J4MES OX4D

Looks like Poch and Conte might be swapping roles. PSG won the league yesterday but they were booed at the final whistle after a 1-1 draw against 10 men and about 15,000 of their fans left on 75 minutes to go celebrate outside the stadium. Imagine supporting that toxic shite! Poch expected sacking was announced less than an hour after the game too and now there's rumours Conte has made himself available - a consequence of giving him such a limited contract. Poch going the other way is a good fit and there isn't much else available but it'll likely be years more stagnation at Spurs especially with any real lack of investment. Just when Spurs were on an impressive run, they go and deliver two shocking performances so questions over Conte and the players again. Not sure why anyone would want to manage PSG either unless it's to pocket easy money.

The Bethesda Launcher will be shut down on May 11 | PC Gamer WWW.PCGAMER.COM You'll be able to transfer your games, wallet, and most of your saves, to Steam from April 27.

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EA are publishing this one and you can smell it a mile off. ''Pre-order F1® 22 Champions Edition by May 16 and receive the Miami-Themed Content Pack.* Pre-ordering will also give you 3 days early access, the F1® Life Starter Pack, F1® 22 new era content, new My Team icons, and 18,000 PitCoin. Owners of F1® 19, 20, or 21 can save 10% when they pre-order F1® 22 Champions Edition in-game.'' The only thing missing is one of those pre-order tick box charts.

400 fixes but not one piece of actual content - Battlefield 4 was already on it's 4th map expansion by now and that's not forgetting 40-odd new guns and hundreds of attachments to work through🤣 I quite like the interface changes but let's be honest, this is how it should've looked from the very start and no real difference to previous games. Not much to celebrate in this respect and it's astonishing how they managed to mess this up so spectacularly. No matter how many fixes they make though, the game is just too conceptually flawed. Every map for starters needs to be cut down by 60% and still reworked plus lobbies should be 64 max for the most typical BF experience. Every match seems to be riddled with bots too. This game would struggle to get 10,000 at a time on all systems even if it was free. They've also been bloody lucky Vanguard and Warzone has been utter shite but the new COD will surely kill it for good. God knows when the Ultimate Edition owners will finally get their stuff... The people that are working on the game now largely weren't responsible for this absolute shit-show so they will probably improve it to a degree but it wont matter in the long run and it's just too far gone to salvage.

But that's exactly what Hello Games did. Just because they used their substantial gains to then develop the game they originally promised to a degree doesn't let them off the hook. It took them to go into hiding and then a huge public backlash just to get them working on the game again. If they released the game in early access with a structured roadmap of features then it would have been absolutely ideal but instead they plied the media and community with a wealth of claims, gained huge exposure and then delivered the most empty and generic game on release. The fact by their own admission they had no idea how to proceed before the first update just shows the original release was their intended final product. Without the money garnered from that, they wouldn't have been able to keep the studio running as a going concern so they were very lucky in that respect. They have no doubt done very well in turning the game around but I don't see it as a monumental achievement the same way I don't throw a carnival because Bohemia Interactive finally released DayZ Standalone after 5 years of 'development'.

They certainly did have obligations which would have been realised if they left the game as it was. Out of policy refunds were rife soon after launch and it was only when they made a tactical PR move about future updates after being in hiding, did that plug it. Sony then totally distanced themselves from the studio and game after that - they were largely to blame for the charade too. It definitely wasn't polished on release either - I remember the severe optimisation issues and very limited gameplay loop. Battlefield and Cyberpunk is like comparing cow shit with horse shit - the big difference with those games was they covered themselves legally in very crafty terms whereas No Mans Sky bullshitted people until the 11th hour and then in hiding managed to introduce terms to stem future out of policy refund attempts. That was also a slick move through SteamWorks and Sony. People believed those to be features, not development ideas and even when the first update was announced, they even admitted they had no idea what it would entail which demonstrated they had no forwarding strategy outside their skeleton creation. They did come good on a few features plus some other original ones but that didn't stop people being mislead for years and just because something is included down the line doesn't exonerate them from their actions prior. If I am given a job to renovate a house, paid £100,000 and I only do one room in 3 years, I wouldn't expect a fanfare and bus parade celebration when I complete the job 4 years after that to the specifications I originally stated. NMS has banked some serious money so what they have produced is the least expected really and the end product now is just like any other game - it's just been developed and publicised in a very favorable way due to the circumstances it created. It's a good success story for British developers and Sean and the rest of the studio have learned some damning lessons along the way but at the same time they've been very lucky not just in terms of money but the positive exposure they've relentlessly been given even when they were in hiding. The game is also seen as a staple for AAA titles releasing the ship now patch later state along with anti-consumer contractual terms being embedded into TOS. Far more deserving, honest and credible indie titles in existence that go under the radar because of shit-shows like this saga.

