Ironic Indie Lad

I've just gone back and look at a list of what was covered and there is actually more things that interest me then I first thought.

Castlevania x Dead Cells - Cant resist this. I'm sold on the music alone. I will admit that for a brief second I thought it might be either a new 2D game or some kind of remaster and I got unbelievably excited. Please please please please start making actual new good Castlevania games please.

Sea of Stars - Feel like this has been knocking around forever now. Top tier of pixel art style graphics if you ask me. The graphics and animation remind me of Owlboy which I really loved. Apparently this is a prequel to The Messenger. I've got my eye on this for sure and I'm hopeful that its amazing. There's a hell of a lot of SNES and PS1 inspired RPG's out there but I personally have yet to play one thats more worthwhile than just re-playing Chrono Trigger, FFVI etc. Would be so good to get a genuinely amazing game of this type.

DecaPolice - Was it just me or was this really pretty good looking for a switch game? I know nothing about this whatseoever but when I checked it seems to be Ni No Kuni developers behind it.

I am not all in on the Tears of the Kingdom hype yet. Not quite sure why as Breath of the Wild is clearly among the top games of the last 10 years at the very least. I think maybe its just difficult to get too wild over Zelda games due to the fear of delays. I will be shocked if this isnt superb though. Thinking this might be a swan song for the switch in terms of big first party titles? It's somehow closing in on 6 years.

Really interested to see what they do next. The concept itself clearly has legs as systems are still selling in a big way. They have also barely scratched the surface in terms of the retro games available on their online service. I cant see any way they go back to either dedicated handhelds or dedicated home consoles. I keep thinking they should just bring out a more powerful version and have games scale depending on what hardware you have (much like Xbox One > One X > Series S > Series X) if there is a way for them to do that. Keep compatibility with joy cons, docks etc. If at all possible except handled and branded 1000x better than the Wii to Wii U transition. 

Anyone catch the Nintendo Direct last night?

You can now access Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games through your online subscription. Only a few titles on there for now but a good excuse to play Mario Land 2 which I think is the single most underrated Mario game. Will I play Metroid Fusion again as soon as that comes out on there? All signs point to yes.

They also did one of those "and its available right now!" things for the long rumoured re-master of Metroid Prime. Bit steep at £35 for a 2002 game but then again its Nintendo and it is a fantastic game. I bought it right away as I always support any and all Metroid titles. Played the tutorial this morning and it is wonderful playing it with proper twin stick controls. For a 2002 game, the visual upgrade is pretty stunning. Looks as good as many modern Switch games.

21 minutes ago, air_raid said:

It’s like you read my mind. Within a year they’ll have close to the greatest fantasy roster of all time including HBK coming back and Austin’s last night crossing over 24 hours with Goldberg’s first. Giving rise to the best of the SmackDown games, Here Comes The Pain, where you had all the major players of the halcyon days of 2000-01 plus Shawn, Hogan, Nash, Flair, Goldberg, Lesnar and if you played it to 2005 and beyond like me you could create dupes of Orton and Batista with maxed out stats in the career mode so they could play like main eventers. And you could pretend EVERYONE was in their prime.

2002 was honestly such a mad period. You had many of the biggest attitude era guys still around, various WCW and ECW survivors of the invasion and a strange assortment of future stars and legends.

I often think of this because the first WWF/E show I ever attended was in 2002. In one house show I saw Austin, HHH, Lesnar, Flair, Undertaker, RVD, Booker T, Hall and Nash, Eddie Guererro, Big Show, Mr Perfect and the Hardyz. 

Even just tactically his striking wasn't really just about throwing the bungalows at terminal velocity.

The way he used his striking to stifle Cro Cop for example. He smothered him and I dont just mean he forced a clinch constantly because he didnt. 

On 2/6/2023 at 7:42 AM, Egg Shen said:

It does make me wonder how much Fedor's heart has been in the game though? I know he's 46 now and way past his prime, but Fedor went out of the first round once in 11 years, he's just come in and rolled the dice time after time, no real evolution in his game or any kind of actual gameplan. It's felt like he's probably done the minimal amount of work in the gym, came in and just decided to empty the tank in the first few minutes with hope of landing a big shot. We haven't seen Fedor's sambo game or ground and pound in a decade. That said, he's never been in a dull fight.

