Goafer

One minute people are complaining that Sony are anti-consumer, now they're the bad guys for continuing to support their existing PS4 customers who won't be upgrading straight away. They really can't win. But then we already knew that... They've continued support previous gens long into the new gen with every new Playstation. I find it hard to believe any of you are surprised, when they've literally done the exact same thing 3 times previously.

Pretty funny to see the usual people desperately rushing to find faults now that the price has been announced as the same as the Xbox. As for continuing to support the PS4? Sounds pretty pro-consumer if you ask me. Can't say I'm surprised either, Sony always support the previous gen for quite a while after the new one comes out.

This. Brand loyalty is one of, if not THE biggest influencer in sales of any product. Some people may see the new generation as a chance to jump ship, but largely people will stick with whoever they're currently with.

It wouldn't be so bad if they were so damn similar. XBox: fine. XBox 360: also fine, clearly different from the previous gen. XBox One: What, like everyone has been calling the original XBox? XBox One S/X: Ok I guess XBox Series S/X: Oh for fucks sake... Microsoft seem to have no clue how to name consoles. First you had to differentiate between the OG Xbox and the XBox One, and now there's a negligible difference between the One and the new gen. Their branding is normally pretty good, which is why it's so strange that they can't get the names even remotely right. Then again, just look at Windows...

Another perfect example of what a fucking mess the whole naming convention is: I swear I lost about a week off my lifespan just trying to figure out what the hell is going on with that sentence.

An addition to this: One of our super talented players drew all our characters and I don't think I've ever loved anything more:

This is a really good question actually. What is the collective name for this generation of Xbox? The more I think about the Xbox branding, the more I think it was decided on by someone who had lots of ideas, but no fucking clue. Ask yourself this: If you asked someone to buy you the Xbox Series X for Christmas, like a lot of people will be, do you 100% trust that person not to accidentally buy the Xbox One X? Does it pass the "parent test"? The common person has no idea what the difference between the word "One" and "Series" means in this context. IMO, there are only 2 ways to name consoles: numbered like Sony or completely different names like Nintendo. Both are perfectly fine. One is better at building a brand, the other is more exciting. What Microsoft have done is like a shit mixture of both. Like someone couldn't make a decision and just fucked it all up.

Interesting. Sony are apparently doing everything wrong apart from games, yet also doing the same as Nintendo (who are the best evAr) with regards to having "no game pass". Schrödinger's Sony?

Aaaand now I've 100% THPS1 as well. Also got all stat points for my custom skater.

Bought this at the weekend and I've already 100% the THPS2 section. It's feels EXACTLY like the original, which is a bit of a double edged sword IMO. I obviously love it, but by recreating it exactly, they've also brought back the niggles and flaws from the original. The main one is trying to position your character to line them up for a certain line or objective. The game just wasn't built for it and I'd have liked to have been able to get off the board to position myself for a good run, like in THUG. That said, it's still a great game. The intro sets the tone straight away; as faithful as it's possible to be to the original, but better in almost every way. Also Rodney Mullen is the absolute boss. I'll accept no arguments to the contrary.

The D&D podcast that some friends and I have been working on for a while finally went live today. We've got 5 character intros coming each weekday this week, followed by Session 0 and Episode 1 next Monday (I think, possibly sooner). I've loved playing/making the podcast and hopefully that comes across in the episodes. I think they're good, but I am biased. Dice and Desire on Spotify

I think I've mentioned before that I've been setting up my Passat for use as a makeshift camper. I went to a VW show over the weekend and used it for camping for the first time. It was surprisingly comfortable. Just enough room for me to stretch out, whilst also being able to keep all my stuff in the car with me. The curtain arrangement also worked like a charm and gave me plenty of privacy. No photos of the inside, but here's the car at its camping location: I think if I were to do it more regularly, I might get the rear windows tinted so that I don't have to bother setting up the curtains every time. They weren't that much hassle though, so I'm in no rush. Some other photos from the VW show:

Sweat in the eyes is the worst. I was out cycling a while ago when I got caught in some heavy rain. The rain mixed with my sweat and got in my eyes. I never knew sweat stung so much. I've had to take a break from cycling, as I've hurt my neck. I think I overdid the weights, but its weird that it's ended up hurting my neck. Basically had a painfully stiff neck for just over a week. It's getting better though, so I'll hopefully start cycling again next week.

Weird how much emphasis people are putting on backwards compatibility this gen (4 generations worth no less). I don't recall other console launches getting this much scrutiny over a minor feature.

"He's a short haired border collie, so he doesn't shed that much" That's a whole bunch of floof that won't be coating our carpets.

Went to a drive-in cinema this evening and it was great. Film choice was fairly limited, but Trolls: World Tour wasn't too bad. Such a cool experience to be able to just drive up and sit in your car the whole time. No worrying about uncomfortable seats, annoying people looking at their phones or making noise or people getting up to go to the toilet. I was a bit concerned about the screen quality after seeing some photos on their Facebook page, but it was actually great (once it had gotten dark enough). The only downside was that after several hours sat in a car that wasn't running, the windows got a bit foggy, but it was a minor inconvenience.

Still playing D&D, with a bunch of stuff for the podcast recorded. Should be releasing our first episodes in the next few weeks. Still cycling too, although I've had to give it a break this week as I've hurt my neck.

I was planning to do it this year anyway, but only being able to leave the house for exercise early in the lockdown motivated me even more to start cycling again. Whilst most people are complaining about putting weight on over the lockdown, I've lost 3 stone. I also started playing Dungeons and Dragons just before the lockdown, so that's also been a new thing to keep me sane. Our group have been playing over Skype and have decided to make a podcast of our D&D sessions, with our first episodes coming out very soon. It's called Dice and Desire if anyone wants to check it out. It's me and @ReZourceman from here, the Food Review UK guys and a couple of others.

The weather has been a bit shit recently, so I've not been able to cycle as much as I'd like, but despite that I finally lost a third stone. I've also bought some weights to try and build up some arm muscle. Nothing too drastic or noticeable. It's been all leg day for the past 4 months, so I really should start on the top half and get some sort of balance.

From my Facebook: 5 years ago today, some kids got their frisbee stuck in a tree and were staring at it and trying to figure out how to get it down. As grown ups, we did what any responsible adults would do: joined in with the thinking and contributed very little. Two of the kids have sailor hats. We don't know why. Here is the infamous frisbee:

It's like watching a Crimewatch re-enactment if it were directed by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Nah, Rummy and I know each other away from the forums, so I knew he was just joking. Plus, you know, he's such a snowflake that I know not to take him seriously.

Don't want to rub it in (I totally do), but I have the opposite problem. Council delivered a new recycling bin to us by mistake. Asked the neighbours, but no one is expecting one. Contacted the council and they didn't know who it was supposed to go to, so they said we can keep it. Now we have an extra brand new recycling bin that we're not using. It just sits empty. I am truly living the luxurious lifestyle.

Makes me wonder how some people ever coped with *shudders* wired controllers.

I've never really had an issue with trousers. I just do my belt up as needed and the rest just kind of fits. That said, I have got a favourite pair that just seem to have a better fit that the others. They're skinny-ish jeans, with just a bit of stretchiness to them. Perfection.