You only really get one chance to impress me these days and their release all those years ago was absolutely disgraceful so I've had no interest in the game ever since. I am happy they have improved it drastically over the years though because of all the people that originally bought into it and were let down horrendously. They certainly had a legal and moral obligation to deliver what they promised because they made a ludicrous amount of money from what was pretty much lies. Although they did include some of what they originally pitched in years of updates and further development, it still doesn't take away the absolute horseshit they promoted and also doesn't come close the experience they originally envisaged. They've definitely structured the updates well though and haven't rushed content to appease which is good. There's also a bad smell with Sean Murray and Hello Games that I cannot shift - I don't know how they managed to delude so many people prior to release or how they got away with it through the media because it was like they were under a spell yet many of us could see that the game was going to be very limited and that 99% of things marketed didn't exist seemingly. It's now being regarded as a major success story but the circumstances behind it are very fortunate and generous. I don't think I'll play it but people getting it now on the cheap should have a reasonable experience.

Not looking good

Anyone remember these good old days? I used to have quite a collection of multi-platform magazines but ridded most a while back as I couldn't hoard them all my life! Crazy that our only source of info used to be paper and we had to wait a month at a time. Sadly the industry was much more reliable and honest back then! See if you recognise any of these - I've picked out a few mags/issues that I have or had back in the day. Official Nintendo Magazine issue 63 1997 - my first one and it came with this awesome pack of cards. N64 Magazine - £2.95 CVG - first multi-platform one I picked up and incredibly cheap at £1.50 GamesMaster - quite pricey at £2.75 but packed full of stuff PC Gamer Issue 64 Christmas 1998 - jam packed with pages and information. PCG was remarkable back then Official Playstation Magazine issue 45 May 1999 - £4.99 but with a disc Play - unofficial Playstation mag. Good value at £2.85 and usually came with a book Official Dreamcast UK Magazine - August 2000 - pricey at £4.99 but always came with a demo disc. I also had a couple of reader-submitted reviews published and those I have saved. Only 21 issues in total DC-UK December 2000 - unofficial but a nice alternative at £2.99 Official Playstation 2 Magazine issue 11 - September 2001 - Issue 1 also from December 2000 with a different design (the only one with the PS2 title) Official Xbox Magazine December 2002 with demo disc Official Xbox 360 Magazine issue 2 November 2005 Official Playstation Magazine November 2009

Played some more matches this evening and once again I have removed the game. It's just too clunky and unresponsive and on the harder difficulty setting, interceptions are so rife that it becomes exhausting especially when players look like they've been hit with a bowling ball. What also struck me is that it seems that the game is just shaping up to be PES 2021 again but on a different engine once they complete it so what is the point of playing this half-baked version that will only evolve into a game we've played relentlessly since 2016? There is less content in this than the traditional PES demo/Lite versions and the convoluted F2P model is just a disaster - it's only use so far has been stopping people wasting their money on this since it came out late last year. I saw this mod the other day and it puts this game to absolute shame No matter what Konami do with this, they probably wont better that or even any of the Vanilla PES titles in the past 5 years anytime soon. Although Efootball has made some improvements, they've literally undone all their work in the last generation and this game will probably peak at square one again.

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I decided to give it a try in the end and whilst it's vastly improved in many respects, it is still lacking any real fluidity or fun. There is no Master League and you still cannot change difficulty or match length which is beyond absurd. Basically you can only play 5 minute matches on Beginner, regular and superstar difficulties with many options greyed out for no explicable reason. The package as a whole feels really bizarre and I'd like to see them remove the F2P element with immediate effect when the game is in a reasonable state. I'd rather pay to have the usual features available rather than have a barebone free experience. Gameplay is much more tidier though and passing is clean. The ball physics are improved and players don't let the ball sail past them. There's still problems with overall responsiveness and players being left seemingly stunned when intercepting light passes but on the whole it's definitely more representative of traditional PES than the mobile shite they had before. This is still very much an early access/demo-type experience with an attached premium mode for online purposes so I view it more as a taster of things to come in an ongoing project rather than new release entirely. I just don't think many people have a reason to play unless they are dedicated to the online aspect so in its current state, there is nothing here for casual players and still only a handful of teams available too.

BF2042 drops below 1,000 players on Steam for the first time and the promised early April update has also been delayed Battlefield 2042 Steam concurrent players fall below 1000 for first time WWW.EUROGAMER.NET New figures show that player numbers for DICE's Battlefield 2042 keep on falling, with less than 1000 concurrent users …

Another example of a good 'remaster' is Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. The game was remade from the ground up but it retains everything from the 20 year old original and has many crucial improvements that bring it up to date and will ensure its sustainability for many years to come. The package includes all the old expansions including new content and is regularly supported which bolsters the stability of the multiplayer aspect. It really capitalised on the seemingly endless popularity of the original and 2013 HD release and will ensure it lasts for at least another two decades. A true love letter to old players and the constant flow of newcomers and sublime work from the developers too. In contrast, an example on the flip side would be Total War: Rome Remastered - a game that was developed by a studio known for mobile games and producing fringe DLC for other games to fill in personnel gaps. This was a once-iconic Real-Time and Turn-Based game made by Creative Assembly in the now long-running series and its remastering was given to people who probably didn't even knew it existed when it was commissioned to them. The end result was a mixed bag where it looked and felt like a mobile and everything else was just lifted. Although it wasn't a total disaster like some games developed like this (GTA Trilogy for one) it was still pretty insulting considering the prestige behind this brand and that game. It would be like Skoda being given the reigns to recreate a classic Lamborghini or something to that tune.

