Shane

I’m invested in the XBOX infrastructure. Doubt I’ll change that, as I’ve preferred the experience, for the most part. When the time for the PS5 “Pro” or whatever they call it comes, I’ll pick up a cheaper base model for the exclusives.

After GoT and with new consoles coming, I continue to dip into my backlog. First it was Control. With that done, it’s on to Horizon: Zero Dawn. After a few hours, I think I like it. Not sure if it’ll sink its hooks into me the way the last few games I’ve played have, though. I need to stop bouncing from console to console, though. There’s always fuckery because of the different button mapping Nintendo does, but even the different, uh...heft of the Xbox and PS4 controllers can screw with me at times.

This isn’t *huge* news, but it ain’t nothing, either. Game Pass continues to be a really solid investment for me. I don’t really buy yearly sports stuff, but I would play them if they were in front of me. This puts them in front of me.

Skins are the first thing I explore whenever you run an upgrade. I am never disappointed in my ability to turn the actual board into unreadable content regardless of the substance of any posts. ?

The last thing I needed for Platinum was one of the side missions, A Debt Paid. It's not one you get directed to and I somehow never stumbled across it, even though I went through that area a million times during the course of the game. Or so I thought, anyway...

I know I’m a year late, but I rolled credits on Control today and it’s a hell of a game. The ashtray maze is one of the best sequences I’ve ever played. Anyone here play the DLC? Worth the $25 for the season pass, or wait for a sale?

Tony Hawk *feels* right. That's literally all I needed. The nice graphical trimmings are just icing on the cake. The graphics have thrown me off in some levels, though, because while the geometry is the same, it doesn't look familiar. I also had a really good combo going in the first skate park and bailed after getting distracted by a big video screen showing live footage of what you're doing. Don't remember that being there in the original! I will be spending a good amount of time with this over the next few months. Not a game I'll binge through, because the THPS series has a way of inducing red hot rage in me in a way that no other game ever has. I've learned to just sit it down and move on to other stuff. Sometimes that means I play for hours. Sometimes it means I get 15 minutes. Depends on the day!

That Funk pic is a good reminder of why he was known as “Handsome” Harley. Sure, he ended up as grizzled as you’d imagine based on the stories alone, but he was a decent lookin’ dude when he was younger.

Yes. This first show is from early-‘89, building to the Dusty vs. Big Steel Man match at Homecoming.

Was the PWF just a rebranding of Florida Wrestling or a completely separate company? Who was the President, Randy Roberts? Money mark or a name from Florida wrestling past? Found a few episodes of the tv on YouTube and started watching. Seems like a better roster than late-era Florida, but DDP is all over this first show. At this point, his promos are still more annoying than good. He’s definitely working out the kinks.

If you haven't played them, here are some titles that I'd consider worth a look: Dead Cells Hitman 2 Watch Dogs 2 Saint's Row 2-4 RE7 Dishonored 1 & 2 Fallout: New Vegas X-Com 1 & 2 Prey MGS V Pillars of Eternity Red Dead Redemption/RDR: Undead Nightmare

I still occasionally listen to the Luftrausers soundtrack. Liked the game, but the music is phenomenal. Nuclear Throne was fine, but it never clicked the way some roguelikes do for me. I think Ridiculous Fishing was my favorite game they did. Spent a lot of time with that one. Nice that they’re seemingly going out on their terms and as friends. Rami is a good Twitter follow. Looking forward to see what they individually get up to next.

I know Division is one of the free Xbox games this month, but if you have a Uplay account, it looks like it's also free there until 9/8 if you've got a PC that'll run it.

My wife has gotten further than me. I think she has all 4 characters up to Ascension 10 or so. I think my highest is A5 for Watcher. I mostly just play custom runs and the daily, though. Also got into some of the mods on PC With few exceptions, I think I’ve played StS nearly every day since, like...last November. Pretty sure I have 100+ hours on Xbox, PC and close to it on Switch as well. Even when I’m in the midst of a miserable run (which isn’t uncommon!), I still enjoy the game.

Turns out, if I can mitigate some of the damage the rank and file enemies do in Control, it’s suddenly a game I really enjoy. Assist Mode was a fantastic addition for me. Interestingly, even if you turn everything on the highest setting, make yourself invincible and toggle one-hit kills, it doesn’t disable Achievements/Trophies. I was surprised by that.

Yeah, I was only missing one (unlisted) side mission after I finished the game. Took me longer to figure out what and where it was than to actually do the mission. Though I don’t mind collectibles (I find list checking to be relaxing and it feels like I’ve accomplished something when I’m done), I did appreciate that you don’t need to find everything for those trophies. Only...20, I think, for both Artifacts and Records. And you have to scrounge up so much crafting material in enemy camps that you’re going to be finding them naturally anyway.

Got the Tsushima platinum earlier. Man, what a game. Has pretty much climbed into my top 10 of all time. The combat is just stellar and I dig the story a lot. No real twists, but they still effectively hit even the beats that you saw coming hours beforehand. I see that Control added an assist mode. I’m going to give it another try, I think. I was engrossed in the story, though I didn’t get too deep before I bounced off. Less so the gameplay. Specifically how fragile your character can be early. Some of the grunts packed a bigger punch than you’d think. Since I can mitigate that (or just make myself invincible if I really want), I want to see the story through.

How much footage from before say...the late 70s is out there for Bullet Bob? Was thinking of doing a deep dive of his work and realized that, to my knowledge, I've never seen him as a younger guy. Most of my knowledge of him comes from Georgia and Southeast/Continental from the early-mid 80s and from Smoky Mountain.

Brian Christopher and Chris Candido try to outdo one another with petty heel bullshit for 10 minutes. Candido kicks it to another gear and then Memphis comes to Minnesota in 1993. This was wildly entertaining and exactly what I needed tonight.

I've gotten the Golden Slingshot (pop 100 balloons). Only a few bugs away from the net. Not too many fish remaining, either. Sharing the island with my wife has helped in that respect, as there are eyes on the island throughout the day. She's also someone who loves clearing a checklist, so I can futz around replacing all of my infrastructure with better infrastructure and planting orchards and whatnot while she knocks out the bugs. Heh.

Finished Act One of Ghost of Tsushima. It does that thing that I hate when games do. That final mission is a longer one (at least in terms of this game). When you beat it, it dumps you directly into another mission with no down time. After that, it dumps you into *another* mission. Give me a breather, game! Loving the game otherwise. This might be a game I platinum.

Aww, man...Mitch Ryder? This one really bums me out. He was a favorite of mine in CHIKARA especially. Didn’t see his IWA work until much later. His character just worked so well surrounded by young lucha dudes who didn’t look or work like him at all. Great chemistry with Sweeney and Shayne Hawke, too.

I might just be blind, but I don't think there are any Sheepherders matches in this thread and that seems like a missed opportunity. Making pretty boy yanks spill some plasma was their calling and they were good at it! Poor Bobby Fulton sure was a bleeder, too.

ECWA shows (both classic and new) coming to IWTV. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Super 8 despite being a huge fan of Indy tournaments. https://independentwrestling.tv/news/ecwa-comes-to-iwtv

Seeing Eddie Kingston on TNT was a pretty big one for me, but that was more about him as a person than the character, so I’m not sure it fits. In ring, Kofi is probably the most recent example for me.