Totally agree with this. Cant remember the last fight where Fedor offered anything beyond the possibility of connecting with his signature wild looping punches.

Who even knows how hard he's been training for these fights? He doesnt look like much but then again he never did even in his prime. He could just be going in with his god given power and hoping for the hail mary for all we know. 

In his actual prime his ground and pound was sensational. He was one of the best at damaging guys from the guard. I always thought Fedor had one of the sweetest armbars from the bottom as well but you would have to go so far back in his career to see any examples of that. 

Credit where its due. They almost got the spelling of Milwaukee right!

On 2/5/2023 at 10:37 AM, Fatty Facesitter said:

Best gig
If you'll accept a festival entry - AC/DC at Download 2010 was a brilliant experience. It was absolutely rammed and I was bouncing around like a sardine for most of it - but all in good spirit. Angus - looking even then like he was in his 90's, performed with all the enthusiasm of a dog chasing a tennis ball. My ears were ringing for about a week afterwards. 

I was at this and was grinning from ear to ear for the entire time. Wonderful stuff.

I think about this a lot. There was a bit where Brian Johnston said "get them out if you've got them, girls!" and loads of women complied without so much as a second thought. Imagine any other scenario where a little middle aged geordie guy in a flat cap was like "get them oot like" and I cant imagine it would go down quite as well. 

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

One of the things that frustrates me the most about WWE is when they don't even bother keeping their own stories or characters consistent. 

Edge saying that he formed Judgement Day "to elevate talent" is meta nonsense. It's far from the most egregious of worked shoots, but it's not the story as told on TV - Edge recruited them to be his back-up when he was a heel, and they kicked him out, so he came back for revenge. But he can't just say they used to be his lackeys, because he's a babyface now. 

Similarly, Beth Phoenix saying that Rhea wasn't there because "she speared the soul out of her" at the Royal Rumble. Yep, speared her so hard than she went on to win the Rumble match from the number one spot with no ill effects, but I'm sure it's bothering her a fortnight later. 

Inconsistent logic aside, Edge and Beth simply have AWFUL vibes.

Biting down on the cyanide tablet mood whenever they appear.

3 minutes ago, Chunk said:

This was a new one on me, so I just searched it up. It's a 10 second clip of somebody that sort of looks a bit like Mcgregor, outside in what looks like a tree house, from 5 years ago?

I'm no Mcgregor fanboy, but I wouldn't cite that as an example of Mcgregor going of the rails!

You wouldn't but I would and I have.

It was all over the place at the time when we went on what appeared to be a several day bender around the Grand National 2017. I have just used it as one example of his many benders over the years as I think its an extremely amusing clip.

He isn't one for cancelling. I cant remember any fight-related fuck ups except the pre 200 fuck ups over press obligations.

It has been a long. long time since he has fought on anything resembling a regular basis though so I don't really judge him on the pre Mayweather fight form. Since then there's been the bus incident, smashing that guys phone, punching the old geezer in the pub, numerous awful allegations, the leg break, the movie career, all the benders (see the Conor McGregor in a tree house clip. Amazing stuff), threatening Poirier's family, countless tweet and delete meltdowns, about 30lbs of highly questionable muscle mass, the quiet retirement to get out of the USADA pool....

I dont think he will just pull out over a relatively minor injury or something like that. No reason to suspect that would happen.

I'm just saying I wont be remotely surprised to see an event in the coming months that prevents the fight happening. 

45 minutes ago, David said:

Interesting. Why do you think that?

Conor seems a bit off the rails to me.

Between now and the fight is a hell of a long time for him to stay out of trouble, complete a camp etc. I just wouldn't be surprised whatsoever to see this one go absolutely tits up.

I heard this fight wont be until August or September at the earliest by the time TUF is filmed, aired etc.

