Will

Finally, after what seems like forever, they’re easing most of the lockdown measures here at the weekend. Big events and things like bars and clubs will still not be allowed but the majority of normal life looks like it’s finally going to restart. Cannot wait to get out and feel normal again.

I imagine the team behind this had a very innocent idea for some sort of tribal scenario in the game and this is the design that came together. It’s a Korean team who have probably been influenced by old western stereotypes without realizing it and it never even crossed their minds to think about how it could potentially be viewed. Add in to the mix the current situation and it’s definitely better for them to get ahead of it and show they’re trying to improve things than wait for it to potentially become something much bigger. Hopefully it doesn’t have any negative impact on the title, it’s one that I thought looked pretty cool.

Very nice! I have quite a few friends that have made big item fitness purchases over the last few months that definitely usually wouldn’t have. Hope it helps you get in the shape you want!

Definitely came through, certainly tempted me into wanting to buy a lot of the games you were talking about! Appreciate the effort on the game names, but don’t worry about it too much. Looking forward to the next episode.

I’ll be buying at launch and I’ll get every game that I have some interest in. The current amount I have set aside for it is $1,000 (US), but if it takes more than that I don’t really mind. The only thing I’m not completely sure on is whether to go for the regular or digital version. I intend to buy everything digitally but the flexibility of the disc drive is nice. Will decide later once a bit more info is released.

From the article, but also from the fact I don’t think them saying “it is a standalone game” is particularly clear. What does that mean exactly? Given they’re not explicitly saying anything more it sounds to me like it’s effectively a DLC for the original game that will also be available as a “standalone game” in certain circumstances. I don’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with that, and it definitely doesn’t impact my buying it, but I don’t think it’s what a lot of people were hoping for.

From that I take away that what is being launched on PS5 is an enhanced version of the original game which includes the “standalone” Mike Morales content built on the upgraded engine. Which is cool for me, but I’m not sure how much extra/new content it means for someone that’s played the original?

Would definitely be nice if it was something totally new. As someone that didn’t play it originally I’ll look forward to playing this expanded version but I’d definitely be disappointed if I’d already played it,

So not only is it the ugliest console ever but it’s also ridiculously huge to the point it won’t actually fit anywhere to hide it away? Having slept on it a little I’m really having trouble putting into words how much I hate the design of this console. If it wasn’t for the huge (IMO, of course) advantage this has on the games side I’d be considering moving camps to the Xbox it’s so bad. I was having a bit more of a think on whether the digital only version was better, the only real downside for me is whether my library can fit on the console. I recently had to delete a few things from my PS4 which got me worried. However I still have 50 games on it so I’m not too worried. Unless some great reason for having the disc drive comes up I’ll definitely be going digital.

I haven’t bought a disc since the day I bought my machine, pretty certain I’ll go digital only too. Double win if it’s a nice amount cheaper.

It really looks awful, worst console design in a long time.

The cooling on this machine had better be damn good, it’s going in a cupboard and never coming out.

Wonder if they’re going to close this out with something huge?

I wan pretty much everything they’ve shown so far. After being totally underwhelmed by the Xbox stuff a few weeks ago I now can’t wait for some new console action.

I've (based on absolutely nothing other than unguided guesses) been expecting a price point of $500 in the US. What that would translate to could be anything but I'd guess £500 given the artistic licence people seem to take with exchange rates nowadays. I'm setting aside $1,000 in the hope that will get me a decent selection of stuff on launch day.

Listened for the first time while jogging and really enjoyed it, will add this to my rotation of things to listen to. My only suggestion/request would be to mention game names again when you finish talking about them. Maybe it's because I'm running but I quite often found I'd be interested in what you guys were talking about but had missed/forgotten the name of the game and they never got mentioned again and just referred to as "it" in the conversation. I don't think it took anything away from the quality of the show, but it would be a nice thing to have. Really impressed with the work on this, you guys have done a great job.

What about swimming? If there is somewhere nearby you can do it then it's a good all-round, low-impact form of exercise.

I'm really looking forward to F1 coming back too, have really missed it these last few months. I think the street circuits are going to be pretty difficult. I know for Singapore they said if it can't be the planned weekend it can't happen at all. Given how the restrictions are here for Covid-19 I really doubt they will be ready to host something like the F1. Both Imola and Mugello are classified Grade 1 circuits so could be used for an F1 race. I'd love to see them throw in a few tracks we don't usually go to, would make for a really interesting season imo.

I think it would be better if there were high transmission rates between completely asymptomatic people with the virus. It would mean that many more people would have had it without any problems and we'd probably be much closer to the end of it than we are. Even so, just based on the numbers here in Singapore and the rate of infection here I'm not entirely convinced that will turn out to be true. Currently, in Singapore, 97.9% of active cases are classified as "Patients who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19" which is really quite positive on how bad this thing can be. It will be very interesting to see the true spread of things once tests are more widely available.

Let's hope so, though at this rate the next international disaster should be hitting right around then.

I buy very few PC games, maybe one every two or three years or so. Been looking forward to the C&C Remasters since I heard about them. Download is almost complete and I can't wait to play a Red Alert skirmish!

The Hue stuff is great. I used to have my whole apartment fitted with them and it was great being able to control everything from one place or have the lights come on automatically at certain times. The last few places I've lived in have all had the lighting in single piece fittings that don't use regular bulbs so I haven't been able to use them. When we eventually move into our own place having smart lighting will be very high on the list of things to put in.

In further news... When they called to make the offer they said there was no way they could match my last salary and would I be willing to negotiate? Of course, that wasn't great to hear but at this point in time, I thought it was something I'd just have to accept so said I could definitely be flexible on the salary. This morning I got the full offer letter and they've actually managed to give me a 5% increase. Very happy right now!

I've had a pretty crappy couple of months on the job front. It became clear about a week into the job I started at the end of last year that the CEO was about as dishonest as you can get and the promises of the new role were pretty much non-existent. I started looking for something new pretty much instantly but the industry is tiny here and it takes a long time for anything suitable to come up. I was going to have to put up with it for as long as it took to find something new. At the end of March, the lockdown started in Singapore and we went into working from home. A few days in and the CEO calls to tell me my position was being eliminated. I'd made it through a number of rounds of interviews for a new role but things had totally ground to a halt with all of the restrictions. On top of this, I'd now lose my visa at basically the worst time possible. I've spoken with basically every company operating in the games industry here since then and pretty much everyone has a freeze on hiring. I decided to send a random email to an HR guy for one of the bigger game developers just to see if they had anything going that might be suitable. He got back to me almost instantly with a role that seemed to fit and we set up some interviews. Three rounds and six people later I finally got an offer to join them this morning. PHEW! Now just need to sort out the paperwork and officially accept, but after the stress of the last few months and the letdown of the company I moved to, it feels great to be rejoining a proper game developer again.

I think as long as you're consistent in what you do it doesn't make much difference. On my route, I know there are certain places I'm going to have to stop for traffic and plan my routes with those in mind. I mostly base my training plans around time per km so I choose to have the clock stop when I'm not moving.