RedTwoster

I'd felt that way until playing this game - they do new things with the HD2D that I've not seen before and it's really beautiful - really interested in your thoughts on this one when you do end up playing it. I'm a bigger Final Fantasy fan than I am a Zelda fan, so this was my most anticipated game of the year, but I'm going to move right on to Ocarina when I'm done with it.

Has anyone played Final Fantasy Resonance yet? Visually, it might be the most beautiful game I've ever experienced. The pixelart/HD-2D style is something else. It's to early for me to have a firm opinion on the actual game, but I'm already blown away by how good it looks.

It's the first time I've ever been excited for a match like this, it's absolutely nuts to imagine them doing something like this and I just can't wait. I don't think so. I can't recall him even being busted open accidentally in WWE, although given the length of his career there it surely must have happened at some point.

I think it was me that mounted that argument, and while absolutely agree with you, I don’t think there’s much point raising that point with someone who is pro-death penalty, as they’ve clearly already decided they’re fine with the idea of the state taking a life. Best chance of getting them to reconsider is to point out how dangerous the punishment is.

Texas Death has never been my thing, but the fact New Level are in it actually makes me want to see this match. I just can’t imagine Kofi and Creed going to that level of brutality, it’s the maddest possible match you could have those guys in, I love it!

If they have I can't remember it, but I loved the approach. I can't remember it being taken in any other company either, it felt really unique and made his debut feel like an event. Which is kind of was, the match was ace. I never thought about it in this way, but you're totally right. You could absolutely see Jericho doing something like this at a different point in his career. I never would have thought it possible for these two even a couple of months ago, but it's the perfect midcard feud - it's been fun, Wayne has been elevated, Jericho feels refreshed, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Yeah, I'm super intrigued by this. I don't know how it's happened, but Mercedes has suddenly become really good on the mic. Like you, I've no idea how to assess Marina's ability in ring, but I've no doubt Mercedes will get the best out of her either way.

I reckon the original plan would have been to move the belt from Moxley to another Death Rider - either PAC or Gabe Kidd. I don't think it was accidental that PAC was the final person in shot at the end of every Moxley promo. I also wonder, if Sheamus is going to join AEW, if he might look to establish himself right away by taking part in this to immediately show the AEW audience exactly what he's about. Dragunov in the CC does make sense, but I'd still like to see a focus on the Death Riders, albeit in a different context. I'd like to see Moxley and Daniel Garcia in the same group, with the final group stage match lined up so that only one of them can progress to the next stage. I'd like to see Garcia progress - and go on to win the whole thing in a hugely emotional moment. I've tried to put together brackets, but it's so fucking hard. I feel like Adam Copeland probably will be in there, but there are so many people I'd like to see involved. It feels like the right time for Nick Wayne to get his chance in something like this, and Bandido is always great value. I'd like to see one or both of the New Level and I'd also like to see Bandido and Brody King. Then you have someone like Mistico, who would be a fun inclusion. Kevin Knight has had one hell of a year, so you'd probably want to include him and Hangman Page feels like a good shout given that he's out of the world title picture for the time being. Then there's Fletcher, Samoa Joe, Tommaso Ciampa, Orange Cassidy, Speedball, Darby, Jack Perry, Gabe Kidd, Jay White, Takeshita, Swerve, Okada, Claudio and even Jeff fucking Jarrett! I'd love to see The Bucks in there at some point - that would be interesting - but I don't think this is the year in which we'll see that. I can't come up with brackets I feel completely satisfied with...but I'm really excited for this year's CC, it's yet to disappoint.

I don't doubt that he did - I didn't mention it because it was all in the link, not for any nefarious reason to be clear! I think they were too. There was definitely talent drain, but not to the extent that they were a bust, particularly given that there is a Mass Effect TV show on the horizon - you'd have to imagine every effort was being made to ensure that new game delivered. Also worth highlighting that EA has cut staff from a number of companies (link to Eurogamer) as part of this. It's clearly linked to the buyout, and it absolutely sucks.

That's true - but here's an account from a former producer that gives a bit more context. In short, the person making the pitch was essentially telling EA what they wanted to hear. And then he left. The pressure across the board was for companies to produce games that create ongoing revenue, and that led to a lot of live service pitches - many of which entered production but never saw the light of day. The logic essentially was, I think, that all it took was for one of these games to stick, and their earnings would outstrip that of several traditional single player games, so companies could absorb the flops. I don't know anyone at BioWare, but I do know people in the industry who were affected by that kind of remit and also people who have lost their jobs - I'll freely admit to being biased as a result, but I still think it's hard to dispute that it's become an industry that places virtually no value in the people who actually drive it forward.

The US has told non-emergency diplomats and their families to leave Saudi Arabia. (link to the BBC) I hope that someone with a bit of stroke actually has the guts to publicly criticise whoever the fuck is pushing for this event to go ahead. There will be plenty of people who can't afford to do that and it's at times like that when those with actual stroke should use their clout to push for what's right.

