Fierce_LiNk

I think the game has been almost one-sided. Belgium have completely dominated and Ireland have only occasionally made it into the opposition's box. My prediction says 2-0 and a 2-0/3-0 is about right. EDIT: There it is. 3-0. Fucking Belgium, ruining my predictions.

Come on, Belgium! I'm going for a 2-0.

0:27 in that video where Spidey swings through the streets...hnnnnnngggggg. I watched this in the conference and did instantly think that I'd love to play this game. This could actually be good, right? Never played a spoderman game before.

I missed the game yesterday so only found out about it when I got home. That's fucking disgusting behaviour! I'm getting a bit pissed off with this tournament already and we're only in the second round of games... This sort of behaviour goes against everything that sport is about. Champions aren't made by throwing flares onto a pitch. Sport is meant to be about uniting people, to make them work together as a collective. Violence in stadiums and around the cities shouldn't be tolerated and I hope the right people are rightfully punished for their actions, no matter which country they're from.

What was lacking in the combat? I thought it was fantastic. There's multiple ways to approach a single fight and using the Signs (especially if you keep upgrading them) and bombs adds another dimension to each combat scenario. The only thing I would like to see an improvement on is the crossbow, which is only useful for flying enemies. There's nothing more awesome than using Whirl to take out a group of bandits and seeing their limbs fly everywhere, or using Rend to decapitate a beast. With regards to the interactivity with the environment, I believe it fits its setting. For example, let's imagine that there's an upturned cart that you find and you examine the area to find a blood trail which leads you to a cave. Now, there's no complex puzzle to solve here in order to progress, as in you wouldn't have to move a block on to a switch to unlock a door which leads to a room to light a torch that leads to another room where you have to pull levers on several difficult points in the room to progress. There's none of that. That sort of puzzle solving would have felt incredibly out of place in the world that was created here. It just wouldn't have made sense and would have broken the flow of the game. Geralt is a tracker, so he's more akin to a detective crossed with a mercenary than anything else and I think that it really came across well in the game. I don't think of the environments as just pretty backdrops either. They're actual locations. It's not as basic as "forest area, water area, mountain", these are actual places with their own history, politics, culture, which meant that I instantly identified with them more and wanted to know more about them. Compare Skellige with Toussaint, for example. You do get the sense that these are two completely different locations with their own sets of people. That helped to create an incredible world. When I played Ocarina of Time, I was fascinated by the Gorons because they had their own different way of speaking and I had built up this whole idea of their culture in my mind. The same with the Zoras. For some reason, I don't feel that each Zelda after that continued to build on that. I want more deep history about each location and each set of people. That's partly what makes a believable world that you can fall into. Look at Tolkein's Middle Earth, for example.

Are you fucking kidding me? Would this be a/the reason behind the delay? What a world we live in.

I'm a definite hugger. But, I get away with being that way because of me being me. If it's a really good friend, I'll grab their arse whilst I do it. Male or female, I don't care. I'm a lover, not a fighter.

We've got a second tv. I'm not buying two versions (NX and WiiU...plus the NX) of the same game. This all hinges on what the NX is and how the Zelda game differs on both NX and WiiU. I think we'll go ballistic if there's a huge difference between the two versions.

Skellige is gorgeous but I honestly think Toussaint is now the best location in the game. It's absolutely fucking gorgeous. I'm going to play it through again soon, maybe during the summer. Tempted to try Death March difficulty.

What exactly did Eurogamer play? Did they see towns, villages or did they manage to meet NPCs and embark on quests? Or was it similar to the livestream stuff? I think they're mega-brave to be making bold claims like that.

I'll be a gentleman about it and let her play it first. Then, I'll play it afterwards. If I exercise whilst she's playing or if I play another game (dual tv set-up) then we're golden.

I don't think the camera and controls in Ico were that great and I've heard it's the same with Shadow of the Colossus, too. They're not terrible, but I guess they take some getting used to. It seems to be that if you loved the previous two games, you'll love/enjoy this. I'm sure the game will be fine. I'm looking forward to it. I adored Ico, despite only playing it recently.

