Fierce_LiNk

Alright then, roughly how far into the game am I?

I played the GBA a fair bit, aye. That is, when I could see what the hell I was doing. You couldn't use it outdoors, you had to sit directly under a lamp or in a room with a massive amount of light. In that sense, the SP was brilliant. But, the clamshell design of it wasn't great, particularly how "boxy" it looked and felt. In general, the whole GBA era was forgettable for me. I much preferred the DS/DSlite era, in terms of console design and what we actually played on them. Thought the DSi was a bit of a waste, though.

Did you play the original? You can't really judge the gameplay based on that. Although, the original wasn't very fast paced, it was more deliberate and slow.

SP was terrible, imo. It's too anagular, too clunky and uncomfortable. The original GBA was also poor and virtually unusable. I'm surprised Nintendo released the SP in that state.

A very, very late Happy Birthday to you, Perch Gurus.

I've been playing this on my weekends. I call eet Xenoblade Sunday. I'm at...

Very happy for Wigan with their result yesterday. They were superb. Mcmanaman was fantastic on the wings and tore Gael Clichy apart. City looked a bit lost for the majority of the game and there are clearly some issues at the club. It looks like Mancini will be sacked today, which is so ridiculous. Definitely Chelsea Mk.II Fergie and Scholsey's last game at Old Trafford.

To clarify on this, I slipped during football and landed on the ball awkwardly. My leg hasn't felt 100% since but it's nothing terrible. I destroyed Ine in squash yesterday. But, I'll give her some sympathy because of her leg pain. Not doing Deadlifts tonight, to be on the safe side.

I'd be hard pushed to go for another manager, to be honest. Mourinho is a big personality and he has the wonderful knack of making everything all about him. I don't think his personality would fit in at United. He fits in at Chelsea as that club is a shambles and he thrives in chaos. I'd have loved to see somebody like Rijkaard come in and bring in his own style of football, but it would never happen and he wouldn't be here for long term as I'm not sure it would have clicked. I'm a big fan of the Dutch style. But, in terms of longevity and PL experience, Moyes is probably the best choice. I never really held out much hope of Ronaldo returning. It would cost the Earth to bring him back, and the idea seems very romantic. Not sure it is possible in reality. Miss him.

I did the exact same thing and came into this thread buzzing. Kill me. Now.

I'm saying that because he has shown fantastic qualities for the last decade. He's a great manager and despite being constantly out-done by richer clubs, has managed to keep Everton high up in the league and playing good football. He has taken Everton as far as they can go with what they've got. Also, lol at the Spurs fan calling United an average squad with a few great players. Love the irony there. You can't win the league consistently with an average squad. Even by definition, it is wrong. Finally, players will still want to go to Man United without Fergie because the club has a ton of history, has a huge fan base, has a multitude of talent (both young and old) and can challenge on multiple fronts. Players of quality went to City (such as Aguero, Silva, Yaya Toure) when Mancini was there and before he had won the league in England. As for Moyes' appointment: It's the obvious move to make. Yes, to some extent it is a risk as he isn't proven in Europe, but he will be given everything he needs (including time) to adjust. I'm confident he will do just fine.

