Mr-Paul

Guys! I have no idea if this TV programme is going to be any good, but it just came on after the England v Wales World Cup game. The Traitors. It's a bloody mafia game, but on TV! @Rummy@Cube @Jonnas and whoever else is still around... I can't believe how long it is from our peak mafia days. The nostalgia.

Wanted Iran to win as I have them in a sweepstake. Ah well. I have Belgium too and they're not giving me much hope either with how they're playing! Luckily I have France in another, who actually are a decent bet.

Thanks! It's going mostly smoothly but there's been one big stress today... Solicitors: all good so far Survey: booked for next Monday Seller: has had an offer accepted for their next home so the chain is linked up Estate agent: says they should have draft contracts ready next week The one bump in the road so far is with the mortgage. Using a broker, thought we were going with Nationwide as they would lend me more, but they found a better deal with Halifax, with a lower interest rate. Great, I thought. Provided me with the illustration, all good. However, the interest rate went up over the weekend before we applied. These things happen, it is what it is, go ahead. Today had a call saying that Halifax don't want to lend me that much because I spent £1600 on hotels (for a work trip) on my credit card in July. This is now fully paid off, but apparently they can't see this yet on my credit score. So they want me to find £4000 more deposit and accept a longer term on the loan. There are benefits to this - I'll have lower monthly payments. But I'll have less money now for furniture etc. and a higher remaining balance after the 5 year fix. So I've asked to go back to Nationwide if possible. Nationwide will cost me more over the 5 years overall (by about 3k), but I will have more money now for my moving in costs, and my remaining balance will be about £2500 lower. Think I'm doing the right thing - I can definitely see the argument for the lower monthly payments - but that 4k I think will be more useful for me for other things now and I will have a lower remaining balance when remortgaging or selling. So yeah, fuck Halifax and credit scores for not knowing I have zero balance on my credit card and therefore making my life more stressful and expensive!

Exciting news is that after a couple of months of house hunting, I had an offer accepted last night on what I hope will be my first flat! The 36 hours I waited between submitting and hearing back was agony! I was hoping for a ground floor place with direct access to a garden, but I've compromised and gone for a first floor place with a garden, because the property is absolutely immaculate and the garden is lovely. Appointed a solicitor this morning, been in touch with my mortgage advisor so he can present me with my options... Hopefully all the legal stuff goes smoothly from here!

I brought back COVID from the canaries too. Back in February though. Copycat.

So I'm looking to get buying soon and was just wondering who/what people did for decision in principles before viewing/putting in offers? Was looking at Nationwide as they seemed to offer a good amount for my income based on their calculator, and have a thing called a Helping Hand mortgage too that offers even more (looking at this because I want to buy in/near London at it's pricey, so the more I can borrow the better really). Did go in branch today to try and talk to someone about it but they said they're not doing in-person stuff on mortgages, just online application or phone. Or should I be going to a broker (or doing both?) Should I find a local broker, or a bigger company suggested by the likes of MSE? Any suggestions welcome

Surely all the game cards will have been printed/whatever the right word is for making a Switch cartridge. It'll be released. Who knows when. It may be a limited physical release of what was already produced, plus digital. I'd have thought Switch 2 will be compatible for digital unless Nintendo decide to go a different direction. But now is not the right time. A very sensible and sensitive decision.

Interested to see what they charge for this - £30? I was excited when I first saw it but then the choice of sports underwhelmed me a bit - volleyball and badminton a bit similar to tennis really? As nice as it is to have some new sports in it, I would've liked to see a few more Wii Sports/Resort originals in it. Give me dog frisbee!

From those character descriptions and the focus on those two main characters in the trailer, sounds like their may be two separate campaigns/two separate parties you play as, from two opposing sides of a war, who then inevitably come together to defeat a greater threat? Anyway, exciting news! September seems so soon, I hadn't really contemplated this could be out this year but then didn't realise Xenoblade 2 came out in 2017. Blimey, time flies.

So I bought this and played the first three hours while I was on the plane yesterday. I am loving it. What a refreshing change to the standard Pokémon formula. I just love having the Pokémon free roaming rather than random encounters in long grass. And while I'd quite often avoid the grass to speed things up and get to the next destination, having them out there in the wild to see actually makes me want to catch 'em all and go off the beaten track. And I feel like there's a proper risk/reward to doing so - the Pokémon you encounter aren't complete pushovers, I feel at these early stages I'm having to use potions and revives more than ever. Only just realised you can teleport back to base camp to get healed though! The Pokédex requirements are a fantastic incentive to catch and battle more beyond raising the levels of your own team. The last mainline Pokémon game I played was Sun and I don't think I ever finished it. I remember that start of that game being such a chore. This has me gripped from the get go.

I've been looking to pick this up for my holiday and it's actually been sold out on Amazon, ShopTo and Simply Games. Shame as I had an Amazon voucher to use. Think I'm going to pick it up from Argos today instead.

