi's Wooly World and Tomodatchi Life and is fairly green when it comes to gaming, but she finished the tutorial and picked up what to do all almost instantly, that's the beauty of this game, literally anyone can pick it up and play. So pleased they got this out quickly on the Switch! My only complaint is that the text on split screen is so goddamn small, even on my 47" TV I'm squinting to see what's in my inventory... I hope there's an update coming for that. We're going to Portugal next week and I can just see us dropping the tray in the plane and playing this on the flight, must remember to take my pro-controller An excellent and timely addition to the Switch's ever expanding game library. Definitely worth the double or triple dip!

I'll be picking this up for the 3rd time (already own it on PC and Wii U). Watched a few of the Gamexplain videos and quite hyped for it. The Wii U version is pretty poor, the world is far too small. This seems to be a decent compromise between the more powerful systems and the power the devs had available. It looks pretty impressive technically and the fact it can be played anywhere with anyone is a big plus for me. The extra Mario content looks awesome, I never really explored the Wii U stuff, as I found the experience too frustrating, especially compared to the PC version.

So after 115 hours, I've finally driven the Master Sword deep into Ganon's face. 93 Shrines 174 Korok Seeds 36.11% completion rate. One of the best games I've ever played. I don't think I've ever sunk that much time into a game over the course of 2 months and been so enthralled from start to finish. Slightly disappointed with the story, everything was over so quickly... (could be my fault as I couldn't for the life of me find the last memory, which I have done now, and the extra one when you report back to Impa). Also the real lack of the triforce in the narrative... What's up with that?! Gonna do Calamity Ganon again now that I have all the memories and see the 'real ending'. Very much feels like Zelda, but at the same time strays so far from what made the series great. I'm torn about where I'd want a sequel to go. A more meaty story is a must, Skyward Sword gets me all emotional, this was a bit meh in that regard, but with the 100 years of sleep and memory recovery angle there's not much you can do, and what was there was done very well. Definitely felt like the NES Zelda made for 2017, and it was a fantastic ride. Can't wait for the DLC and to sink another 100 hours into this over the course of the next year.

I had worried about this too, but I think they'll go for paid DLC after a year. The nature of Splatoon invites this kind of free update content to keep people interested. The model on the Wii U game was excellent, cut-price game, free DLC (unlocking disc-based content) for a year, no paid DLC. It was the perfect way to start a new IP. I know the franchise is now ridiculously popular, and while they'd make a fortune in paid DLC, I think doing it from the off is the wrong way to go, plus you also end up gating the pool of players into DLC / no DLC. After a year, sure, but not from the start. The incremental updates are something I saw key to the game's success and popularity and I hope they have a desire to replicate it with the sequel.

I know this opinion won't be popular but I actually prefer the rotation system. This way it avoids the same levels being chosen over and over forces you to learn and master every stage. Between regular and ranked battle there was always 1 or 2 stages which were better and you could always avoid the mode with the stage(s) you didn't like, if you really wanted to. I actually think 2 hours is a bit too short for the rotation system... 4 was a bit too long though, so who knows... Maybe 3 would have been better. I can see why people hate this system, I just think it works really well in Splatoon. I also hope we get a similar situation with the sequel as we did with the original, where the game starts off with 7 or 8 levels and slowly more are added over the year alongside new weapons / clothes etc. All free of course. That kept the game fresh for me and I played the game for over a year thanks to the constant updates.

Very little in what sense? As in they were underpaid or the amount they were earning didn't really exchange into much in pound/dollar terms? 250' date='000yen a month seems to be the sweet spot in most places, something I'd be ok with for a year of work. I'll be turning 31 this September! So I'll be out there before that happens, all going to plan. I'll look into this, seems like a good compromise, thanks.

I had a friend who spent 2 years in Korea from 2009. He had a great time as an ALT, started in Ansan, close to Seoul for the first year then moved down to Busan for his second. He also went there right after completing his TEFL. He met his American wife there via the lively ex-pat community in Seoul. They managed to save up a deposit for a house while they were there, in addition to travelling most of the South-East Asia region. I spent 2 weeks visiting him in 2010. Korea was a country I'd never really thought of visiting before, but combined it as part of a trip to China. Despite having a great time with my friend and managing to fit a lot of interesting tourist activities in to the two short weeks, I didn't really feel much of a connection to the country. Growing up with Nintendo and anime has given me a much greater personal connection and affiliation with Japanese culture and history and I guess that's why I'd prefer to go there. My Uncle also lived in Japan during the 80s and I've heard numerous stories about life there which I'm keen to see for myself. All in all though I don't think there's much difference in terms of quality of life or opportunities in either country for a native English teacher.