The Germany game was a disappointment. Poland looked quite comfortable, especially in the second half. I thought that they'd pinch it. Didn't really enjoy that game at all.

I've played the teaser and really enjoyed it. It's not Resi at all, but I don't give a fuck, I had an excellent time with it. I gave it two playthroughs:

There's something about VR that does seem cool and funky. But, I still think we're in the early phases of it and I'd prefer to wait for the next "round" or "phase" of technology before I properly become invested in it. That being said, I do see the potential in it. The price point is off-putting, however. Will still be checking out impressions as I am still interested.

What do you mean by scripted?

This looks ABZUlutely sweet. Very Endless Ocean-ish, with Journey thrown in.

I set my prediction to 1-1, with every other teacher going for England to win 2-1. When Wales scored, I cheered. We were all in a packed Sports Hall and I milked that goal for all it was worth. It had nowt to do with me being part Welsh...I just wanted my fucking points. I cheered when England scored. 1-1. Everything was coming up Milhouse. But then, that final goal...ruined my fucking day. The kids were all gloating at me...but in reality, I was still crying over my points. I want both England and Wales to go through. Still don't think Roy truly knows what he's doing. Game 1: Make no attacking subs. Game 2: Make ALL of the attacking subs. Fuck cohesion! Fuck midfield! Attack, attack, attack. I expect Wales to beat Russia and think England may draw against Slovakia.

That's horrible. I had no idea what you meant because I was checking this post in my break at work. Just read the BBC coverage. That poor family. As for me, I am definitely 100% IN. Remain. I do find it odd that people have a problem with unelected officials in the EU, yet are completely fine with the House of Lords and the Queen...Also, to add further fuel to that, I never voted for David Cameron and the Conservatives, yet they still got in because of our shitty voting system. I don't trust the Conservatives at all to call all of the shots. I think that's an absolute disaster waiting to happen. I also understand that the EU does need reforming, but I do still think that we should be a part of it. We need to be building and mending bridges, not burning them. I've also yet to see a truly viable plan of how we would deal with leaving the EU. The main message seems to be focusing on border control. "Take back control" seemed to be the message of the Leave campaign. I'm more concerned about our own officials, such as Michael Gove (the prick who is hated by every single teacher in the entire nation), Jeremy Hunt (hated by Doctors...and the public), etc.

I think a lot of the reason why people are looking forward to it is because of its aesthetics. My view on the game is that artistically something looks a bit off to me. @Eenuh and I were talking about it yesterday and we couldn't work out if it was just the feed but something doesn't quite do it for us. It's not as sharp as we both would like it. In terms of the game, it looks fun to play. But, the stuff I saw yesterday doesn't address any of the concerns that I have with Zelda. Skyward Sword looked pretty great too, but it was a complete and utter letdown for me. My issues are with the narrative, interaction with other characters and with the world building. To me, this was all really poor with Skyward Sword and that's what I'm looking for in this next Zelda. The problem is that yesterday's information and playthroughs didn't touch on that (for reasons that I understand) so I'm still on the fence. Also, I need proper clarification about how this game is going to differ on WiiU to NX. I can't say I've been happy with the WiiU purchase, but I've still been waiting for the next Zelda, which was one of the main reasons that I picked up in the system in the first place. If there's a great disparity between Zelda WiiU and NX, then that's not going to go down well with me and there would have to be other great NX stuff too in order to convince me to get the game. So, whilst I did like what I saw, I'm still on the fence until I see how my issues with the series are addressed. I've got to say that I still think it fucking sucks that Nintendo only really had this (and Pokemon) to show at E3. It doesn't help to shake the feeling that Nintendo are pinging all of their hopes on one game.

My advice would be to just tell the truth. Only then can you really both work things out and move forward. By not talking about things, you're not solving anything.

Tempted to get Hardline... Is it actually any good?

I've got no idea what I've just seen, but I know that I like it.

Fucks sake, the results have all gone the opposite of how I predicted them. I can feel myself sliding down the table. Who the fuck are Iceland anyway?!

This looked completely fucking awesome and what a way to kick off that conference. Really enjoyed what they showed of this!