With that in mind, my prediction is that this fight does not happen. 

11 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

First “Proper” one was Dio at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre. I think it was Lock Up The Wolves tour and Trouble supported. 

The worst were Alice In Chains. It was pre Dirt and I’m guessing they were on the horse because they couldn’t be arsed and played like it. 

I always love hearing about big metal acts playing places like this. Iron Maiden at Whitley Bay Ice Rink etc. 

I never got to see AIC play with Layne which is a gutter. I did see them touring Black Gives way to Blue a couple of times in 2008 and 2009 and thought they were absolutely brilliant. Jerry Cantrell is just one of my favourite musicians. 

I got a CD Walkman in 1995 with a load of Oasis, Pulp and Blur albums. I was quite lucky in that my parents had a lot of CD's when I was a kid from the likes of Neil Young, The Clash, R.E.M, Style Council, Beautiful South, Van Morrison etc. Sadly they had M People as well and to this day if I hear them I am transported back to it being a rainy sunday, my mums cleaning the house and I am very depressed about having to go to School the next day.

I mostly just listened to the above until the glory days of the late 90s/ early 00s when everyone knew someone with the ability to burn CD's.  I would acquire loads of, in hindsight, terrible metal and punk albums based off of whatever I liked that I saw on MTV2 or Kerrang at the time.

The first CD I can remember actually going into a shop and buying with my own money was License to Ill by the Beastie Boys. For whatever reason I went through a huge Beasties phase in the early 00s and amassed a seriously impressive amount of live and remix bootlegs. 

First was Oasis. The first of 2 nights at Loch Lomond in the summer of '96. My parents took my brother to both but I was only allowed to go to the first as I am the second born and second favourite. 

I was only 9 years old at the time but I am glad that I can remember it quite vividly. We lived about a mile from the venue at the time and it just felt like the entire world has descended on our town. I had just got a CD Walkman for Christmas in '95 and listened to Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory every single day and obviously this was around the peak of the Britpop / Cool Britannia era. 

Best is a tough one as I've been lucky to enough to see just about everyone I've ever wanted to see over the years. Honourable mentions would be sitting about 2 or 3 metres from Rodger Waters playing songs from Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and Animals. I've been a Metallica die-hard for 20 odd years now so every single time I've seen them has been pretty special to me. Loved seeing the Dio line up of Sabbath. Seeing the Beastie Boys on my 18th Birthday. Against Me!, Tool, AC/DC...Its a tough one to nail down.

If it counts, I would go with Biffy Clyro doing their 3 night residency at the Barrowlands in Glasgow in December of 2014. This was after they finished tour Opposites which is their 6th album. They did sets themed around 2 albums per night plus B-sides voted for by ticket holders. A legendary venue which was dressed up beautifully for the occasion. Just magic. I went and got a big Infinity Land tattoo on the Monday in the midst of the biggest comedown ever. 

Always sad to say this but my answer is always the same. Worst is without a doubt Smashing Pumpkins during the 2007 comeback. I am an absolutely massive fan and truly adore Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Those are records I would take to a desert island with me. They were headlining Reading and Leads festivals and added a fairly last minute and relatively intimate show at the academy in Glasgow. It sold out instantly but I managed to get a single ticket someone returned to Tickets Scotland and went by myself.

It was just crap. Bloated, overly long, indulgent slop and played by people who seemed completely disconnected and disinterested to a crowd who were bored. I remember thinking "how can it be that I am standing here watching this but I am just thinking about what food to get for the train home when this eventually ends?" Awful.

Would have been rubbish on any scale but it just really stung as its a band I adore (wahey!).

I often find myself sitting down to play a game fairly late at night after I have worked, walked the dogs, been to the gym etc. Almost without fail I find myself wanting to go to bed within about 45 mins to an hour.

Basically what I am saying is that I feel like the demands of modern life are pushing me towards getting a Steam Deck.

Looking forward to mixing PRIME with Proper Twelve tonight and tuning into Dana Whites Power Slappers! 