Liverpool fans, all about them European Cups. Will Sir Alex regret ONLY winning the trophy twice? Yes and no. Yes because he always wants to win everything, all of the time. No because you're looking at it the wrong way. It's not something you can take at face value. I will explain why. Although the team is Manchester United, Sir Alex hasn't used the same team since the start of his career at the club. He has in fact built multiple teams with various different focal points. There's at least 5 in there. - 93-97, basing it around Cantona. - Then, 97-2001, the era where we won the first Champions League under Fergie. There were partnerships such as Yorke and Cole, Sheringham and Solksjaer. A beautiful team to watch. - Then 2002-2005, the era of Ruud Van Nistelrooy. The team played around him and he was "the star striker". - 2006-2009, where we won another Champions League trophy, this time with a trio of players such as Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo, who was instrumental to our success. We integrated players such as Vidic and Evra into the team who are now legends at the club, also the likes of Van der Sar. - 2010 - present The first team were chasing Premier League glory and asserting English dominance. The second team were successful in Europe, Domestically and in the FA Cup. The best team to challenge on all fronts. The third team didn't do as well in Europe, but they were combative in the league against threats such as Arsenal, who were our biggest rivals at the time. Arguably, this team was the weakest of the ones Fergie has created. The fourth team won the European Cup again and made it to a final, but were against Barcelona. It's also worth noting that this team came up against the threat of a millionaire/billionaire funded Chelsea, who Fergie saw off. The final team have reclaimed the league after losing some ground to City, and have also managed to make it to another Champions League final, but again lost out to Barcelona. So, Fergie will possibly be disappointed that the latest team didn't win the final in London and he can count himself unlucky to go out against Real Madrid this year, in a rather harsh way. He has won the Champions League with 2 well constructed teams and has also made it to a further 2 finals in recent years, where he came up against Barcelona. The clearer way of seeing how good a team performs is by looking at the league, which United have dominated for such a long time now. To win the league, you have to be consistent both home and away over more games in a season. The Champions League, as we saw with Chelsea, can be won but it isn't reflective of how good a team actually is at that present moment in time. Look at Liverpool in 2005. Great in Europe, absolute crap in the league. They weren't even the third best team in England, yet were Champions of Europe. It doesn't reflect well.

So, when's the Nintendo conference time? ... Oh. :'(

I don't think they like people wasting their time with prank and false calls. :p Anyway, a nice picture, dude. Are you an uncle now?

The 360 controller is the Dreamcast controller that has evolved and has suddenly become "good". It's a nice controller, but the GC ranks above it, for me. The only thing stopping the GC from being perfect is the shitty and redundant d-pad. Those analogues!

It's also funny because most people would generally wish for their own success, whereas a scouser just wishes for others to fail as badly as they do.

Tempted to ring childline after seeing the Leeds shirt. :p

Not a fan of the Dreamcast at all and the controller is probably one of the worst that I've ever held in my hands. It's a bad design and has too much wasted space/plastic. It doesn't particularly feel nice to hold. In fact, it feels a bit cheap, a bit tacky and too "clunky". The opposite of this is the GameCube controller, which is just beautiful to look at and hold.

I went to bed with a bad feeling that this would turn out to be true, and was devastated when I saw the news in work. Can't begrudge him his retirement as he has been absolutely colossal for the club, but it's going to be strange seeing somebody else take charge of this team. I've been a fan since of United since I first took any interest in football, which was about 4 and throughout all of my life he has always been at that club, on the touchline. It's...an odd feeling to know he won't be in charge any more. By some distance, the best manager of a football club the world has ever seen. I'm sad that this chapter is coming to a close. You're being very harsh on Moyes there. He IS a great manager and has shown fantastic loyalty to his club and has an excellent manner about him. You never really hear of dressing room bust ups or any signs of trouble. He has his team well disciplined. If anybody has earned a shot at winning the league or another major trophy, it's him. He's also built an excellent Everton team that is only lacking a striker and some squad depth.

There are several rumours flying about that Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement is imminent. It has to happen at some point. God, whoever takes that job is brave. Big shoes to fill.

It could just be the attachment I've built up over the years, but I love the look of the Wii console and the Wiimote still feels sexy to hold. It was moulded for my hands. Love holding the mote 'n' chuk. After that, the original GREY N64. inb4 "it's black!" The 3DS/DS Lite is also a thing of beauty.

I've got 1 academy and 2 remain from my original starting team. The problem I have with the youth system is that you might get a reeeeally good youth at the arse end of a season, so there's no time to train them up. Plus, it's harder to plan for the future since you have no idea what age/skill player with what specific special qualities will appear next.

I've cleaned the kitchen and bathroom, done the recycling, eaten my daily scrambled eggs and played a little guitar. Now, time to enjoy the sun. Wait, what is that? An old woman in a bathing suit sitting in a deck chair right outside your flat in the garden. Reading a book. It's fine, I'll just do some other stuff and go out in a bit. Wait, she's now lying on the grass, arse up, and now a bit closer to the flat. Damn you, British awkwardness for wanting to go outside but now feeling...awkward about it. There goes my plan for listening to Radiohead in the sun! Edit: Fuck it, I'm going out anyway.

It might just be the angle of the photo/tiredness, but that car key looks maaaaassssive.