Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

Recent game pick-ups. Time to discuss the game pick-ups I mentioned ordering earlier this weekend. I winded up staying up late a few hours awaiting the phone call to get an update on my order. Naturally I winded up not catching much sleep afterwards so I’m currently still a little sleep deprived. The game pick-ups are mainly rare items in Kuwait that were recently restocked so I nabbed them while they were still there. Apologies for the poor image quality.

@CaptD I never got around to playing the first one until we all hopped into it but HD2 was one of those games that every trailer I watched I just got more and more interested in. It just looked like good fun - which a game should do. Still some people will just write off any game that is multiplayer just because they don't ever play online and just want single player stuff but I think there's room for both in this world and sometimes it's just great to play with a like minded group of people have a laugh as much as it is to chill and enjoy a narrative driven game.

But yeah 2030 - insert the its_a_bold_strategy_cotton.gif here 😅

@render @CaptD It’s really tough to predict for Concord. I felt like Helldivers 2 had some real personality in the preview trailers and I suspected it was going to be a surprise hit. I don’t have the same feeling about Concord. It seems to lack that ‘certain something’ and feels more generic. But it’s hard to tell from trailers. The characters do feel like they were plucked from Destruction All-Stars, so that’s worrisome. The gameplay better be good.

@Th3solution Yeah it's a weird one that but like you say HD2 had some real personality even though actually the helldiver characters themselves don't really have individual personalities. That's the great thing about it as then I don't think you can get rubbed up the wrong way by a personality that you don't like. The characters in Destruction Allstars were truly awful and while I'm not in love with the characters in Concord I think they are slightly more tolerable - although that might change down the line. From what I've seen of the previews the gameplay does seem good so hopefully that's what people buy it on.

I've booked tickets for Final Symphony at the Usher hall in Edinburgh in November. Something to look forward to later in the year 😀.

New game pick. What do ya guys think of her face?

Howdy friends. New pickups. Last rare stuff I could find this month.

So I went to use the cash machine this morning (I know, still using cash in this day and age - what a luddite etc), got to the bit where it says take your card, your cash will follow shortly and the screen changes to a question "do you think Kier Starmer will be Prime Minister following the July 4th election?" With designated buttons to respond.

WTF.
Well I was slightly taken aback and for a split second worried I would have to answer to get my money but fortunately I was able to ignore it and leave it hanging. So when did this happen? At what point did we, as a society seem it acceptable for service machines to randomly become opinion polls?

Now I'm not the most hard hat wearing conspiracist but neither am I someone who happily responds to surveys without knowing who is collecting the data and for what purpose. I mentioned it to a few people at work and they were pretty surprised so it's obviously a new development, in fact one girl assumed I was just trying to wind people up and had made it up.

Now I'm thinking t that maybe this is not a new thing but just around here. The place where I live is not exactly at the cutting edge of new technologies. So knowing that people on here live further afield than my immediate social circle, has this happened to anyone else? Is it a common thing?

Now if the parking meter had asked me what I thought England's chances against Switzerland were .. I may have been more likely to have a quick opinion!

@sorteddan That’s crazy. In the U.S. I haven’t had that exact scenario, but with it being an election year I’m getting bombarded with text messages, emails, and phone calls trying to poll me. And like you say, I refuse to fill out surveys and answer questions when I don’t have any idea where it’s coming from, where it’s going, and if the data is linked to me, etc.

I’ve become increasingly annoyed at invasions of my privacy with not only polling like that, but advertising as well. When I put petrol in my car they blast advertising on the screen while they have you trapped there. I refuse to watch or listen, so I sit in my car until the tank is full and close the door so I can’t hear it. 😅 I’m not giving them my precious time and attention while they have me cornered at the pump. Unfortunately when you’re at the atm you are forced to read what’s on the screen to finish your transaction and that would just drive me insane to be ensnared into participation like that.

@Th3solution in Kuwait a somewhat similar culture around voting exists, but it’s a little more complicated. You do get a lot of respect for voting and also lose some respect if you don’t. But there’s also the element of making small connections that can potentially help you out in the long term especially with how small scale the political scene is and how it’s usually about small local politicians helping out small local rural towns, creates a nice tight knit community so intentionally or unintentionally missing out on that can be seen as tone deaf or socially inept. I don’t have that extreme stance likely since my brain isn’t as marinated in local politics as my older relatives are but when I overslept a phone call asking me to go vote I got a pretty big mouth piece from my dad I did not see coming, it was pretty harsh. You definitely get pressured into voting one way or another just like how it is in the states. I don’t mind it too much in the end but it caught me offgaurd.

Y’know, I do wonder if my brother votes considering he recently got a citizenship in the states and currently lives Atlanta (and occasionally moves to Toronto, Canada). I’m not sure how dual citizenship works in general although I do know it was illegal in Kuwait at some point to have it though I don’t think that law is enforced anymore. Still, hope my older brother is doing well. I stay in touch.

@Th3solution @sorteddan I've only had some leaflets posted through my letterbox about the election. Not had one email or message on my phone about it. Must have not ticked 'that' box.

That is strange about the cash machine though. I rarely use one these days, however I did last week and didn't have anything like that. I get annoyed enough when they ask if I want too see a statement, when I have chosen to only withdraw cash.

On the subject of banks and cash machines I had to go into my bank last week (thankfully I was off work on a day they deemed suitable to be open) to withdrawn some money and they asked me what it was for!

I've never had this question before and so my mind defaulted to saying the most stupid thing I could think of at the time which was "Drugs and Hookers"

The wife wasn't impressed.

@nitram2k11 I assume you explained to your wife you planned to share the drugs and hookers with her?

@kyleforrester87 They were for her!

I know, I know, I'm just too nice...

UK. Did you vote, plan to do it later?

I'm not going to get into a political debate as I just like to mess around on here, but I will say voting just felt so solemn and unrewarding. I don't think I actually liked any of the actual candidates for MP or their plans, and I don't particularly "like" any of the party leaders either.

Revolution, anyone? 😅

@Ravix I can safely say it doesn’t feel much different over here.

@Ravix Send the army in!

So after watching a YouTube video of a so-called 'gate-keeper' boss for Nioh 2 (Yatsu No Kami) I have changed my mind, somewhat put off by the complexity of the boss' moveset, (I think it is just somewhat beyond my capabilities, at least for now) so I have shelved that idea for now and plan to make RE2 REmake my next game.

@Ravix Yeah, I did my postal vote a few weeks ago and wasn't particularly enthused about it! It will be interesting to see what turnout was like. The energy is not like '97.