Hey everyone, I know a lot of you have been blessed with having issues with mass awarding of a certain codename. I've been aware this was happening but unable to do much about it until now. With any lucky that phenomenon will now stop. So while I appreciate that you haven't all been bombarding me about this glitch since I was aware of it I'd like to ask that if it happens to any of you from hereon please post in this thread to let me know it's happening.

Anyone who was affected by it before now please post to let me know and I'll go through and fix your codenames. If I spot any mass awards in your profiles I will be doing this myself so don't hide to protect your little beasts!

@"Blueblob" if you give them up willingly I will make it worth your while. If you force me to take them by force your name will be sullied forevermore.

https://www.eurogamer.net/the-big-death-...zarre-epic

Seems like a lot of outlets were invited to preview but this is quite a detailed one which lasted 30 hours for Ed Nightingale. I won't quote all of it as it is worth a click but here are a few snippets, including a fair few comments regarding certain Metal Gear similarities (even from Kojima himself).

Press-Start
IGN
GameSpot
Game Informer

Quote:The world is more dynamic and diverse, there are more options for asynchronous connection, and more opportunities for player expression. Gameplay is an evolution of the first, but there's so much more depth and texture now. Of the time I played, the vast majority was spent experimenting with gameplay systems rather than passively watching cutscenes - despite the prevalence of film production facilities in the studio hinting otherwise. How unlike Kojima!

Quote:The game is still focused on taking cross-country delivery jobs through a hostile landscape for social media likes, stacking and balancing a load of boxes on your back, and dealing with momentum-based traversal at a slow and steady pace. Yet Kojima compared the transition between games as similar to that between Metal Gear Solids 1 and 2: where the first game had to introduce stealth gameplay for the first time, the second could build on it; likewise Death Stranding was the first delivery game but now it's been vastly expanded. To me, it feels similar to the difference between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom - it's more of the same, but the added depth makes the first game feel primitive by comparison.
Let's start with environments: both the Mexican desert and the Australian outback are far more dynamic than America before thanks to extreme weather conditions. Sandstorms topple Sam over, intense rainfall leads to flooding, and earthquakes shake the ground and screen alike to send avalanches tumbling. There's more diversity too, from barren mountainous outcrops, to white sandy deserts, lush jungle, and moon-like rocky debris, all bathed in blinding sunlight or striking moonlight depending on the time of day (which can impact the temperature of your precious cargo). Plus, creating routes across the map will now signal specific hazards along the way to prepare for in advance. I do miss the rugged and melancholic Icelandic tundra that formed such a core part of the first game's identity, but it feels static by comparison. Here the changing landscape and lighting allow Kojima's cinematography to thrive: from the glare of sunset blooming behind ghostly silhouetted entities, to a giant moon overwhelming the sky lending space-age iconography to match his meeting rooms.

Quote:There's far more customisation this time around too: for Sam, for his backpack, and for vehicles. Sam naturally and explicitly levels up his abilities through use, be that increasing his stamina or his proficiency with different weapon types. Moreover, as his porter rank increases in different areas following the completion of each mission, new buffs are unlocked on a skill tree. For instance, more time in stealth will allow for buffs like better noise cancellation and enemy alerts, while more time in combat will unlock improved bullets and a better scanner range. It's RPG-lite, but it adds to the feeling of Sam being an extension of your playstyle and adapting to each mission.
Then there's backpack customisation, with Sam able to fabricate various attachments: extra ammo pouches, shields, and the like. This later extends to vehicles too. Not only was I able to add an arm to a truck that would automatically grab lost packages, I then attached machine guns to automatically shoot enemies as I drove through bases in tank-like fashion. After previously trudging through on foot, that felt particularly cathartic.

Quote:In many ways, Death Stranding 2 feels like Metal Gear Solid 6 - an extension of the open world design and smooth transition between stealth and combat the fifth game provided. Mexico and Australia are filled with enemy bases to infiltrate, with Sam able to sneak around for silent takedowns, or simply fire away with powerful weapons. He's given a whole load of options, from pistols and assault rifles and shotguns, to grenade launchers, a blood boomerang (we're in Australia, after all), and the return of my favourite rope-firing Bola Gun. Weapons are punchy and combat can be explosive, if a little easy.

Quote:Combat against BTs, meanwhile, is more active this time. The previously invisible enemies are more visible now, not to mention the new Watcher type that can properly see Sam rather than sense him, resulting in some tense sneaking. And with plenty of weapon types to retaliate with, BT encounters are no longer a tedious lesson in holding your breath but shootouts against nightmarish visions. BTs may have lost some of their fear factor as a result, but when the rainfall comes Death Stranding 2 remains darkly atmospheric. As for bosses, I only fought a couple in my playtime and while they were fantastically surreal, I'm still waiting for that Psycho Mantis or The End moment.
The Metal Gear influence on combat, at least, was indirect. "There are so many people all over the world asking me to make another Metal Gear, so I added more options for combat," he said. "When I was working out those mechanics, I was a little worried because many of the staff that worked with me on Metal Gear still work here, and we kept saying to each other, 'Does this feel too much like Metal Gear?' It wasn't on purpose."

