Chaos

Granted, it released at the worst possible time for people mentally with the pandemic starting; however, that was kind of the narrative around release and why I've never been in a hurry to play it (I also am just awful at stealth). I've heard it's a blend of being super long, a bit of a slog, and a bit overwrought in misery from a narrative perspective.

Gross. I'm already very over this election cycle.

I wanted to check it out, so this works for me.

I started SpiderMan 2 this week. I'm still in the first act, but I feel like it's not clicking with me as well as the previous two entries did. Controls just feel a little janky to me, and the predator mode/stealth stuff isn't as intuitive. I've yet to get through a sequence that hasn't ended with me just having to brawl my way through waves of enemies. It's the first time in 3 years that I've probably played something with the Arkham combat mechanics, but this feels more random. Even the oddities of stuff like webbing people up with Miles is pretty easy with R1, but I think you can only do so much with Peter using triangle and R1 is more gadget focused.

This is one that probably did not need a sequel, and I love the first one.

Jeff Grubb is thinking we're a good 6 years off from the next game being released given that there's still not a date for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if it's out next year. Been heavy rumors about it running on two years now, and I think Rockstar is usually good at waiting until they feel something is closing in on the finish line before showing.

Miz would feel like a very WWE choice to end Gunther's reign. I'm guessing all of this Nakamura stuff is to set up Orton's return at Survivor Series, as that seems to be the night they have him slated to return.

"LSU fans smell just like corn dogs. Yes, it is often said, but so, so true. LSU fans do smell like corn dogs." War Eagle!

Yeah, I have a few discs I want to play from my 360 and not having a disc has been frustrating. I almost bought RDR1 even though I own it the last time it went on sale for pretty cheap. It hasn't gone on sale since because a couple of months later was the release announcements on the other two consoles. I did at some point buy FFXIII digitally even though I own it.

Every time I think about upgrading my S to an X, I'm reminded how little time I spend gaming lately. It'll happen. I'm just in no hurry for it. I do need to get one before they completely eschew the optical drive.

Granted it was a pre-tape vignette, but that's the first time I have seen him where I've gone "he might be a decent promo." At least the curiosity is sparked. Also, I've seen Bron wrestle a few times, but I guess I've not heard much of his mike work. He speaking patterns and voice sounds a little close to his uncle right now.

I rarely have time to watch wrestling on Cable these days, but this is a case of I hate it being on Saturday as opposed to next week. That's going head to head with Auburn/LSU and potentially a Braves game 5 for me.

I always viewed it as a game that would have to get legs through word of mouth, and I'm sure they can't really control when EA Wanted to release it. Unfortunate all around.

The Embracer rebranding kind of got tied into "mass acquisitions and expansions." It never sounded sustainable for a studio of that size or with that specific target base. You just hate it for developers and studios that thought they were getting a second chance/life by getting the support of a larger entity (even though that historically has not been the case).

This just seems to be the norm with these suspensions. Even if you look at Ohio State during the Urban suspension, I believe there was one questionable game on that schedule, and that's kind of how we got to Ryan Day running the show today.

If you have Gamepass, the premium upgrade is $31.50 I believe with the discount. Obviously requires gamepass to play the base game. I snagged it last week.

I paid for the early edition access through Gamepass, and I'm not sure that I'll get to touch it early. Leaving for the beach, and I haven't decided if I'm taking Friday off or leaving afterwards. Sadly, it would not go over well if I took my Series S with me.

I've really only been touching Solo content on MUT (I don't know why I do this to myself. It's not like I have time to do any kind of grinding). However, I've enjoyed Madden this year. I still use classic passing, and I've had some funky stuff with defense and even some weird runs bounce my way through glitchy animations, but it's definitely helping me get fired up for my Saturdays and Sundays to be way too much football. I also had a really nice touchdown run last night that's one of those pleasant, "I saw the field break a certain way" plays.

and that's becoming less true because EA has started putting out the occasionally interesting single player game.

