J4MES OX4D

I started playing the first of the War Stories called Under No Flag and one of the characters is voiced by Craig Fairbrass who is famous for his role in Eastenders and as Ghost in MW2. His character in BF5 is painfully bad though - it's almost like a Danny Dyer-type sergeant with the most cringeworthy and unrealistic writing possible. When you get past the awful cutscenes, you get planted in this mission and it's equally terrible with the most generic gameplay imaginable for an FPS game and the most stupid AI possible. The others are supposed to be a bit better so I may go and try them instead but the first one is proper bad.

Oh that's not my account - I got this image online. My COD points account balance stands at zero and will remain at zero😎

^ I played my first Grand Operations match yesterday on Norway and we won the first two rounds of the day but lost the last one so despite 'winning' 2-1, we lost the overall match and lost it by one fucking ticket! We pissed the first two rounds as well. First round was like Rush where we had to repel the enemies from planting on 3 bomb sites. Did that easy and it was quite enjoyable because everyone was focusing on 3 forwarding positions on the map on either team. Next up we had to prevent the enemies from capturing two points on the map - yet again this was quite enjoyable, balanced and extremely frantic. The match flowed really well and it was great fun once again. The final round it all went to shit as it was a conquest format but because we wont the first rounds (I assume) we started with a 3 flag head start but less tickets (for some reason) and flags are so hard to defend as it is so they managed to turn it around and with their head start in tickets already, they won that and the entire bloody match! It just felt so unfair and a complete waste of time after all that effort especially defending successfully in rounds one and two. You can essentially get battered first two rounds without any consequence it seems. It's clear that Conquest is the problem in this game as the maps are just not suited for it because they are too small. I don't know the rules and winning conditions in Grand Operations is but after yesterday, it seems you just have to win the last one to seal the match.

ROFL!

Even their customer service has bugs. Jeez!

I've been swerving them since the international break but should be back on it at the weekend. Didn't fancy betting on the likes of Malta, Gibraltar, Macedonia, Kuwait and Bangladesh FC.

Metacritic looks horrific - currently 46% on PS4, 59% on PC and 65% on Xbox. They are gonna need a perfect 10/10 on IGN so Bethesda better post that cheque pronto!

I bit the bullet and picked it up cheap on CDKeys in the end. Had a few games of Conquest earlier and found it to be pretty bland in all honesty. It is basically musical chairs with flags - it's very hard to defend a position and very easy to gain them so essentially games just decline into trading flags. You can also get shot in any direction it seems as the matches have no real flow or strategy unless every squad is in sync. Nobody seems to know what the fuck they are doing either. I will try the Grand Operations next because Conquest doesn't seem to work well on any of the maps and that's supposed to be the traditional flagship mode. No improvement over the beta really. Movement mechanics seem fuid but the gunplay is inconsistent and the animations are pretty wonky. Visually the game is stunning maxed out on PC and runs smooth as butter but the live service UI is horrible. The respawn times have also been cut thankfully. Still too early to judge fully but this feels like it's the weakest and most incomplete Battlefield game on launch yet. Higher level players (people who paid £30 more to play a buggier game 5 days early) also have a huge advantage over new players too and the starting guns are a load of horseshit.

Unfortunately, all the money just likely goes to shareholders and to increase the stock price. If Activision truly cared about investing in the brand, we wouldn't have gotten 20hz servers (which only were upgraded when they got exposed by a technical expert) and the series would be running on a current generation engine rather than one from the 90's still. Games like this, regardless of sales always have a set calendar for features and will always be supported especially with developers being on the fixed payroll - even Infinite Warfare had strong post-launch support despite barely having any players but its nothing to do with how much the game makes or how many play it. Annual COD games are nothing more than a cash grab and BO4 is the biggest culprit of them all IMO. Fornite and Siege have been done well from the off and not being an annual game has given gamers confidence to spend money knowing their product will be viable for years to come and developers know their customer base will still remain engaged until any possible sequels or when popularity declines. COD games tend to be dead before Christmas now so Activision simply put systems in which are designed to reel in the remaining loyal players rather than try to entice users back on board to a game that's essentially obsolete later that year with generous offerings. Perhaps if Call of Duty produced a really good game like BO2 which could prospectively last years and years, they could go down the Siege/Fortnite route and players would be more likely to invest in cosmetics and other stuff because it wouldn't be worthless when the next game arrives less than a year later.

I would've called it the cotton bud or worse...😎 Not sure London needs another empty building especially with Brexit looming. The Shard went to shit from what I hear. Still, it'll probably be built before White Hart Lane 2😁

Bimbo - The Pissed Off - Dumpster Slut😎

The music, lights and goal nets seem to be working.

Activision are thankfully coming unstuck - both BO4 and Destiny 2 Forsaken have 'disappointed' financially and their quickfire solution to satisfy shareholder worries is to increase monetization will likely just piss gamers off further and drive people away to the extent they'll be left with cash-cow products that don't generate cash. They may have gotten away with this tactic in the last couple of years but now the gaming community is more awake to such practices. Doesn't look like the remaining players getting ripped off enough as it is will be spending enough to keep them happy either. Perhaps if they produced better quality games off the bat and could grow their community rather than drive players away with scummy practices, they wouldn't need to go down this route of exploiting remaining loyal players. With stock values plummeting, shareholders cashing out and others not willing to invest; this could be more concerning to the company than it would appear especially on how it is structured. They aren't exactly going bankrupt but it's damaging to them and their future growth and sustainability and it's not like they have any revolutionary products or schemes on the horizon - just the same old annual shit with more scandalous consumer tactics. Microtransactions are a way of gaming in the AAA market now and that has to be accepted but BO4's is done appallingly which makes it even worse. The in-game items are the worst I have ever seen in any videogame on top of what is already a £60 game and £40 season pass. Had BO4 been F2P, it may have been acceptable although the purchasable items would've still looked garbage. The absolute kick in the teeth is the whole system is a blatant scam designed to reel people into spending money worse than supply drops and get nothing in return. Once they have their band of gamers who persistently buy COD points, then they'll start injected the P2W weapons into the tiers meaning anyone can get them as long as they rank up (1000's of hours) or tens of thousands of COD points and it covers their ass legally on top unlike Lootboxes. Fornite proved that just because a game is F2P doesn't mean it can make insane money. I don't like that game but it knows how to keep players engaged, spending and providing a satisfying experience. BO4 is just one kick in the balls after another.

Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Citizen will be finished before White Hart Lane 2😎

Trouble with Jokanovic was that they played such risky attacking football that you may be able to get away with in the Championship against the likes of Reading and Hull but in the Premier League you have to be more sensible and disciplined. I saw parts of the Bournemouth home game and at times they were playing with just 2 defenders and they got absolutely torn apart off the ball. Also for a team that spent more than £100m which was even more than Chelsea and got players like Schurrle; I would've expected them to do better. A change had to be made.

I can't believe people are spending £8-40 on cosmetic outfits they can't even fucking see in-game! Also those sprays and emotes are a laughable inclusion that are just not appropriate for a fast paced FPS. The content in this game is literally the most embarrassing and pathetic load of shit I think I have ever seen in any videogame. Whether it be Treyarch or some outsourced art team; it's just cringeworthy. I honestly cannot believe people are buying COD points to purchase the shit in this game. The absolute trash available in the shop wouldn't even make the cut for some shitty Chinese mobile title let alone a Call of Duty game with a £60 price tag. I really enjoyed the first couple of weeks on the game but once the shitty tier system came in and COD points were introduced; that's when it starts to go to downhill and suddenly everyone is dressed up in game in purple, lime green or orange and you have all these gimmick inclusions like fire extinguisher melee weapons and other tacky crap. Now the Blackjack shop just makes the game look even more cheap. I would be satisfied with an in-game shop and battle pass system if it was designed more appropriately for this brand, genre and in terms of how it ties in with progression - games like Fortnite hit the nail on the head but the content in Black Ops 4 is just so lackluster and flawed that it kills the entire game for me. BO4 is basically a badly designed free to play shooter with a $60 pricetag, season pass, microtransactions and boosters. I'm surprised they haven't gone out and put a monthly subscription on top!

There was a patch plus they implemented an in-game store too. Still can't see where the 9.4gb comes from though!

How many standard TV channels do you have?

Yep, it'll be the same old headaches but with even more this time around. The spawns will likely be barbed wired so players wont be able to leave and be trapped only to be shot - this also taking into account how broken and predictable the spawns are anyway even on much bigger maps. Trip mines as well as you say will mean people will literally have to stop and check it's safe to walk forward after respawning before carrying on as normal. A full team with this mentality (and there will be plenty) would be a nightmare to play against. You can pull off half this shit on the Arsenal map and that is 4x as long so god knows how bad it's going to be here.

Not been a great year for EA, Activision Blizzard or even Apple. What a shame😎

Looks bad. Not as bad as the BO3 one but bad.

I can't see where any of the actors are going to end up with their characters being so embedded in their identity now. Kaley Cuoco has done a few fringe TV and movie roles along with most of the cast but I can't see any of them continuing their success in anything else. Still, when you have tens of millions in the bank, you probably don't need to work again.

Anyone concerned that American society will one day vote in a Kardashian for President?