And that's my point - the people who would actually want to do this job are not the kind of people you would want to be doing it in the first place. But even then, there's saying you'd do it and the mental toll the reality of it would take. You're letting emotion overrule logic here. There's no real way of preventing an innocent person from being executed - and we know for sure that not only does this happen, but it happens at an alarming rate. There's no financial argument in favour of it. We know for sure it's not a deterrent. And even then, you're assuming that perpetrators of the most grave of all crimes would prefer to spend the rest of their lives in prison than be put to death - a case could quite easily be made for it actually being the lesser punishment.

Except the death penalty costs SIGNIFICANTLY more than life imprisonment (link to Death Penalty Info - but really, look at literally any study on the matter ever - there's no financial argument in favour of this). Why on earth have you included so much detail in this hypothetical situation?! Regardless "I have this one example here where there's a lot of proof" is not an argument in favour of the death penalty - situations in which evidence is this irrefutable are incredibly rare and there's not a country in the world where the death penalty is only carried out in this very specific set of circumstances. Good point, how could we possibly know? If only we could look at other countries in the world which do have the death penalty in place and make an evidence-based determination on whether or not it works... And again I'd ask this question, which you've not responded to - would you be willing to do this yourself, or to put someone in the position in which they'd have to?

Either that or he's spent the past 10-years feeling extreme paranoia every time his phone rings.

Talking of Noam Dar, he's whatever the opposite of this thread would be. He's the male Tamina Snuka. It's absolutely amazing that he's been with WWE for a decade. Presumably he's contributing something we're unaware of - producing matches in NXT or perhaps he's a stellar coach or something.

I think the finger pointing is fair in this case - as @The King Of Swing said, they seem to have been hampered enormously by executive interference; I'd use Dragon Age: The Veilguard as an example. It started off as a live-service game before it morphed into what it became. Anthem was another attempt to chase live-service cash - I'd categorise BioWare as being in a similar position to Arkane and Rocksteady - single player specialists with orders from above to develop games they simply weren't well suited to make - the kind of games I strongly suspect they weren't wanting to make in the first place.

That was a fun show. I really enjoyed the way they built Dragunov up throughout the show - the metronome, giving his debut the main event. He didn't feature enough in WWE to feel like he'd been diminished and he feels like a bit of a blank slate to me, kind of like when they signed Swerve. The way they present him makes him feel like a very big deal. And talking of a big deal...I think I've changed my mind about Nick Wayne. We have a situation in which Chris Jericho might have actually made someone. Wayne has come on leaps and bounds on the mic, and this storyline is the best thing Jericho has done since his feud with MJF. And that means Jericho has benefitted from this feud too - he's no longer someone I dread seeing (...we'll see how long this lasts, though) I'm totally OK with the story continuing in some form, it's been fun. Davis and Doyle smashing through The Bucks shocked me - although this was in part because I completely forgot that the titles weren't on the line. I know they're going to want to build to Bucks/New Level, but I kind of hope they have D&D smash through The Bucks a second time. Don't make it the competitive match people are expecting - do the exact same thing and make them the new Tag Team champions. Every week I say how much I love Okada, and I'm going to do it again here. Don Callis saying "Nothing matters more than money" before that absolute twat-bag chipped in with "...and family!" made me laugh out loud. Okada is my favourite character in wrestling. PLEASE put the World title on him in 2027, Tony/@Hannibal Scorch The Mercedes/Shafir confrontation felt big time. They probably should have had Marina win more matches before doing this but the presence she has almost negates the fact they've not done that. I can't wait for the actual match, and to see what kind of match Mone can pull out of her. I guess I'll wait to see how it plays out, but I think they made a huge mistake turning Jay White. He's always been a rather bland heel, but as a babyface he's always been tremendous. He had real top babyface vibes to him, but they've decided to take another path and we'll see how it all plays out. I'm not convinced, but it may be a decision made on the back of PAC's death, replacing whatever story they'd previously planned to run with. I can't imagine Gabe Kidd would have remained babyface had this tragedy not occurred. But yeah, I felt like shit this morning - run down with either covid or the flu. Dynamite was exactly what I needed it to be to perk me up.

I'm assuming you're referring to the execution of Christa Pike, but 32 people have been put to death in the States this year, 47 in 2025. But here's another stat for you. Since 1973, at least 203 people have been put to death in the US who were wrongly convicted (link to Death Penalty Information Centre). One would be too many. And there's your reason for why it should never go ahead. Sorry - there are your 203 reasons. Sorry, I'll correct myself again there are the 203 reasons we actually know about. What someone is accused of is not a safeguard. As people have pointed out, this is an insane idea. The whole point of courts being open to media and the public is that it allows us to see that justice has been done - or not. Your previous suggestion doesn't create a safeguard, but this would remove one. This is incredibly rare and even in situations like this, DNA evidence isn't always the smoking gun people believe it to be. In fact, the perception that it actually is a smoking gun has led to many wrongful convictions. As has been stated, you've removed the incentive to plead guilty - you might as well put someone through the trauma of a trial if the alternative is your own death. Unless you actually want to die, in which case this isn't a punishment, it's an assist. Also stupid. That's literally torture. And again - let's point to the scenario in which someone is wrongfully convicted and they are left in isolation for decades as a punishment for a crime they didn't commit in the first place. I'll make one final point - if you're an advocate for the death penalty, you're an advocate for turning another human being into a killer. You're asking one person to kill another. If that's a job that appeals to you, you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. If it isn't something you'd like to do, the mental health toll on the person/people in question would potentially be horrific. Would you be willing to be the executioner? Would you be willing to kill another human being who has been convicted of a crime? Could you look them in the eye knowing what you are about to do, then watch them take their last breath knowing your actions were the cause?