Since tagging is being annoying for me right now, I quoted this: My casual comment was more just due to the fact that I used to watch way more (in my early years on this board) than I do now. Over the last decade or so, my viewing has ebbed and flowed based on me catching the bug to watch stuff. Today, I mostly watch PLE's, AEW PPVs, a smattering of either brand on TV. I usually renew for NJPW World twice a year (around WrestleKingdom and around G1) to watch way less than I intend when I renew. I also will revisit stuff or check out stuff that's posted here or through my own whimsical searching throughout the year. I'm pretty much an open book on what I will watch outside of just gruesome death match stuff. There's a lot of current stuff I've missed in the independent/TNA world. (My peak of indie watching was 03-06 when I watched a fair amount of ROH/IWA MS/Some CHIKARA). I'm fine with revisiting stuff or catching on blind spots (I've seen virtually no Joshi, and outside of 80s Flair and some of what I've watched the 80s WWF DVDVR set over a decade ago, the 80s. I also have only really seen 90s AJPW and a couple of the 90s junior NJPW stuff. For example, I know Hashimoto is a blind spot for me, and I know this board has a reverence for him). I will watch anything from eras I've seen and loved or haven't at this point because there is so much that I've forgotten from just everything else I'm doing and spending less time debating things or from the podcast I did with friends a decade ago. Matt, I apologize for the delay in finding a pick for you. Between schedules and knowing all that you've seen, I've kind of struggled with figuring out a choice for you. I'm going to give you a variety of options that will allow you to choose your own adventure and hope none of them are too boring or obvious choices. First two options are matches I'm not sure I've seen previously, but I might try to remedy both in the coming days. The first option is James Gibson vs Matt Sydal from IWA MS. Gibson's independent run in 2005 was pretty incredible amongst all of the independents where he appeared and might be something I revisit. Meanwhile, Sydal hit my radar the year prior mostly due to that first IWA MS match against AJ Styles with a nasty lariat finish I still somewhat remember today (bummer that match isn't online). https://youtu.be/1rxbgHCPoYQ The second option is Generico vs Claudio from 2007 ROH, which I don't recall seeing because I had fallen out of watching ROH outside of sporadic stuff by 2006, and I think it'd be fun to watch this one with the knowledge of the WWE series they would go on to have 6-7 years later. The next three options are things that I've seen, and I recall enjoying at the time with only one of them being something I praised rapturously when I saw it back then. The third option (Mutoh vs Nagata's 01 G1 Final) I picked because for some reason it popped into my head, and I remember it to be one of the first puro video files that I opened around 2003-2004. I remember enjoying it a lot at the time. I'm not sure how it ages or how it ages as a G2 final. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7f9yz2 2005 stuck out a lot to me as I was going through stuff. I'm not sure why because I don't know I'd consider it an all time great year in wrestling; however, there are a lot of gems in it (for example, I recall adoring the Rey/Eddie 30 minute match that was on a random Smackdown in June of that year.) Anyways, a match I remember enjoying for both the antics, which stood out for this period of NOAH, and the match itself was SUWA vs. KENTA. In 2005. I remember this board and others raving about it at the time as well. It's another one I'm interested in reassessing for myself through a present day lense. https://youtu.be/5wHjdH-7fSs For the final option, I'm by and large not a huge Jeff Hardy fan; however, there are certain brief runs that stand out for him as a singles star. This time frame in late 07 to early 08 stands out to me, and it culminates with this cage match on RAW against Umaga who had a unique ability to bring the best out of the most unexpected people. (I believe the date is 1/7/08). https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6hdgj Anyways, I'll attempt to catch up on what I owe over the weekend.

I touched XVI for the first time in a couple of weeks on Sunday, and I played through the Kupka/Titan fight at Drake's fang. The Kaiju stuff is definitely neat if not at times visually incoherent; however, it's probably good this game is overly forgiving because it doesn't always make it clear on avoiding certain attacks or how to go about attacking in these sequences. That would be fine if this game was trying to be a FromSoft game, but that's no the case.

