phil bottle

Has all the looks of a return to form, and will try the beta but yeah well, we'll see how it launches lol 🤪

Some excellent footage 
 

I'm definitely more confident about this one especially as most people who made 2042 have long left the company and proper and proven developers were brought in instead. I knew instantly that 2042 would be a catastrophe because it had no campaign, no squad system, no voice chat, no scoreboard, 128 players, barely any guns, no server browser, no stat tracking, stupid specialists, map-changing levolution replaced with temporarily inconvenient weather effects, awful interface, no rush, TDM or dom, no progression, overly-large and empty maps and bot-filled lobbies. It was literally the most anti-Battlefield game imaginable and clear the developers didn't have a clue what the series was about or what they were doing. They were removing staples of the series and the genre without any logic.
 
My only worry with BF6 is if it leans too far into COD. We desperately need these big BF4-style tactical maps. 

In the same boat, I pre-ordered the last one having enjoyed the few before, won't be doing that again.
 
The group I play these games with are liking the looks of it but I won't lie to me it just looks like a call of duty game at the moment.

Exactly the cause of my reticence.  I was hoping to give it a good test in the beta but of course it comes out the weekend I'm away 😄 but hopefully you lot will play it and give some feedback as I want to get it and I want to love it.

Yeah i dunno about this still, 2042 left a bad taste, partly the shitty launch but also that no-one gave it much of a chance. I bought it and played it mostly solo and would've been fun if others had bothered with it. If the single player campaign is good then maybe after launch I'll pick it up.
I have Tarkov for my shooter needs, I don't see any game better than that right now 🙂
 

Now on PS5 too. Which has seen the studio censor parts of the game to satisfy Sony etc
 
 

Mafia 2 is actually a really good shout. Driving around, listening to the radio, and just soaking up the atmosphere is my favourite part of the Mafia series...and 2 does it best imo 

Rocket League have overhauled their club feature for the first time since launch and its well overdue I reckon. Some nice, cool additions to the area, including badges to obtain as a club now - all obtained just by playing in your club name with teammates.
 
A brand new stadium with new arena announcements was a nice surprise and well received.
 
Key Club Updates:
Club Career Stats will keep track of Club statistics earned over the course of the Club’s lifetime. Club Seasonal milestones will be tracked in the form of Club Medals, a new concept in Rocket League. Clubs accumulate Medals by making progress in three main categories: Goals, Saves, and Assists. Each one of these categories includes three Medal milestones in order of accomplishment: Prospect, Signature, and Premier. Reaching a milestone rewards a Club the associated Medal. This Medal is displayed in the Club profile, viewable in the Club menu and within Club matches (against any opponent, not just other Clubs).   
Medals will be shown publicly in the intro sequence of matches where all members of at least one team are in the same Club (these are called “Club matches”). If a Club receives the highest-tier Medal (Premier Medal) in all three stat categories, their Club profile icon will have a special look visible in intro sequences and the Club menu. While public Medals help Clubs show off their progress and prestige, they might deter Clubs who enjoy playing more non-competitively.  Club Owners and Managers will be able to toggle public Medals on or off within the Club Customization menu, to prevent their Medals from being shown in Club match intro sequences.  By default, Club Medals will be shown in the Club match intro sequence. Club Medals will always be viewable in the Club menu, regardless of toggle status. General Club Stats and Milestone Rules: Club milestones will reset every Season. This gives Clubs opportunities to improve Season over Season, as well as earn new Club Titles every Season. Once a Club earns a Medal, Club members will receive a notification that the Medal has been earned.  The Medal will immediately be shown on the Club profile. Additionally, members will receive a notification when the Club earns a Club Title. Stats towards Medal milestones are only recorded during matches with more than one player on each team, including Club matches. There are three earnable Club Titles based on Club Medal progression. New Titles are available per Season, and linked to the tier of the Medal (Prospect, Signature, Premier).   
Link to full Patch Notes:
 
Just a moment...
WWW.ROCKETLEAGUE.COM  
What do you think? Personally, it feels a good Quality of Life update to prompt you to play more games with friends. Resets every season, so depends on how hard these medals are to collect.
 

I think Asseto Corsa has some really good free roaming mods but it requires some investment, installing the mods etc...
 
other suggestions:
 
-Burnout paradise
-TDU3 Solar Crown (mixed reviews)
-Beam.ng drive (mods free roam?)

Forza Horizon 4 or 5
 
You can do stuff if you choose, missions, challenges etc but you can also just cruise around. Both  are great games 🙂
 
4 is set in the UK and 5 is Mexico.
 
Think they're on PS5 now as of quite recently 

The game is due to officially launch later this year.
 
It's pretty much all I'm playing at the moment after a break to play Stalker 2 and Oblivion.
 
Latest patch has more improvements including a much needed rework of the audio.
 
 

It's amazing how these companies who continue to make massive profits manage to persuade people that this behaviour is normal. 

Microsoft eh, raking in the profits and lying through their teeth. Closing the ESO studio, which had made them £2 billion is quite tge statement 👏

These types of articles are designed to stoke or play up to people's fears or prejudice and I suppose some amongst us are more easily manipulated than others 🤪

Yes, definitely the woke advert.
 
Couldn’t possibly be they stopped building Jag’s 6 months ago so don’t have the product to sell.  But I guess that doesn’t fit the anti-woke agenda or make clickbait headlines.

I’m not saying sales haven’t stopped.  I’m saying it’s clickbait as the headline is Jag sales decline after woke ad then article goes on to explain the decline is a trend long before the ‘woke’ advert, dealers not having stock to sell and no new models to drive interest (though there are other factors too).
 
If ‘clickbait’ offends, how about sensationalist then? Why is it a surprise that a company saying we’re going to stop selling these products then has poor sales of said product?  Where’s a shocked pikachu when you need one.
 
There’s something funny about your anecdotal evidence for the numbers of cars when I know precisely how many they are.

I still can't believe that was Danny Dyer!
 

It's amazing how these companies who continue to make massive profits manage to persuade people that this behaviour is normal. 

The cockney at the Malibu Club 🤣

28 years old. Man. RIP Diogo Jota 💔

Perfect Dark has been cancelled and the studio closed down. Feel very sorry for multi-billionaires Microsoft as this is clearly a very difficult time for them financially🙄
Microsoft cancels the Perfect Dark reboot that blew us away last year, closes developer The Initiative | PC Gamer
WWW.PCGAMER.COM Microsoft laid off 9,000 employees today, and cancellations and closures are following.  

It's a very well made game but it requires a massive time investment. Your character is pretty robust but yes, until you're properly on your feet, it can be a bit precarious 🫠

They did 🏆👏
 
Great team effort considering some of the players like Delap were playing in the shitty club world shit cup 🤪

The final is on Saturday, I wonder if they can repeat it!