When a trial is ongoing, it’s considered ‘active’ meaning that speculating about it could be considered contempt of court. It’s never really worth the risk, to be honest. This is the second time you’ve brought up the death penalty, and I’ll do you the courtesy of actually addressing what you’re saying. Here’s the thing - courts sometimes get things wrong. Innocent people have been convicted and sentenced to death, and once that sentence is carried out there’s no reversing that mistake. While he obviously wasn’t sentenced to death, Andrew Malkinson would be a recent example of this - under your reasoning, there’s every chance he’d not have been around to have had his sentence quashed. To be clear, this isn’t me casting doubt on any conviction - I’m simply saying you should take a step back and think about the implications of that kind of thing.

@Jazzy G’s mention of Justin Gabriel in the binnings thread has had me discover that he was nevet with AEW. Which likely won’t be a surprise to anyone else, but i was sure I remembered him teaming with Angelico and Jack Evans during the early days of the company. I thought I might be getting mixed up with their time in Lucha Underground, but it doesn’t seem to have happened there either, at least not according to Cagematch. Evans and Gabriel/PJ Black teamed up together once, but that’s it. More my memory being shit than the Gangrela Effect, I suppose.

That’s the worst part about this. Very few of these closures have been because the companies in question are not making money, it’s so people up top, so shareholders can make more of it. And it’s utter short-termism that completely undervalues the people who actually make that profit possible. With no one to make games, where does the money come from? I’ve no doubt the majority of these companies are eyeing up an AI-generated future. But fuck that. I hope the people who have been laid off are able to set up their own companies and enjoy enormous success, and that the people behind these lay-offs - all of them, not just Bioware - see their reputations destroyed as they tank their companies through their uncaring greed. Fuck them all.

Pretty sure it's this, given the lyrics to her theme song.

One for Scottish Football fans that perhaps won't mean much elsewhere - but former Dundee midfielder Giorgi Nemsadze has sadly died at 54 (link to Daily Record). If you're not a Scottish football fan, he was a great player - but the most interesting part of his story is the era in which he played for Dundee. The club took a massive punt, ousting boss Jocky Scott to bring in a little-known Italian player-manager called Ivano Bonetti. Although it was Jocky who brought Nemsadze to the club, he stayed there for one of the craziest times for any club in Scottish football, where the club brought in a string of genuinely brilliant signings including Julian Speroni (who'll be familiar to Palace fans), Zurab Khizanishvili (would go on to play for Blackburn Rovers), Temur Ketsbaia (formerly of Newcastle and Wolves) and, most notably of all, Claudio Caniggia. I still find that last one utterly insane. Caniggia was Diego Maradona's best friend, and the wee man himself came insanely close to lining up for Dundee in a friendly (link to The Guardian). I'm super nostalgic for that period of time, it was so fun - and led to even more insanity when the convicted fraudster and fake lawyer (who somehow swindled his way on to Saddam Hussein's legal team and also represented Moors Murderer Ian Brady) Giovanni Di Stefano bought his way into the club, almost stamping them out of existence through not having the money he claimed to, while bringing the likes of Fabrizio Ravanelli and Craig Burley to the club (briefly) and claiming that he was about to sign Edgar Davids. It was a crazy time for that club.

He was with WWE for longer than you might think - from 2005 until 2010, even though his stint on the main roster (if ECW even counts as main roster) was brief. He must have been really young at the time too, a quick Google has shown me that he's still only 43.

Time to give this guy his due... Not Jimmy Hart, but the other man in the photo - he's Steve Chamberland, otherwise known as the guy John Laurinaitis signed by mistake instead of Zach Gowen back in 2003. When WWE realised his balls up, they ditched him and brought in Gowen instead. He seems to have founded a charity to help fellow amputees since then, so good for him.

Here's his debut, if it helps jog the memory... I don't, and I certainly don't remember Andrade being associated with Hardy. I remember Matt managing Private Party, so I assumed it was to do with that - but after googling I see they were all in a stable with Butcher, Blade and Bunny and Jack Evans and Angelico which subsequently became known as the Andrade Hardy Family Office. I have zero recollection of this, so I can only assume it all played out on Dark or Rampage.