Will

I'm functionally proficient in Japanese following my time living there. It's more broken than I'd like but I wouldn't worry about being able to communicate whatever I need to in pretty much all normal everyday situations. Now I've left I hope I can keep up some level of this but I fear I'll not have enough time to properly keep it fresh enough to use.

Bump into her at her workplace, make small talk, suggest catching up properly over a drink/dinner/whatever. Job done.

I had a combo washer/dryer a couple of times back when I was in London and they were terrible. It was a long time ago so might be better now but it really put me off them. It would take hours and hours for them to dry anything. My Mom has one of these and it's really good. It folds away pretty small when not in use and she just sticks it up in the bathroom out of the way when needed. Dries clothes pretty quickly and because stuff is hung up inside it they don't come out crazily wrinkled. I'd reccomend it.

At school we used surnames instead of first names and mine was always changed to Coxy, which was fine. No one calls me that now. Nowadays I'm just Will to friends and Will-chan to the guys at work, now I find it weird if someone doesn't use Will-chan in the office. I like nicknames a lot, as long as they come out naturally and everyone is happy with them I think it makes a nice bond between people.

I'm going for the red/blue and then buying the blue/red joy-con set so I can switch it up however I like.

I didn't get a chance to play this today but I did manage to get the video below. To me this is basically a sequel to Wii Boxing. It does look fun but I'm not too sure I'd get much out of it.

The event is absolutely packed, there must be housands of people here. The line for splatoon 2 is already full and the others look pretty close to that too.

The general consensus of the guys in the office was that while the console itself looks pretty cool there aren't enough games of interest to justify getting one at launch. I think most people will wait until Mario comes out to pick one up with a few titles. I haven't read any articles on it from here but will try to look into it more. I imagine the people at the event today will be far more positive on it though.

I'm heading over to the event in Tokyo today. Anything I should try to investigate while I'm there?

I think the hardware looks great but I'm disappointed by the launch lineup of titles. I'm still going to get one at launch but I don't think it will be truly worth it until later in the year when some of the bigger titles are out.

As long as it's one of the things they will ship abroad then it would be tax-free at the checkout but you'd have to pay taxes on it when it arrives - so it would actually end up even more expensive. There is a chance it would sneak through customs but I wouldn't want to risk that.

Glad to see they look like they're fixing the battle mode. With that and a few extra things I'll definitely pick it up.

They're from the same development team but with a fair few differences in the design process. The original wasn't really designed as a free to play game originally and had lots of development hacks (such as the QTE's hiding level loading) to handle the lower spec'd phones of the time. The two Sonic brands are managed a little differently too which leads to certain design elements being viable in one vs. the other. In theory Boom should be the deeper experience but for me it just lacks a little of the charm of the original.

Finally got a PS4 late last year so hoping to get back into gaming a somewhat this year. Not sure how much time I'll end up having to do this but will try and get through a few things. I do tend to get through a fair few iOS games so will track those too. Currently my main challenge is F1 2016 on expert career mode with the target of winning the title. It's definitely a challenge and will take me a good amount of time to get through but great fun.

If they really manage 25,000 Yen then that's ridiculously cheap over here. So much so that it would suggest they're going to push it more as a portable than a home console, which would make sense given the make up of the user base over here. Not sure the same positioning would work everywhere so it maybe they won't go with any sort of direct pricing parity. Could see it being $300 in the US and whatever that works out to in Europe (so probably just 300 everywhere as things are).

Happy Birthday N-E! Congratulations to all the staff who have made this possible and the members that make it such a good place to be. Have very much enjoyed being a member here. Here's to the next 19!

Pair of Sony MDR-1000X for traveling

Nice work, @Animal, you're looking great! I've been pretty bad with the fitness over the last couple of years or so, really hoping to get back into it once I get myself settled in a few months. My main targets are to up my general fitness and then try to bulk up a little bit and get back to how I was looking when I left University. I really don't like running much more than 10k so I'm going to set goals around that. So, goals within 2017: 10k time under 45 minutes (stretch goal under 40) Get weight up to 13st through working out (stretch goal 14st)

A couple of my favorites: Mario Run Sure it's $10 or whatever to unlock the full game but the level design is superb and Nintendo have done a great job of converting Mario to mobile. Imago Fun little number puzzle game. Slither.io MMO Snake Nimble Quest Another Snake type game with a fantasy theme. Sonic Dash I prefer this to the second game but both are good. Disney Crossy Road Disney version of Crossy Road. Smash Hit Break glass with marbles. Lara Croft Go Adventure puzzle game. Motorsport Manager Racing management game New Star Soccer Football Manager but from the view of a player with some in-match gameplay. Rainbow Unicorn Attack 2 Retro 2D platform with awesome 80's style soundtrack. There are some great games on mobile you just need to dig them out and be aware that these are not console games. The ones that take advantage of the hardware and gameplay styles really can be great.

Also on the PS Store sale. I love that I can buy this via my phone over breakfast, have it download to my PS4 in Japan and then play it on my Vita at my parents house. Awesome.

Loved it. Tarkin and Leah were great, for me still a little bit uncanny valley but my gf didn't even realize they were CGI so I guess the tech is good enough for most people. Great story, good action and really felt like it fit well with the originals. I'd say I'm now looking forward to these original stories more than I am the new trilogy.

I have these, they were fantastic up until a few months ago but now the max volume seems to have dropped to ridiculously low levels. It's not even either, music is fine, though I would like it to be louder, but I can't use them at all for calls anymore. Actually I'm not sure if its the earphones or the phone, anyone know any known problems with iPhone bluetooth etc?

A lot of the initial download and always-on connection are staples of Japanese mobile game design. It's infuriating to Western users but here it's not so much of an issue due to mobile networks being so fast and people having larger data allowances. I can understand why they did it but it doesn't make it any less stupid. So far I'm finding the actual game a lot of fun but the interface UI/UX not so much. My code is 2796-6415-6547 if anyone wants to add me.

Handed in my notice today, due to the way the holidays fall my last day in the office is next Tuesday with pay through to the end of January. Not a bad result at all.

A few bits I bought for my birthday and then Christmas bonus.