Will

A stupidly expensive iPhone controller: So that I can play proper games on my: Ridiculously expensive last minute flight back home to surprise my Dad for his 60th birthday. Had a quick go with the controller and it's actually really quite impressive. The thumbsticks aren't perfect but for the compact size I'm pretty happy with it. Going to try and make my way through some of the GTA titles.

They've just started TV advertising over here, so it must be doing something right.

They were ¥21,600 which seems to come out to around £135, they were a little cheaper than the sporty beats that the same shop had. I didn't like the fit of the beats at all so they were quickly removed from my testing so I can't really compare the two that much. The sound quality on these is great and the fit I get is fantastic, didn't move in the slightest when I went running earlier. The heart rate monitor wasn't something I was looking for but having it there is a nice bonus, it seems to work well though I don't have anything to compare the accuracy of the reading. I'd certainly recommend them.

A pair of bluetooth earphones, so far seem really good.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wrcox

mrexcel.com used to be great when I was starting out with some of the more advanced stuff in excel, not really sure how it rates nowadays. There are a few different types of Macros, so may be of use to work out what you want to focus in on before going too deep into something. The main ones being: Recording: Perform an action and excel records it for use later. Good for very simple stuff, won't really advance you in any other area. Scripting: A script that does general actions. Good for very repetitive things. More advanced than the recording and will have some transfer-ability to other areas. Coding: VB as mentioned above. Basically mini-programs in excel, allows you to do more complex things that the general functions don't like. Needs some background before trying and will be harder than the other two, but absolutely transfers to other areas. If you can get the first two mastered you'll be well ahead of most people in terms of excel skill level.

Nice! I really want to do that at some point - it's amazing how far around the city they get. Been up to much else?

Agree it's not a bad card... If it wasn't Wrestlemania... I really don't care about the vast majority of the card, the build up has been terrible. To go through my thoughts on the main matches I'd say: HHH vs. Reigns The only match with a decent long build up, but no one cares about the story or the players so what's the point. The match has the potential to be decent but it should not be the headline of Wrestlemania. I almost want Reigns to win this just to see the mega boo that comes from it. Ambrose vs. Brock I feel like they could have built this one up a bit better. At this point it's basically crazy vs. unstoppable but they could have made it a bit more psychological. Really this just feels like they needed something to do and this was it. I imagine this will be match of the night but I think both of them could be doing something a bit more interesting. Shane vs. Undertaker This one just makes no sense. Shane has a secret? Undertaker fights for himself but actually for Vince? There is an interesting story in there somewhere but the way they've driven this story I have no idea what the end result is. Hopefully they cap the story off well in the final build up and the two of them put on a crazy show. Undertakers last couple of matches have been sub-par at best so he really needs to pick it up if this one is to leave a lasting impression.

Yeah if I hadn't of read it on here I would never have known there was any shortage of Wii U stocks, it's always been fully available here. to be honest I think this is a bit of a non-story. We know Nintendo are ramping up on a new product this year, Wii U isn't exactly flying off the shelves so it kind of makes sense that this would happen. They could be manufacturing right up until the very end of this year and that would easily leave them enough stock to go through 2017, so I don't really see what the excitement is about.

I've wanted an Indochino suit for ages but never seemed to get round to it. This was reduced so I thought I'd finally give them a try.

Why? If my Facebook friends have the app I'll add them, if my NNID friends have the app I'll add them. There is no reason whatsoever not to include the option. Not allowing core users to connect via NNID only hurts the overall ecosystem.

But allowing you to add friends with a NNID does nothing to stop the facebook/twitter integration. It doesn't matter where they want users to originate from, it's a bizarre thing not to include. Most viral games start off with a passionate core of users, to not allow the passionate core of users to connect with each other really doesn't help with growing the userbase.

Hmmm, it's interesting. Very Japanese in the construction of the game and first time play experience. But after that I'm actually quite impressed with how it's set up and some of the stuff you can do. It's definitely more social network than game, clearly intended to bring people into Nintendo's online network for future games/systems.