More embarrassment but this time for COD where the World Number 2 Vangaurd player has just been caught and also delivered the most pathetic excuse imaginable Call of Duty: Vanguard player Plehxify releases official statement after accidentally disclosing hacks on livestream WWW.SPORTSKEEDA.COM Over the years, multiple Call of Duty titles have been plagued with hackers using cheats for various reasons. The... I’ve always maintained that about 70% of top players are cheating in some form and that it’s a culture embedded within the franchise now just like how literally 90% of Chinese players used to cheat in PUBG. If Activision don’t get a handle on this especially under the helm of Microsoft then it will massively affect the franchise irrespective of how good any future game is. It’s getting to the stage where even the most die hard of fanboys of suspected streamers can’t defend them. Sadly they continue to benefit from this behaviour with no decent anti-cheat and no action being taken by the devs or stream hosts. If this continues it’ll be about who has the best premium cheats wins.

It does look better but still worse than PES 2015. Will probably need another 2-3 years to get it back to square one. The fact eFootball was so bad when it came out last year, any small range of improvements will appear as significant by virtue of this. I just hope people don't delude themselves in thinking it's making sudden groundbreaking strides! Pace, ball physics and responsiveness still look problematic and the game looks like an old gen title still. At least players aren't sliding around and missing the ball altogether but there is a long way to go.

A faithful remake is always welcome as is a polished remaster however this angle of the industry is usually of the cash-grab nature and it's never usually results in a gesture to fans that they truly deserve. The worst thing is when they remove the original games from sale and then replace them wholly with the new version aka remaster - Warcraft 3 Reforged did this whereby the removed staple features, applied a disgusting DRM layer and released a broken and disgraceful version in the process. GTA Trilogy Remasted also did this initially. Diablo 2 was also an excellent and incredibly faithful remaster futher ruined by publisher-made decisions and horrendous servers. Also the original is still available but Resurrected was supposed to offer users the best of both worlds yet within one week they destroyed almost everything and killed off a game that was going strong for 20 years. Other games like Demon Souls Remastered, Mafia Definitive Edition and the hugely impressive Resident Evil 2 are examples of games redone and done well particularly the latter. Others like Skyrim have been milked to death per generation but there's plenty of other worthy ones like Tony Hawk 1 and 2 along with Nightdive Studio's impressive range of old-school shooters they are rebuilding whilst retaining everything of the original titles. Those don't get the recognition they truly deserve. GTA Trilogy was one of the most disappointing, shameful and embarrassing releases ever though - such a prestigious range of games ruined by a mobile developer who used AI to recreate assets which resulted in significant amount of spelling errors and the games themselves didn't even go through Q&A testing! Even amateur modders have done better than multi-billionaires Rockstar with this and their work was DMCA'd to death as a result. There just isn't enough trust in the industry now from a consumer standpoint with these especially if games are being remade by people that were too young to even remember when the original came out. I love the prospect of a Max Payne remaster coming but I am not going to get 'hyped' or delude myself because of the problems above which prominent in this part of the industry across many developers and their respective publishers. Resorting to remakes or remasters is also a sign of no ambition, lack of creativity and developers/publishers being unwilling to take a risk on something original. That also rings alarm bells.

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Max Payne looked really stylish especially with diving around corners but FEAR's particle effects really added so much more.

Blimey, you're way more optimistic about it than me🤣

Early days but this could be great news! I absolutely loved the first two games - the bullet time aspect was so unique as was the stylish noir presentation and atmosphere. They recent remade Alan Wake but this will be a bigger challenge. If they get it right, it could be a great package Remedy and Rockstar Games Announce Max Payne 1 and 2 Remake for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X - IGN WWW.IGN.COM Remedy and Rockstar Games have announced the two companies will work together on a remake of Max Payne and Max Payne 2 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S.

Konami are giving eFooball another crack with the full launch April 14th eFootball's 1.0 Patch Finally Arrives Next Week - IGN WWW.IGN.COM Konami is finally releasing the full version of eFootball on April 14, with a new 1.0 patch set to fix bugs and add new features many have been waiting for since last year. Be interesting to see what they've accomplished but I'm not expecting much if anything. It is probably just so they can get some revenue and the game released before the end of the season and through the summer. The damage is already so severe that even if it still sucks, it wont exactly damage the reputation of the game any further. I hope they've made some significant strides but with the amount of problems, I can't see them getting back to even the level they were at with PES2021 for many years.