2 hours ago, Accident Prone said:

For a game that only requires the four keyboard arrow keys (and the ESC key to see the map), Vampire Survivors is fucking great, isn't it? It seems that as you keep playing and plugging away, more and more layers of gameplay reveal themselves. It's just excellent, and I'm incredibly lucky that there isn't a proper Android version or else I'd be truly fucked.

I couldn't tell you a lick about the soundtrack though, as it's also an excellent podcast game. Up there with Slay The Spire, Rogue Legacy, Dead Cells, Hades, and Binding Of Isaac as games to work on your podcast queue. And I've not even moved past the first character yet, despite unlocking more than a dozen more so far.

I haven't mentioned Vampire Survivors in my sporadic posting on here. Honestly one of the best and most addictive games in years though. The soundtrack is superb but I also find its one of the best games to just switch off to with a podcast on.

For weeks on end me and my friend were just going back and forth with video messages of our increasingly insane overpowered builds. I must have put 100+ hours in and thats just since it came onto Game Pass.

4 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

Funnily enough, I didn't like Dead Cells at all. I really wanted to, but it's a rare exception of a game of that genre which I just couldn't get into. Maybe I need to give it another chance. 

There is a Castlevania themed update coming to it soon which is where I will attempt to get back on board with this.

Despite having quite a massive backlog, I decided to download the 1st Red Dead Redemption onto my Series X. 

I wasn't aware of this but the game got a backwards compatibility upgrade for the Xbox One X that makes it run in 4K and it looks stunning. It can be improved further if you dick about with the saturation too.  It really shows how well made the game was and how nice the art direction was for it to look this good well over a decade later with a few tweaks. I think its about £8 at the moment and the Undead Nightmare expansion is about £3. Well worth a go if you have a One X, Series S or X.

Strange game for me as I actually did complete it years ago but have absolutely zero memory of it. Complete and utter mental black hole. Absolutely lost in the abyss. Buried by time and dust. Not to get too grim but I know I borrowed it off someone in college around the time that my Gran was in her dying days. The only thing I remember is that I used to go to college, come home and just play it until I went to sleep. 

I really loved this playthrough though. Great world, great characters, great story and such a memorable ending. I feel like a fool for leaving it so long and now I agree that it thoroughly deserves its reputation as one of the great games of all time.

4 minutes ago, Merzbow said:

I haven't tried Celeste but many of these modern ultra hard yet well reviewed platformers just fall flat for me, I think Dead Cells is really the only one that stuck with me. Even the super Souls inspired ones like Blasphemous with it's gorgeous Christian like imagery were put down after a couple of hours.

I completed Blasphemous and it's probably the best thing I will ever achieve. 

Can I just shock you?

I was not serious. 

Obviously this isn't going to apply to the overwhelming majority of people. 

Good news for the fighters and other employees with this precedent now set.

You can publicly slap your wife about and you wont receive any formal punishment. You will just need to live with the label!

This is going to be a long one from me as I am old and relentlessly into gaming.

First system I ever had was a NES. I literally do not remember a time in life before I had this so I cant place when I got it, who I got it from etc. although it would have been roughly '89 / 90. I took this thing everywhere and have a very vivid memory of being baffled and slightly angry that my Nannie didnt immediately know how to play Super Mario Bros. when I gave her a go. She just kept running into that first goomba in world 1-1. Obviously loved all the main ones like Mario, Duck Hunt etc. but my fondest memories are of Digger T Rock. Bayou Billy and Gumshoe. I suppose back then you just played the shit out of whatever games you had and those were the ones I happened to own.

Next up was the almighty Game Boy. At the time, my dad used to go to work in Florida for a couple of months most summers. I think he brought the original brick Game Boy back for my brother and I and a good assortment of games - Mario Land, Tetris, Kirby etc. This was obviously far easier for me to take to whoever was looking after me at the times house so it was probably my most used system for quite a while. Very fond memories of just playing Links Awakening all day every day all summer and finally beating it. A beautiful game. I would also rate Mario Land 3 / Wario Land as one of my favourite games ever made.

