Luseth

I forgot about Avowed! I don't really understand the last of us 2 remaster though, can I ask what interests you about picking it up?

AI is something that is going to affect a lot of us and a lot of the jobs we do in the future, it just got me thinking of how many jobs are already being affected within the video game industry and if more measures should be brought in to combat or restrict some of it (for all roles and sectors) AI art has come a long way in the last couple of years, is there now any need for someone to sit there creating concept art or could the person with the idea for the game sit down and type a few words, hit refresh a couple of times until they get something they like? Similarly are we far away from say using Chat GPT from writing the story behind the next Fallout or Call of Duty games? I imagine they probably could do so already? But then if AI is taking away those roles and ultimately helping the cost of games or media to come down will that ever translate into the price we pay for content?

I don't know if anyone saw this the other day but a 13 year old lad has managed to make Tetris reach the kill screen on the original NES, this has only ever been done by ai machines before so for a human to do it is quite incredible. Not sure if any of you play Tetris very often but it can obviously get incredibly manic as the difficulty ramps up, if you get a moment have a nose at the video on youtube and take a look see just how quick his reactions had to be!

So with this new year I am thinking about my expenditure on video games, I am in a position in life where I feel I should have some actual savings, couple that with wanting to convert our garage and I am looking at where I can cut back some of my expenditure. One of those is gaming, I spend money on retro games, I like to buy games & consoles brand new and I also have the PS subscription. So my goals this year - - To not buy a single brand new game at full price - To limit my retro purchases each month - To not buy a single piece of hardware (with the exception of controllers / headsets should they fail on me) My question to you guy's is how much do you spend on this hobby, do y ou limit what you spend? Are you conscious of the amount you spend on a particular game and the time you spend with that game?

There are quite a few that I am interested in this year however I think I will have to be selective or wait for things to drop in price this year with everything that's going on at home, a few of the notable games for me - - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth - Stalker 2 - Star wars outlaws - Suikoden 1 & 2 remaster - Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2

I have cancelled my subscription and it comes to an end later this month, it's ok saying it's just £3 a month but multiply that by the current number of people that use it and that is a ridiculous amount of additional income, income that Bezos certainly does not need, think about how much money Amazon bring in do they really need it or is it profiteering and banking on people to be of the same opinion as you Lee? I think there is a reason why they have just said adverts so far as well, they are being quite clever I think in not revealing anymore than that, we don't know currently what form these adverts will take, whether or not they will be skippable and the length of them, if it's just typical adverts much like we would see on tv then the value of our traditional TV with BBC and ITV begin to look better value for money. I also think this is not about Amazon making better products as they are suggesting but recouping some of the losses they have made on some of the big tv shows such as the rings of power. I mean why isn't there an option to just have prime delivery, I only use the video and music because it is there but I would happily pay less and just have the delivery. In fact half the products you buy on there now are no longer 1 day delivery which was it's initial draw, the amazon prime subscription is being watered down more and more and I think the incredible value it started out being is no longer there.

I voted but realise I messed up one of my votes and put Final Fantasy XVI, I should have picked Hogwarts Legacy woops! My other 2 choices are Baldurs Gate 3 and Fire Emblem Engage, I played Baldurs gate in turn based and I tend to enjoy more strategic combat so you can see why Fire emblem was my other pick. Both games were great in there own way - Baldurs Gate 3 - The relationships between characters, the creativity in how you can approach quests, I even got around one boss I was struggling with by talking to him with one person and then pushing him off a cliff with another. If anyone ends up picking this up on PS5 I would be up for playing a co-op playthrough and approaching things a bit differently ^_^ Fire Emblem Engage - The story is decent, the colours are wonderful and happy and it keeps a particularly refined combat system going along lovely.

Oh thank you Rampage! I will give those 3 a try and see which hits the mark for me and let you know how I get on 🙂

Ah thanks @IRaMPaGe, if there any others I would appreciate it 🙂 There was an orangey one I was using and in general combat was really good (you could switch it on and off too) but when it came to smoke I just couldn't see through it, not sure if it is a badly tested scope or just intentional with COD.

The one I was using didn't, it was no different to using any of the other holographic sights

No, I found it good for seeing through smoke but it also mitigates some of the skins, there are a few I find a bit difficult to see on some maps so it just makes players a little bit easier to spot from distance. When I’m running a knife it doesnt matter as I am so close to them

Ah no did you really? I was on 31 when I left and it had you on the same winstreak, I even sent a photo to Greboth as I was well chuffed I had caught you! I think I am still on my winstreak so I might actually do what Macca said I do and wait till we have the best team on so I can try and sneak a few more wins 😄 Smoke grenades are great, the only gripe I have, I was trying to find a thermal scope that I liked, there are a couple of variants with different colours and the red one's that I liked couldn't even see anyone through the fekkin smoke. There was a white one that was good but a little too zoomed in for my liking during general combat.