Ooh nice. I'm tempted to get the standard 6 but waiting for reviews/real life camera demos before jumping in. The free headphones make it even more appealing (even if I don't really need any more headphones...)

Damn. Would've jumped on that but I don't have my Switch with me this weekend! Hope it works out and you guys get the full expansion pass for free!

So Lewis was being let off for exceeding track limits at that corner for the first half of the race, and he admitted he was doing it. Red Bull told Verstappen to push it at that corner too, but I believe they may have made a complaint to race control about it too. Then Mercedes told Lewis that it wasn't allowed anymore - orders from race control. Seeing some talk that Max wasn't let off for it when passing Lewis, but no matter what was or wasn't being allowed in terms of track limits for that corner in this race, you're never allowed to complete an overtake off track, so I think it's completely fair that Max has to give back up the place. Shame it came down to that, would've loved to see a bit more tussling between them in the last couple of laps, but was pretty decent viewing regardless. They really do need to get consistent with track limits though. It changes race to race (and seemingly now even within a race!)

Finished the story of this today. What a treat. Both to play and visually. My main criticism of it was that it wasn't longer. Don't tease me with all of those nine realms and not let me visit them all! Was shocked that I was approaching the end of the story having not visited more of them. I understand that these will likely come on a sequel, but it was just a bit of a bummer. On a similar note, the fact a couple of the realms have only opened post-story is a bit frustrating. I completed the game at Level 5 on normal difficulty, but so much left to do (Valkyries etc.) requires a higher level. I want to see more of this world, but without the main story to pull me along, I have less motivation to do much more. So yeah. Absolutely loved it, but with minor frustrations about the structure. This was my first God of War experience, and now I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel to see what happens next to Kratos and Boy.

But there are exceptions. My brother recently got a Series X. FIFA 21 has two versions available to download - the Xbox One version and a Series S/X version. Upgrading isn't seamless, and your full save file doesn't carry over from one version to the next. So he has had to download the One version to continue his progress. I don't know if there are any other exceptions/how many there are, and sure, this is EA and EA suck, but just wanted to point out that Xbox having 'Smart Delivery' doesn't guarantee going from one gen to the next is seamless.

I'm also playing this, but for the first time thanks to the PS+ collection. Didn't realise when I picked it that it'd be more Norse mythology having just spent 120 hours on Assassin's Creed Valhalla 😂 Anyway, enjoying it so far, up to Alfheim. It truly is a gorgeous game. The main thing I am not enamoured with is all the skill trees and armour upgrades and modifications etc. I feel like there's too much to tinker with and I'm unsure whether I should be spending money upgrading gear I have, or saving it and waiting to find better gear out in the wild. Also just wanted to check if everyone else finds it oddly hilarious whenever Kratos says boy 😁

Got my first Lego in years for Christmas, which was The Child/Baby Yoda. Love it so much. Got the bug now and want some more to give me something to keep me busy/happy through lockdown. Of course my dream set is the £650 Millennium Falcon, but I'm not forking out that much. Would love the Hogwarts Castle but that's also pricey. Tempted by the NES, or maybe the Stranger Things set.

How's everyone getting on with this? It's the first Assassin's Creed I've played in years (I think the last one I dabbled in was Syndicate) and it's got me hooked. About 30 hours in and it feels like I've barely scratched the surface, but not in a way that's making me feel 'do I really have another 50 hours of this to go?' So hopefully it stays that way. The world feels big, but easy and quick to get around, and the main quests are structured in a way that doesn't make you feel like you have to do too much unnecessary wandering. I'm at around a power level of 90, about to head to Oxfordshire, and just started a sidequest I wasn't expecting...

Got this as a Christmas gift. I don't remember Sunshine being so difficult, or maybe I've just got bad at Mario games 😂 I remember the non-FLUDD levels being a challenge before, but some of the difficulty of them feels cheap/unfair. The challenging levels of a similar style in the Galaxies/3D Land etc. feel a lot more refined. I miss the long jump! And there doesn't seem to be many 1-Ups around compared to other games. Still quite enjoying it, but remembering why Sunshine is regarded as one of the lesser 3D Marios.

All so exciting. Was not expecting a Rogue Squadron film! And that Taika Star Wars logo is so hype. Can't wait to see what he makes.

There's got to be an Ahsoka show with Rosario Dawson, surely, as well as an animated Rebels sequel.

Sounds like the creative content announcements starts in an hour. Before that it's all businessy stuff!

FWIW, I work for Disney, they haven't given us advance knowledge of what's coming but have really been encouraging us to watch tonight as there's good stuff coming! Not sure how much footage will be blocked to the public/only available to investors. Dunno if I'll stay up the four hours tonight, but it should be available to catch up on tomorrow.

@Julius my mum made the same observation re: Starlight by Muse when she overheard it from another room, and once you notice, it becomes even more familiar!