Today I found out the reason my wallet was rather light was due to spending ￥30,000 a meal last week and that someone had kindly expensed it for me so I got the money back as a nice surprise. I had two calls with our Singapore office that were very productive and got a few little bits done outside of those that mean I don't need to work too late, and had a really nice lunch with two friends. I'm about to go for dinner at my favourite restaurant which I haven't been able to get into for a few months due to always being full. Going with a nice young lady and will probably drink a good few beers. All in all a pretty good day.

Nice! I run past there when I can be bothered to keep up my running. Great location for getting around the city.

Personally I'll spend money for something innovative. There are a few different ways that comes around but in general its through art style or gameplay. If something looks totally different, or plays totally different, while maintaining a solid level of quality thats worth spending money on. I'd gladly pay $60 for something doing things differently but $60 for the latest FIFA or COD doesn't really do it for me - though that's not to say they don't necessarily innovate, it's just not in the area I put value on. The No Man's Sky article is interesting, sure it's a small core dev team but I guarantee the costs outside of that will more than double the cost, in fact the amount of stuff outside of core development is probably closer to a 10x increase on cost - so it's really not a very good way to value a product at all. I will absolutely pay $60 for that where I might not for a game with a much bigger dev team. Overall I actually think games need to come down in price to the point where people don't wait for something they're interested in. It becomes very difficult to gauge true interest in something when purchases come at different prices from different demographics over a prolonged period of time, and I don't think helps the industry be a regular thing for regular people. The cost of entry is just too high right now (and has been for a long time). The one thing free to play has shown us is that there is a massive market for games, the content just needs to be priced in a way that people feel comfortable investing in it.

For me the Saturn is my absolute number one console ever. I had a Mega Drive and Game Gear before it but this was the first console where I really got into gaming as a hobby. Sure it didn't have the massive library of the Playstation or the classics of the N64 but for me it was the perfect console. SEGA's arcade ports and their console exclusives made the console totally worthwhile imo. I'll never forget the first time I played things like Fighters Megamix or NiGHTS, just utterly perfect gaming experiences. I have a huge Saturn collection back at my parents place, but I'd really missed the console lately so I bought myself a small collection as a present a few months ago. Still plenty of games I want to add to this but for now its doing me quite nicely.

Finally had my first paycheck in the new job. Feels so good to have money coming in again after more than a year of nothing. Amazing what a relief that is!

I`m a little far removed from the whole thing so I don`t really put any weight on my comments... For me the EU always seemed like a great idea poorly executed. I`m all for bringing everyone together and creating something better than the sum of it`s parts, but it always seems to cause so many issues with people not being on a shared path of objectives. I`d vote to stay in on the condition the whole thing would go through some big changes.

I'm remembering a long way back and I could be totally wrong but I think it's a way around sponsorship rules. They can have a sponsor in the official name of the team but there are various monetary penalties involved. Alternatively they can name the engine after a sponsor and it doesn't count in quite the same way, but still achieves the goal of the sponsors name being shown in everything they do.

I quite like the Ferrari, I think the white/red works really well. Then again I have a weird thing for white cars... On the Red Bull thing... Yes it's a rebadged Renault engine. I didn't follow the whole story with that properly but from what I understand they tried their hardest to get anything but the Renault engine and everyone told them to get stuffed so they ended up going back to them with their tail between their legs.

Oh wow that stuff takes me back. My ex-girlfriend worked for one of those companies, stay as far away from it as you possibly can. Basically think the following: Direct Marketing = Door to door charity collecting Building a business = Pyramid The whole thing is a HUGE pyramid scheme with the guys at the top making insane amounts of money off the back of 1000`s of people going door to door collecting for charity. There is so much wrong about it I don`t know where to start, but basically: Pushing people to sign up to monthly pledges they can`t afford Taking 90% of the money for the collecting company rather than the charity No pay other than commission 10 hour days in strange places Selling an impossible dream to naive young jobseekers Just thinking about it now makes me angry. It`s the main reason I absolutely refuse to give money to charity, I no longer have any faith the money would be going where I want it to be.

So the teams are starting to announce their cars and testing begins next week, time for the 2016 Formula 1 thread I think. First a little info: