S.C.G

Sorry... temporary elation from winning a race, I'm sure it won't happen again.

Oh shi... *edit phew! must remember Rainbow Road next time...

Oh come on! Comm Error on the second race of the first GP...

On the upside, my copy of Tales from the Sea of Thieves has arrived. So at least I can read the "Pirate's Manual" as it were in time for when the game is ready to set sail again.

I've just watched the video, hopefully it won't be long until the first big (eye)patch is rolled out with any luck. It would be nice to play this for a bit over Easter... but I won't hold my breath. (especially not in these currently choppy waters, I might drown)

Sailors... have you seen any? ... I see.

Remembering WiiWare #1 Written by Hero-of-Time Because it was so well made that it had to go on the main site. Thank you again to @Hero-of-Time for letting us make a feature out of your excellent reviews of WiiWare titles. It was a pleasure to put them up on the front page for all to see and I'll continue to do so for as long as you feel like writing about them. Hopefully we'll have a few more up before the points addition cut-off date as well, the next two are almost ready to go.

Looks awesome, can't wait. I wasn't expecting a full-blown sequel in the same style as the previous games, in fact... I think I like this style more, it just translates really well to this format. There were loads of really neat small touches, like how the gore turns into Red, Green and Blue so it's as if the characters are literally bleeding RGB all over the place. It's surreal, there's plenty of good humour in the dialogue it seems and this is just one part of a larger whole. Perfect demo, leaves you wanting more... now, if only they'd release this demo on the eShop in the meantime, that would have been something special.

True, these be uncharted waters for Rare though. An online only Pirate game, so many variables to take into account... it almost makes me wish they had made it as an offline adventure first and then added in an online mode. I know they have wanted to make a Pirate game for a long time, so to see this go under the waves would be very sad indeed. (I'll stop with the Pirate puns now but it's true enough) *sigh* At least we'll always have Rare Replay.

Yes... it sounds like we may have to postpone our career as Pirates for a few moons. For some reason, I don't think I had factored in that this game is online online with no way to play it offline at all, unless it was announced ages ago and I forgot. So yes, you're right Adam, if they don't get this game sorted out soon then the sales may well end up walking the plank, especially as many will have only tried the game on Game Pass. I really hope this doesn't turn into an angry sea which could end up swallowing the good ship Rare with it, I doubt that will happen what with how much Microsoft paid for them but you never know.

It's a shame that we didn't get to play at being pirates together yesterday @Kaepora_Gaebora but hopefully we will yet at some point. Anyway, how are you finding it so far? It looks like a lot of fun to me so far but I'm still a bit unsure of how it all works. At first I thought it was a case of, you create your Pirate, get your ship, sail off to places and obtain more loot so that you can afford to upgrade, get a bigger ship, go further out to sea etc. But it looks more like you choose a new pirate etc each time and if your ship is sunk then you lose everything and that's it? Just start again... It still looks like a lot of fun, loads of Rare charm to the characters and the combat certainly looks spot-on. Did you have your book posted yet btw? Mine shipped yesterday from Amazon, hopefully you ordered from there as well because they lowered the price down to £16 before it shipped! It will be nice to read through me Pirate manual when it arrives, arg!

@Kaepora_Gaebora I just finished on the site stuff, are you still playing for a little bit by any chance?

Will definitely be after 9PM, still typing stuff up but almost there. No WhatsApp here but there's always... http://n-europe.com/chat I think it still works, so that should do.

@Happenstance Now those are the pictures we were waiting for! Excellent stuff. *realises just how much I want a Panasonic Q* *sigh* One day...

OK, we'll say sometime around 9PM or so then, I've got some site stuff to do for a bit anyway. We shall sail the seas aboard the good ship N-E! You bring the underwater map and I'll bring the rum and a... parrot.

Don't worry about it I'm new to it all as well. Let's try starting up Party Chat and then forming a crew from the start. Hmm later on, is 8PM or later any good to you?

Well... that... happened. I wasn't expecting much but 10 mins later and it's all over. Ah well, at least it'll be an easy one to write up.

Oh man, please don't do that to me... my heart nearly skipped a beat when you said you dropped it. (it's not even my console) I'd hate to think what I'd do if I'd personally dropped a Panasonic Q, out of its box onto a hard surface from about 4 foot or so up, watching it shatter before my very eyes... What a harrowing thought, I think I need a moment... You do realise we're going to demand pictures from you, of it set up, unscathed in its pride of place now just for the forums piece of mind?

@Kaepora_Gaebora I've chosen me Pirate... arg! I've tried to join ye but alas, it does not seem to be working, not sure if I need an invite possibly? (it has been a while since I last played on the Xbox One online, several updates ago) Edit - I think you were on a solo voyage as I couldn't join your party or game (I'm not even sure if you can chat in party and over Mixer simultaneously... or can you? Maybe that's how it works, I signed up to that anyway and watched you for a bit) We could try at a Crew Voyage later or whatever the multiplayer mode is called, still... looks like you're having fun. (loving the underwater map-reading skills) Anyway for now, that Nindies Direct beckons so I'm going to be watching that and making notes so feel free to keep playing at pirates. The game looks like a lot of fun though, very nice water effects too.

Just got back from Lunch, so can probably play for an hour or so until 15:45 I guess due to the impending Direct. But until then... let's play at Pirates!

Well, the game is installed and I just forced the 9.1GB update... I assume then it'll be ready to play. The first few hours are a tutorial then? So would I be better off playing on my own first or... just "Jump In" at the deep end.

I can probably play after lunch, so that will be probably 2PM or so until just before 4PM... not the greatest amount of time but, it's something. Is there a possibility you might be playing in the evening as well? Edit - The amiibo's have been dethroned, and the console is updating... all 3.4GB's of it.

Wait, is this THE fabled day off? I have to admit, I received the game in the post and hadn't had a chance to unseal it yet. Did you get a baby-sitter in the end and have the whole day to play Sea of Thieves as planned? If you're going to be playing for most of the day then I will definitely try and make the effort to get online, probably later on though. (Nintendo would choose to have a Nindie Direct on Sea of Thieves release day wouldn't they...) Right, that settles that then... I've got some sorting out to do today, currently there are amiibo on top of my Xbox One... it seems to have accidentally become a display stand for them while I was moving things around the room (I wish I was kidding) but I'm going to put them in a box, dust off the console, update it, update the controller, install the game, update the game, try to start it, update it again and then I should be ready to play!

4PM UK time.

*nods* This is true, you did very well to get a Panasonic Q for that price @Happenstance I think it's very much worth it. I have added a *few Retro Gaming purchases to my collection during the first few months of 2018, yes this was supposed to be the year of saving and... I still will save, well now at least. They are all games I want to play though and I really don't think they'll depreciate in value at all, (probably the opposite) which is reassuring. Most of this week (I have some time off) will be devoted to having a clearout though and seeing if I can sort out my retro console setup properly or at least make things easier to get at. I might have some doubles of certain Sega games, probably mostly Mega Drive or Dreamcast, possibly some Xbox games as well for sale as I want to make some money back on some of the stuff I don't play plus I need the space, if I think there's anything which might be of interest though, I'll let you all know, I may have to list them elsewhere in the meantime but if anyone expresses an interest, I'll take it off sale and offer it here for N-E discount price. *Might be more than a few...