forameus

Although it was obvious it was going to happen, still disappointing as unlikely either will be coming up now. Joe/Naka 4 in Texas before the Rumble? Not really sure what else they can do now, but is there a credible enough heel to go up against Nakamura if Joe moves on? Roode is probably the only option.

They did more build for the cruiserweights in about 15 minutes of that show than months of RAW. The timeslot is killing them though. The arena was half empty going by pictures and they had to turn the lights down and get people to move to make it look like it was full. Crowd was absolutely dead for most of it too.

You mean Undertaker's no really deid? And he can't control electricity? f**k.

Had an hour or so with it yesterday, and although they've made some good improvements, I found myself struggling to really get into it. Probably didn't help that I started a completely fresh game (another shit design "feature", you have to manually delete your saves if you want to restart, rather than just having a new game option) but didn't keep my attention very long. Things I noticed though were that resources are now a lot scarcer, particularly plutonium. Where before if you landed at any spot on any planet, you'd see plutonium, you now have to actually hunt it out. Good thing I guess. The game also looks slightly prettier with the fixes. Still some horrendous pop-in, but not quite as pronounced. Animals also herd a bit more. Herd is probably pushing it a bit far, but you now see more than 3 together, so a bit more realistic. Got dropped into a pit full of those crab things that hate you. I also tried Survival mode, which is...interesting. I can see it being a love/hate thing. I was put on a frozen planet, 6 minutes away from my ship next to some buildings. I got a few resources and took shelter before setting off. I was still 3 minutes away from the ship when my life support died (I'd already charged it once with what meagre stuff I could find) and only about 30 secs later I died, kicked all the way back to where I started. I can see it being a nice challenge, but I'm not really sure I ever could have succeeded in that particular scenario. Hopefully it's just a random selection thing and isn't the norm.

I don't think Sheamus turns face, think they'll just keep it the usual "Face/Heel" dynamic they have now. It'll take some doing to turn him proper face now anyway, and the way they have it right now is working. I think it'd be a shame for them to be the ones to beat New Day finally, especially if they do turn heel (which surely they must do). I'd have them hold up to Wrestlemania where they drop to a mega face team. Enzo and Cass would be good if they can drag them out of the mire of just going out and talking shite. Give them a direction and a proper feud and they could really be brilliant. And the pop if they finally pick up titles by beating a heel New Day would be amazing. Something new needs to happen with Owens and Jericho. I can see Jericho interfering at Roadblock (gotta make Roman look strong y'all), which would take both on to the Rumble. Have the breakup happen for that and you should get a high-stakes match for then. I'm still not convinced that it's big enough (yet) to be a WM match. And the thought of them continuing with the will they/won't they until then isn't appealing. I'm not sure it's anywhere near guaranteed that one of Lesnar or Goldberg wins the Rumble. In fact, I'd be confident in saying neither will now that they're both involved. If one or the other was, then there'd be more mileage, but with them both being involved I could see them being number 1 and 2 (they take each other out before 3 even arrives, or just early) or doing similar in the middle or late parts. Looks like we're full steam ahead to a WM match between them, and the only way one could win the Rumble and manage that would be if the other was Champion. Unless they do another "for the title" match. And I just realised that you pretty much said what I said in the last part I can't see it being anything other than that. Agreed on the US title. It's absolutely baws. Cena did so, so much for that belt. It was huge with the Rusev feud when Cena finally took it, then for 210 days (with a month in between for the Rollins dual-reign thing) he made it look actually worthwhile. Since then Del Rio won it in a pretty shit match, then Kalisto, then Del Rio again, then Kalisto again, then Rusev again, then Reigns. I can't think of one huge moment in the life of the title since Del Rio made the surprise return, but at least in the months after it was actually defended. Presumably it won't be at Roadblock, and I'd be shocked if Reigns wasn't in the Rumble, so probably won't be until...Elimination Chamber? Is that the RAW one before WM or is it Fastlane? Best case, they have someone screw him out of the title on RAW if they really want him to be in the main event. Let someone hold it who can actually benefit from it. Cruiserweights are absolutely guff. One of the saddest parts of WWE now considering how absolutely brilliant the CWC was. Charlotte is on her streak at PPVs. Guarantee that if they book her in a title match at Roadblock, she's winning it back. They've only just started making something out of it. I'm not someone who hates the idea of titles going back and forth, certainly don't see it as devaluing the title or anything, and I'd probably say I'd rather see a few changes than a long reign that goes stale. But there needs to be some kind of storyline and planning into what's happening to make it worthwhile, otherwise it just looks like you've got no idea what you're doing. Which they probably don't.

It doesn't feel like they have a coherent long-term plan for the women. It looked like they switched the title at HIAC so that Bayley could move on to feuding with Charlotte and Banks could busy herself with Nia Jax. Seemed fair enough, and SS ended pointing to that. Then a week later they effectively throw that all up in the air and have yet another title change. More than that, they have the wizened ghost of Ric Flair come in too. That points to the feud perhaps still not being over. Maybe we're getting a triple threat at the Royal Rumble, where hopefully Banks moves more towards the heel side of things, leading to Bayley winning at WM. It's not that anything they're doing is bad, but there's no real storytelling at the moment.

