shinymcshine

After VC & SA both IV and V felt that they took away as much as they gave back - I still look back with more fondness at those earlier games, inc replaying them way more than the latter ones - and never playing online either. I enjoyed the open world sandbox elements of Saints Row (2022) but it really was more like playing a retro game, the gameplay arc of mixing main missions with side tasks felt achingly old school, especially when the reward / risk of each were seldom interelated - so maybe that's what I'd like to see in GTA VI, a living breathing world where actions and consequences have actually in-game impact, and not just as a result of main mission progress. But.... I really don't have much expectation or enthusiasm for it all currently, if all it delivers is a brighter shinier GTA V then it'll be a huge disappointment.

Problem is not actually having any sort of moral control over ownership models or workplace ethics (i.e. even companies which seem pretty decent end up with workers going through burnout at crunch delivery times etc). So, politely, I just continue to buy whatever I want, generally at sale rather than full price, and mostly digital nowadays - but I would still avoid any sort of pay-to-win / incremental DLC type game models

Bugonia (2025) Sky Movies Oscar nominated - best picture, actor (Stone), screenplay and score, but no awards - starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, in a remake of a 2003 South Korean movie "Save the Green Planet!" - two young men who kidnap a powerful CEO, suspecting that she is secretly an alien who wants to destroy Earth. I enjoyed it.

Forsaken (and Descent) were great ! (PS1/PC)

Pretty sure it has already been on the Xbox Console GP already - I tried it a few months ago out of old school curiosity...

Bit too far for me to go, but perhaps if you're local... "A historic house in Derby is being transformed into Croft Manor to mark the anniversary of the release of the original Tomb Raider. The Lara Croft: 30 Years On exhibition opens at the Pickford's House museum in Friar Gate, Derby, on Friday (until 28 Nov 26). The free exhibition will be a homecoming for the archaeologist-adventurer star of the PlayStation title, as she was designed yards away by Core Design at its then-headquarters in Ashbourne Road." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7vger10jeno https://derbymuseums.org/event/lara-croft-30-years-on-from-derby-to-global-icon/

"The report notes: "There have been no major console releases since 2020" Apart from PS5, and Xbox X/S in late 2020 that sold really well over the next few years, and the NS2 in 2025.... "fierce competition" Despite having a relative monopoly on the high street....

So long as you're not playing Papers Please....

If only life and work had a quest log of who to speak to, when and with what, in order to progress, without stupid personal agendas and or office politics...

Press X to reload last save....

It's actually not too bad on the Xbox controller (way better than BG3 was) but yes the lack of progressive autosave does seem achingly old school - having to remember to hard save periodically (or a callback to the PC days of hitting F5 quick save as you go).

The Crimson Maid out on 14 July from Wales Interactive "The Crimson Maid is a marriage between first person exploration and visual novel, blessed with a sprinkle of puzzle gameplay. Immerse yourself in a period drama that intertwines romance with murder mystery, as a young cleric who must resist or give in to the charms of the mysterious maid." The trailer looks pretty stunning, and they look to have moved away from FMV but I still wonder if it'll be style over substance. https://www.walesinteractive.com/post/the-crimson-maid-release-date-trailer Low price and demo available (as below on MS Store).

Revisiting this on Gamepass - 15 hrs in and enjoying it all over again. Only nark is the hard pass or fail of skill checks (if you aren't the right level you just can't do the check, and the cost of each level increases exponentially) - whereas combat is on a calculated %

Saw my local Cineworld had a listing for Odyssey that made me laugh: Screen : 4DX 2D (£17.99) So that's 2DX I suppose.... 😆

I've no idea how much money ESO brings in against the cost of the team and infrastructure to keep it running - that's likely the crux of the business decision (is it attracting new players or keeping existing spending regularly ?) As a big fan of the single player ES (and Fallout) games I soured on both concepts (ESO and Fallout 76) after their troublesome launches, and have never been tempted back.