We got a Mega Drive at some point in the early 90s and I am fairly sure that would have been a Christmas Present. I cant imagine my parents would be forking out for one of those even for a birthday. This coincided with me being able to rent games from our local Global Video. I can still remember the membership number as I was in there weekly for years (it was 09). Obviously being a young child in the early 90s a lot of the time was spent playing Sonic but I was also really into comics at the time so I spent an incredible amount of time playing Wolverine: Adamantium Rage, Captain America and the Avengers, The Incredible Hulk, shite Batman movie tie-ins etc etc etc.

I have a very clear memory of going into one of the big co-op's back when they used to sell games, toys etc. I had birthday money and was dead set on buying Rocket Knight Adventures. They didnt have it in stock that day so rather than waiting, I took a punt on a game I had never even heard of - Gunstar Heroes. Turned out to be one of the best gaming purchases of my life. Incredible game and for me still the best co-op run and gun game ever. 

We ended up having a SNES as well as our older cousin handed his down to us. There really isnt much you can say about this that hasnt already been said but what a fucking machine. To this day one of the best game libraries on any console. A lot of the very best games (Super Metroid, Castlevania IV, Chrono Trigger) I didn't get into until much later. My fondest SNES memories from the actual time are playing Super Star Wars, Super Empire Strikes Back and Super Return of the Jedi with my older brother. We were full blown Star Wars obsessed little nerd weirdo's by then and those games just brought us so much joy.

I didnt actually own this next console but I think its worth mentioning anyway as it had such a massive impact on me and left me with one of my clearest memories. I had older cousins who were really into gaming. I was visiting their house and went into their room and they were sitting playing something I had never even seen / heard of before. It was an Atari Jaguar. Importantly, they were playing the port of DOOM! I had never seen anything like it at the time.

Next one is a bizarre but true left field choice. I went on holiday to Florida in October 1996 and spent all my money on the Virtual Boy. Realistically a totally impractical piece of shit however at least the Wario game was really, really good even if it has probably done irreparable damage to my eyes and neck. 

Next up for me was the Nintendo 64. Its difficult for me to put into words just how badly I wanted an N64. I used to get my mum to buy me video game magazines from the supermarket at the time and I vividly remember seeing a very early preview of Mario 64. I simply could not believe that this existed but knew I had to have it. I remember just sitting in my back garden in the summer staring at the images thinking "how can I get this? what can I do to get money to get this?"

Fast forward to Christmas 1997 and I finally got one bundled with Goldeneye 007 and Star Wars Shadows of the Empire. Two of my cousins got 64's around the same time so this kicked off years of pure joy playing Goldeneye, Mario Kart, WCW Revenge, WrestleMania 2000, No Mercy, Diddy Kong racing. Impossible to mention that system without saying what absolute masterpieces Mario 64 and Zelda Ocarina of Time are. 

The following year, we got a PC in the house for the first time. I never owned a Playstation so when I found out I could get Resident Evil 1 and 2 on the PC it blew my mind. Another very vivid childhood memory is walking into Beatties (remember those?) and they had a Lucasarts collection in a bargain bin. It must have been insanely cheap because my parents got it for me with no hesitation and it wasnt my birthday, christmas or anything like that. All in one collection we had all the Monkey Islands, Full Throttle, X Wing and, one of the greatest games ever made, Tie Fighter. My brother and I absolutely lost ourselves in Tie Fighter for months.

I lucked out a second time in a similar way to the Gunstar Heroes purchase mentioned above. I went into a shop in Glasgow with birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and I was dead set on buying Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six. The guy behind the desk was like "do not get that, get this, just trust me, please buy this game" For some reason, I listened. That game was Half Life. From only just seeing things like Doom and Dark Forces to playing Half Life only a couple of years later was like a quantum leap. Unbelievable stuff.

I'll stop there but will probably chime in again later with PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, Switch, PS4 etc. 

Looks like God of War : Ragnarok is going to be quite good then

94% from 117 reviews so far. I think this might be second only to the almighty Elden Ring in terms of the early critical response. 

https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-5/god-of-war-ragnarok