A nice winnable tie before we inevitably get drawn away to Dundee United in the next round for Archie's annual cup tickling. In all seriousness though, he really needs to take the cup more seriously this year. I'm not suggesting he goes out there to lose in any way, but the cup games always just seem so lethargic. I don't have specifics, but seem to remember some questionable team selections in home cup ties that I was at. And lest we forget the absolute shitemare that was the Falkirk league cup tie last season.

Burke's featured in 50% of the games he's been available for so far. Hardly "can't get near a game". Gauld's hardly lighting up the U21s, so hardly surprising he's not featuring yet.

If it's the bit I'm thinking of, for some reason they're there to kill all the cats that are hanging around. Swift wasteland justice was exacted as soon as that became clear.

Calling it the "foundation" update is the worst part, along with the tagline after it. "You know that game that had the base of something great but didn't come near that? Here's an update that provides a further base!" Reading through it, it's all stuff that should have been in from day 1. To be honest, it's probably stuff that was planned for day 1 before whatever happened...happened. They talk about more free updates to follow, so hopefully they're working on them right now. If they get sizable updates out over the next few weeks, they might manage to drag people back. They've got a long, long way to go though. Actually, reading into the more specific fixes, if they do what they say they do, then there's some really good stuff in there. I'll boot it up and maybe try out the survival mode, see if it feels less like a lifeless sandbox. Because I really want this game to be good, and not just "alright".

They'll bring him back at some point once everyone's just about moved on. Outside shot of it being Royal Rumble, but expect it'll be the WM program. You know, the one months and months and months after the initial event. Surely they could've thought of some other way to put the title on Owens without creating this huge elephant in the room situation

^^^ I-wouldn't-have-voted-this-way-if-I'd-known type review IMO

That's not necessarily PG though. I think part of it will be down to being terrified of what they might say from a ratings perspective, but it's also just as much about them wanting to control the product and make it as slick as possible. But other than that, totally agree. They used to just send them out with loose points to hit. I think it was Wrestling With Wregret that showed the differences between a script from many, many years ago and today. Today's was enormous, putting out every little thing they were going to say. The other one was just a few stage directions, along the lines of "Stone Cold comes out angry at Mankind/Then Rock appears!". Let the people who can think on their feet say what they feel will get over in the moment. Sometimes they'll f**k up, but it'll always seem more natural and less rehearsed.

Not sure about Owens vs Jericho. Is it big enough? Definitely building towards a feud, but it doesn't immediately scream Wrestlemania to me. Of course, with the right build, it definitely could. It's tough at this stage, but the one I would be annoyed about if it didn't happen is the Taker/Cena match you mention. I don't think it needs to be for the title, although it's definitely a sensible storyline to go down. Bayley vs Charlotte is surely a lock, unless they throw Banks in there too. Charlotte's run finally ending at WM with Bayley picking up her first title would be a great moment, but not sure what Banks does then. Actually, apart from that, there isn't really anything that looks likely at the moment. The brand split is too young, could even be that we get some draft trades before then that completely change the outlook. We'll get the Battle Royal for all the jobbers, we'll get an IC ladder match I imagine. I think Shaq and Big Show are pretty much guaranteed (ooft...cannae wait). I'd actually go along with a Shield Reunion to be honest. I don't think you necessarily need any of the three in singles matches. Rollins may well end up against HHH (although surely that isn't going to get dragged out until then), and there's still little appetite for Reigns to be a singles star. Ambrose hasn't really worked out how most hoped, so putting them together would be absolutely huge with the right opposition. Doesn't need to be the Wyatts either.

This. A lot of the stuff they got away with in the attitude era wouldn't improve what we have now. Like you say, you can easily have a good product no matter what rating it has. The NXT Tag Title match never came close to breaching PG, but it was absolutely amazing.

Have Goldberg come out in the second wave of the Rumble, give him the full entrance treatment with everyone in the ring doing their usual "OMFG look who's here" routine. Have him eliminate everyone (it'll be only relative jobbers by that point) then celebrate for the remaining seconds before the next entrant. Lesnar. Have them batter the living shit out of each other until the next guy comes in (make it Ellsworth or something). They completely ignore him and battle out eliminating each other, setting up a match at Wrestlemania. Then after Ellsworth dances around like the odd looking fucker he is, Strowman comes in next and tears his arms off or something. That seems to be the most obvious route they could take, but I'm not sure what they could really do with another Lesnar Goldberg match. I don't think the latter can go for a long match, and neither can the former at the moment without resorting to suplex after suplex. I'd far rather Lesnar moves onto something more interesting (if they manage to take this opportunity to make the character itself more interesting) and have Goldberg do something different. Or maybe they'll go mental and have Goldberg win the Rumble or something.