Condensing it down to just 3 films is difficult and there are some great ones above. For me I have gone with - Top Gun Maverick, I think this just pips the original for me as it just hits all the right feels Ready player one - This is just a personal favourite of mine, I really loved the recent release of this. And I am doing it, Star Wars the empire strikes back! I love the Star Wars Universe and have played most of the games etc. I think for me it was the world building that really does it for me for the series. I am not sure how you can compare Star Wars with Gladiator if i'm being honest... Yes the characters could have been better in Star Wars and the story has probably been done before if you look back far enough but they are two entirely different films, set in entirely different locations, one being of fiction and one having history to utilise, one filmed 20 years after the other... Some of the creativity that went into those films, they probably pushed film making forwards faster than any other film (maybe with the exception of Avatar and it's use of CGI?), dykstraflex (one of the earliest forms of computer controlled camera's) was used on it, the films somewhat started off CGI as we know it with it's 3d Wireframe animation in fact even Return of the Jedi brought in THX which is one of the assurances for audio in cinema and we won't forget about the prelude to greenscreen (blue). Gladiator is an immense film in it's own right but it's just a different kettle of fish in my eye's. A film is not just about the characters, it is about the audio, the visuals, the experience, it's why I love cinema (admittedly I don't get to go so often these days) but as much tech as you put in your own home it is difficult to recreate a cinema experience. Empire Strikes back made almost 25 times it's original budget back (22 million budget and brought in 549 million, compared to Gladiator which had a budget of 103 million and brought in 5 times at 503 million) so even from a success point of view the original Star Wars film was far more successful. Admittedly recent films and tv series have been somewhat hit and miss. Some honorable mentions from me as well - Braveheart Avatar Master & commander The patriot

1: Baldurs gate 3 2: Fire emblem engage 3: Hogwarts legacy 4: Spiderman 2 5: Marvel midnight suns

Fortunately I didn't buy it 😛 I was hopeful, partially because I do like to have a more positive view on things ^_^ I mean though this was a scam you could argue a lot of games are these days with the way some of them launch and the way publishers promote them.

A couple of mine from the year -

I think people here are should be able to limit their picks to 5 ^_^ As for reaching members, when you set it up there is a whatsapp group @GazzaGarratt not sure if Welchy has had an invite to it? That might be the best way, just drop the link into the whatsapp announcements maybe?

It's a bit of a drop in session, if you find you are free on a Monday (sometimes Sunday) evening just jump in the party and we will get you in 🙂

I love this idea! I reckon there would be a few interested on here as well. And definately happy to contribute even if it is just stating my top games of the year 🙂

I suppose with the steam refund option people are buying it just to see how crap it is and then getting a refund before the 2 hours are up?

I suspect that might be why they have just said 2025 at this point, they may want to release early in the year but know that the last game was delayed about 5 months and it could easily be a repeat.

I watched this last night, there are good signs in there but I dont think it gives too much away it just sort of sets the scene, it tells us it is in Vice City and that there are going to be 2 characters this time (seemingly a couple by what we can see and by the choice of song) and I suppose the drive down the street suggests a more populated city? The croc and flamingos suggest animals so maybe slightly more side things to do i.e. fishing & hunting maybe? I mean it doesn't change my excitement for the next GTA but I was hoping / expecting with this trailer for it to be announcing a release next year so if anything that was disappointing! It looks a visual step up and I did quite like the choise of music.

I can see this being disappointing with how long it has been in the works, I hope not though as I am quite a fan of the series, I put a lot of hours into GTA V especially in the multiplayer, it would be fun to play a new one with you guy's here I reckon.

Hi @WelchyTV that's how I found this place a year or so back, for some reason I have stuck around! Anyway welcome aboard, single player games are generally the sort I enjoy most, anything with a good story typically, spotting you mentioned Fifa, we do have pro clubs nights on a Monday if you are ever about and fancy joining!

haha! I print them off to check before I issue anything, it is incredibly easy to miss stuff on a screen. We seem to be one of few offices still with drawing boards ^_^ We do have one CAD tech though who has issued blank pdf files before now 😂