I'll have a few posts along with some better definitions of what I can watch tomorrow and the next day. However, the first of two matches that @SirSmUgly allowed me to dust off my wrestling writing chops. I don't expect that I'll consistently write to this level about every match, but I did for this and probably over did it. I'll write about his other suggestion and @Matt D's picks later this week. I find watching this era of WCW today fascinating because it was peak childhood enjoyment for me. I was the cliché kid during the Monday Night Wars due to watching the early part of Nitro, watching all of RAW and flipping back over during commercial breaks. I also would tape RAW and Nitro every week on the VCR due to the Nitro replay starting after RAW ended, and then I would look forward to ending my school day with the overused VHS that consistently captured 5 hours of Monday night water cooler discussion. With that said, I’ve forgotten so much of the not big moments of these shows, and my WCW viewership fell to nothing after the infamous 1/4/99 finger poke. With that said, WCW had bit players that I really enjoyed watching before I had a critical eye for pro wrestling. (In some ways you can argue, I’ve always had a critical eye for pro wrestling in the first match I would have proclaimed as my favorite 2.5 years prior would have been Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect at SummerSlam 1991.) Some of those carried over even into their early WWF/E runs (Perry Saturn and Chris Kanyon both come into mind). I’ve always wondered how those perceptions would change with my own ways of watching wrestling having evolved, so I found this random five minute Saturn vs Disco Inferno that I haven’t thought about in 27 years to be a present surprise, especially with my last major context for Glenn Gilberti (Disco) being his main event adjacent run in TNA around ~2003. By WCW’s commentary standards of always talking about the nWo and the war to save WCW, the story here was well established for the uninitiated. Disco suffers from repeated embarrassment of defeat after losing to Jacqueline in October, and he has disavowed himself of any gimmicky flash associated with his gimmick. An attribute that was less acknowledged to this match was that Saturn had Raven’s Flock in his corner, but he was without Raven. Saturn in many instances had acted as Raven’s heavy or Raven’s final test before staring down at the head of the flock. I feel like the lack of Raven should have been more significant to this match and its result in the moment. The bell rings, and you can sense Disco’s eagerness to push the pace on this match. He suffers by eating a scoop slam from Saturn who then taunts him by pointing outside of the ring. An early strike exchange benefits Saturn, who is trying to show “you think you want to work at this level, but your heart isn’t quite in it yet.” Disco finally gets the upper hand by repeatedly attacking the neck and throat before sending Saturn into the corner. The relentless attitude remains the prevalent theme of this battle, and it stepping outside intensifies this notion. Back inside, Saturn is able to regain control and remind Disco that losing focus for a second has consequences. Those include a throat across the top rope and a release pump handle suplex before Saturn’s own ambitions get ahead of him with a missed top rope drop. The brawl goes back outside, and Saturn tries to get his fellow flock members involved before dumping Saturn into them and then giving Lodi a chartbuster across the ring barricade for good measure. Disco attempts to continue the punishment by repeated strikes in the corner before mishandling an irish whip suplex. Saturn capitalizes with the intent of finishing things. A couple of suplex attempts fall into a countered powerbomb that allows Disco to hit the chartbuster, steal the victory, and race outside of the ring with an unexpected victory. This was a little forced/sloppy in spots, but it told a nice, condensed story for a five minute sprint, and it highlights the true power of Nitro at its peak, which was the unexpected fun encounters. EDIT: Finally got tags working.

I've been tied up the last couple of days. I'll do my write up for last week and find something to pick either tonight or tomorrow.

Does the Gamepass version have all the DLC included? I keep meaning to look. I own a disc copy but only have a Series S for now. Plan to upgrade at some point, but I also have such limited time on gaming (I've been kind of building a priority list for this year to drop backlog 2-3 games before year's end... problem is my limited gaming this weekend went to sports games instead).