I didn't really get into Roode/Dillinger that much. Not to say it was a bad match or anything, just don't see it as as good as some have said. Asuka/James was solid - probably the best they could have hoped for given the empty room that the women's division is now. Thought it ended pretty abruptly though. Dusty Classic....meh. What was really the point? I know they're probably building up the heel team to go against the new face champs, but the match didn't really seem t fit anywhere. Another solid match, and in no way bad, but the shark cage thing felt pretty out of place - probably because it was purely to promote a toy - and the previously dominant, dangerous heel team poses with the Rhodes family at the end like they're at a particularly meh Butlins. I thought they might do something heelish after the win, but alas no. The main event...ooft. Absolutely did not see Nakamura being beaten, so that was a huge surprise, but the match itself was also pretty good. Suitably brutal, and slightly better than the one they had last time. I really hope it means that they're slingshotting Nakamura to the main roster, and not that they're going to have another few months of tepid build to a match at the next Takeover where they reevaluate. But the absolute gem of the night, obviously, is that tag team match. It's an absolute shining example of what is great about wrestling. Like Bryan winning at WM30, you build up that emotional investment, then put on a match that absolutely lives up to the hype and keeps you guessing right up to the last moment. Personally I was always hoping for them to come up short one last time and then Ciampa to turn into the heel he already looks like. Scary fucker. But seeing them win it and the celebration after was brilliant. Assuming they go up against Authors of Pain now, which should be interesting as the babyfaces in peril. I wouldn't even be totally against them dropping at the Rumble if it means we get a singles feud leading up to Mania. And special props to the Revival. They don't seem that universally popular, but from a pure performance standpoint, they're my favourite team to watch. Enzo and Cass are more entertaining, American Alpha are more naturally athletic and impressive, but the Revival do all the little things absolutely perfectly. Their heel work is brilliant, and I really hope that when they do go up - surely it's imminent - they don't just get lost in the shuffle and lose what has made them great. Empty hope probably though.

I didn't agree with how he was just plain dropped against Slovakia, but it's understandable why he didn't feature. Maybe once the game was gone you could argue he should have come on, but I think there was more call for him to do the same against England. At 2 or 3 nil there, would've been good to have him as one of the subs coming on. But let's at least wait for more than just these two games before we declare that it's such a terrible thing for Burke. There's now months before the next game, in which time Burke will be hopefully featuring for his club. If he's amazing between now and then and Strachan still doesn't pick him, then fair enough, he deserves criticism. But he didn't show anything against Lithuania that showed he was an absolute must-pick. Definitely should have been one of the subs against England though, and unless something goes awry, he should feature fairly heavily in March.

But I've seen plenty of reviews around saying that Mafia 3 gets incredibly repetitive after a while, so interesting comparison to draw. It's all people's tastes. One man's terrorist, another man's freedom fighter and less used cliches. I'd say I enjoyed the time I spent with NMS, while still knowing it could be so much better. I found it a good alternative to other games I enjoy playing.

Has to be the home straight for his career. There's 5 or so PPV's left until (and including) Wrestlemania. I see no reason why he couldn't be at most of those building up a final angle to culminate at WM. Pretty cryptic stuff said last night but saw someone suggest that he start a program with Styles, win the title at the Rumble, then set up a feud with Cena for WM. Can add in a retirement angle if they really want to go all out, but it's a nice way to get Taker vs Cena, Cena getting that title he clearly wants. Would be a bit harsh to drop Styles so soon, but there's plenty of options for him outside of the title.

Get the demo and see for yourself. It's going to be a better indication than asking people on here. Some will hate it, some will love it, probably neither will have your opinion.

That's a wonderfully well done part of the quest. The first time around, I couldn't do it, and then the second I couldn't either, even though I knew that it wouldn't be harmed either way. Might've been the wife looking at me with a horrified expression... So aye, you fucking monster

I think, although could be wrong, that it went as follows... Journalist reports (before Hello Games did) that NMS was going to be delayed Journalist gets roundly pilloried for "lieing" and gets death threats directed at him and the company he worked for Hello Games announce the delay No apologies to the journalist for being correct, but the hate and vitriol gets directed instead at Sean Murray and Hello Games. I'm genuinely fascinated by these creatures. I'd love to know who they are in real life - are these actual sociopaths who would be a real danger to someone if they were in real life and not on a computer screen, or are they just basement dwellers doing it for shock value? I'm not really sure which is worse to be honest.

This. Sensible people would probably be fine with him coming out and saying he'd fucked up. I'm with you, Edgarus, it'd be refreshing to see it happen, and probably grab him back a lot of favour. But then there's the crowd that gave him death threats for announcing a one month delay. A fucking delay. What would they do if he came out and did a Billy Clinton?

That's the key part. At the point he promised them, did he think that was the case? That's where we probably disagree - personally I think he fully believed in the project to the point where he believed things that ended up not being implemented. To each their own though. To be honest, I still think I probably got my money's worth out of the game, on a pure hours basis. I'd say I enjoyed most of it. It could have been a million times better though. Bethesda use the "radiant quest" stuff, started with Skyrim. Basically the ones where some basic NPC tells you to go clear out x, or go kill y. Then they populate that location with things and have you go do something. In that sense, they are endless, and they marketed it as such particularly with Skyrim. It sounded great on paper, but once you actually get down to doing these endless quests, they're incredibly repetitive. But then they're supposed to be, and the world they inhabit is much, much more pleasing than the one in NMS.