Will

Isn’t this the risk people take booking vacations at this point in time? I still don’t really understand why anyone would think it’s a good idea to be having holidays at this point in time.

Your keyboard could do with a good cleaning!

Yeah it’s total madness dropping it all in one go. In Singapore we opened up one thing, the case numbers shot up and we were straight back into lockdown. I get that people are keen to get back to “normal” but totally agree with you on the mask rule, why not just keep it for a while until things are stable? I have no doubt that we’ll be wearing masks here through to the end of the year at the very least. Given the choice I would probably continue to wear one anyway. We’re heading back to the UK at Christmas (I hope) and unless things have changed massively I’ll be wearing one then too.

That’s me! Also, can we just take a moment to acknowledge how nice the packaging looks? Think they’ve done a great job on that side.

I’m the opposite, the joy-cons I think look great but the white dock is a bit too in your face for my liking. Seems a bit of a missed opportunity if they haven’t actually changed any of the internals. Still, I do think it looks fantastic and will be getting one as soon as I possibly can.

Made my way through and got the platinum last night. I kind of agree that there were a lot of missed opportunities both with what the trophies were awarded for and the lack of additional stuff within the game. As a linear story experience I still think it’s up there with the best, but it’s missing that something special that makes it stand out from the rest. Really enjoyed my play through and glad I’ve got the platinum before F1 launches later this month. The PS5 really has been great for me so far, glad I jumped in on day one.

I’m ashamed to admit I’m most looking forward to WWE Battlegrounds.

Finished up the main story last night, totally loved the game and for me it was pretty much the ideal length. Wasn’t as keen on the sub-levels but they were still OK I suppose. Still blown away by the look and feel of it, the production values are really top notch - Insomniac are at the top of their game with stuff like that. Only real complaint would be that there were quite a few invisible walls which broke me out of the experience a little, nothing too major though. The use of the controller is also pretty fantastic. When utilized properly I do think that the Dual Sense is a bit of a game changer. Can’t wait to play more proper PS5 games with the haptics and adaptive triggers really taken advantage of. Got about 50% of the trophies and will work through to the Platinum. Trying to make that a regular thing with PS5 games.

Just had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine! Feeling totally fine so far, just glad it’s finally available. Next shot is on the 29th. Hopefully some of our never ending lock-down will ease up soon.

Oh that’s interesting! Thinking about it I always go to the dashboard before I put my machine in rest mode. I’m going to try doing it in a game and see if I get the crashes.

Oh if that’s the case it really sucks, guess there isn’t much point doing anything until they know why it happens and how to fix it. Have you tried taking it out of the cabinet? I know my PS4 Pro would occasionally fire up all the fans as it was overheating itself while shut away. Could be something similar and it’s not handling it properly?

Are you going to get the machine looked at? Doesn’t seem like something it should be doing at all.

You thunderstorm lovers should come and spend some time in Singapore. We get the most insane storms I’ve ever seen on an almost daily basis.

I decided to take a bit of a gamble and book tickets home: Three weeks over Christmas and New Year, hopefully by then travel will at least be possible and we can see family for the first time in two and a half years. Already getting excited for it!

It seems like our current lockdown is going to be extended even further. In addition to that there is still no word on when we’ll be able to get vaccines. The situation here started out a total disaster and then they brought it round and we were basically up there with Australia and New Zealand for a good while. Seems to be slipping back to disaster again. We still have a super low number of cases but the slow rollout of the vaccine here is leaving everything unclear. Singapore isn’t the most interesting place at the best of times, the current situation makes it less appealing than it’s ever been.

Oh I’ll definitely buy that Game & Watch to sit never being used wherever the Mario one ended up.

Yay Advance Wars, another classic I’ll be glad to play again. Some interesting stuff overall but nothing to get really excited about. Are they saving all the good stuff for something else I wonder?

Super happy for WarioWare, always loved those games. Have been playing the GBA version a fair bit recently and it’s still just as good as always.

Monkey Ball is nice, 1 and 2 were the only decent ones imo.

I’m not sure I’d call that a good article, it only uses one scenario which is if two things are exactly the same but one of them costs less it will be cheaper than the more expensive option. That’s not to say Game Pass isn’t great value, it clearly is, but it won’t work out best for everyone. Anyway… Made a bit more progress on this tonight and it really is awesome, I’m loving every moment of it so far. The variety of gameplay, fun story, scale and quality of the world - it’s hitting all the right spots. It’s also the first game I’ve been playing with headphones, and the sound design is crazy good too. Still kind of taking my time with it, but I’m definitely making an effort to play it, at least a little, most nights. I use the US store on my PlayStation, so save a little compared to the UK. Even so, I’d still say this is worth 70 quid.

I have no idea which would have been the first E3 I was aware of, it would definitely have been in the late 90s reading E3 blowout issues of EDGE magazine. Kind of crazy to think how long it took to get the info back then. Was that the one they put the intro video of Smash Bros. On? I remember having that video and watching it all the time. I’ve been lucky enough to work at E3 a few times. They all blur into each other a bit now but highlights would probably be: Running the SEGA meeting area one year and seeing Sheamus from WWE wondering past Working on the Nintendo stand the year they announced the Wii U Getting a ton of cool merchandise for the year of Luigi Having dinner a few tables away from Reggie The last few years before they let the public in really were great. Since then it lost a lot of it’s appeal and especially now with COVID limitations and the fact companies can so easily go directly to their fans it’s days must be coming to an end. I’m sure summer will remain a big time for announcements but more and more companies will do their own thing.

Totally agree with everything you say @Julius. This definitely feels next-generation for me. The combination of how good this looks, the non-existent loading, and the dual sense integration is really awesome. I moved over to Performance RT mode in the end. The drop in quality wasn’t super noticeable but the frame rate increase definitely is.

Just downloaded it and played through the prologue. My first time with the series and quite enjoying it thus far. Fidelity mode for me. For one it’s the default, and as a single player experience I’d rather have the quality over extra performance. I have to say Insomniac’s production values are insanely good. Everything is so well put together and the quality really shines through. Quite looking forward to see what’s in store as I progress through.

If you ask me that’s getting pretty close to the limit. 75% and 88% of the recommended use isn’t exactly playing it safe. Given that it only happened to two cars and Max had clearly been pushing his tyres pretty hard going for those fastest laps I’m not sure you totally blame Pirelli for it. So what do you propose instead? Go back 15 years, have no tyre changes and make it so each set needs to last a 300% race distance? The current formula is one which has tyre changing so I don’t see how you get around this without either changing that rule or else making it a total mockery. The sport is super safe now, but at the end of the day it’s still racing concept cars around a track at 200mph, there will always be some danger. Was he robbed? He was racing under the same rules as everyone else and just fucked it up at a key moment. I agree that doing the standing start is more for the show than the sport but even doing a SC restart people that have worked up gaps will be disadvantaged by it.

You’d think it would be something like if the red flag is before 50% distance then it’s a standing start and if after then do a safety car start. Still, I guess the rules are the rules and everyone is aware of them when they start the race. I don’t really see what Pirelli have to answer for though. Two punctures in tyres coming towards the end of their life is just part of the risk of the sport. It’s not against the rules to run a more conservative strategy. Great race and I’m super happy with the result. The cars seem really close at the moment so we should be in for a very exciting summer run. With Perez finding some form and Bottas seeming to be incapable of driving at the moment it’s going to be very tricky for Lewis to keep up the challenge. Hopefully he does though, the last thing I want to see is Max running off with things.