Rockstar just dropped a new trailer.

Seem some love for Hades and Slay the Spire, so figured we needed a thread for the genre. Big fan of these types of games as they're addictive but digestible -- being able to effectively 'complete a run' of something, often within an hour, is perfect on the time-poor days where I can't squeeze much gaming in.

My main two at the moment are Slay the Spire and Monster Train which are both getting sequels, but I was pretty hardcore on Hades for a while too.

I'm still yet to play The Binding of Isaac, even though it's so highly regarded. Also heard Balatro is awesome.

What's everybody else into?

@"Blueblob". If all else fails, this can just be where we share screenshots of StS decks from insane runs.

https://whichyr.com

WhichYear 4/30/25
3230 pts
15 avg. years off

7️⃣ ❌ 4️⃣ 1️⃣ ❌

https://whichyr.com 

Pretty simple, you get 5 pictures a day and have to guess what year they're from. You get 1000pts per picture if you get it correct and then get a bit less for how far away you are when you don't. You can reveal one digit if you're a sucker wish. I'm not great at it but got one 1 year off and another 4 years off so I'll take it.

I've been seeing a lot of people online clowning on game devs like Bethesda and Naughty Dog for their constant re-releases and remasters, etc of Skyrim and The Last of Us respectively. They get called "lazy" and "unoriginal" for "porting old games onto newer systems for a quick buck" 

Personally, I think it's a good thing that more and more devs are bringing their older games up to date and making them accessible on newer systems. I can't even begin to count how many older games I've wanted to play fully legally only to find that their not on any digital stores and/or can only be found secondhand for hundreds of dollars. It benefits old players because they have an excuse to revisit, it benefits new players because it's now accessible to a wider audience, and it benefits the devs and distributors because it brings in a new stream of revenue and lowers the risk of piracy.

I can't really see a downside to remasters and remakes, surely they can't take away too much energy from devs that they can't put as much energy in their newer games. Surely most of the work on remasters is already done and they're just tweaking them slightly? I know in cases like The Last of Us Part I, they pretty much remade the game from the ground up and only reused dialogue, sound effects and music from the original. But I'd also imagine that no additional writing or concept art was needed so no dev power was taken off their unreleased stuff? 

What are you guy's opinions on this?

EDIT: also, happy 100 threads!

I know this might contradict to the "Gaming Chat" thread but I figured that if its not allowed then a mod can delete it!

Currently im playing Old School Runescape as the main game and to the side I have: Death Stranding (unsure how I feel about it so far) and another game called Hyperbox: Uncharge

What games are you guys playing?

This has been something I've observed lately and I'm not sure how many people can relate. I also put this in "Off Topic" because it covers, games, movies, tv and even books and comics

Whenever a new, highly anticipated piece of media is released, everyone on the internet will brazenly talk about spoiler content without warning, for all to see, regardless of who hasn't seen or played it yet. It was a huge problem when The Last of Us Part II was released and it even extends to the second season of the HBO show. 

The most recent example for me was with Andor season 2. They dropped the first 3 episodes on day one but I only had time to watch 2. When I was casually scrolling through my phone the next day, I copped so many spoilers about the third episode just from Reddit and Twitter's home page. Even though the episodes only came out the night before, people were just posting about massively important developments that most people would like to find out from the show itself, and not from some thoughtless sacks of shit on the internet

It mostly happens with big, tent pole franchises, like Marvel or Star Wars. If you don't want anything spoiled, you really GOTTA see it on opening day. Deadpool & Wolverine was the most excited I'd been for an MCU movie in a while and I'm very glad I caught it on opening night, because people were already making memes and posts about all the cameo's and interesting story beats the very next day.

Has anyone else felt really frustrated about this kind of thing recently?

With London Marathon this weekend, and the fact I know we have a couple of runners on this board, I thought this would be a good thread to make. 

Entered the ballot again this year for London Marathon, haven't got it 4 years in a row lmao, and I'm not going to even try raising 2k for charity to run it. Instead I'm hoping to run Firenze Marathon in November this year. Kicking off the training and taking it up a notch recently with a 10 mile run every weekend. 

Anybody got any runs coming up? Or wanna do an MGF run in an organised race together? Get a little relay team going lmao.

The title speaks for itself. Hideo Kojima has spoken openly many times about his admiration of other forms of media like music and movies and how it has inspired him in the making of his works. In this thread I will display how he utilised Paramore's hit track "Misery Business" to form the basis for the story of Metal Gear Solid V.

Let's start at the beginning.

Quote:I'm in the business of misery
Let's take it from the top
She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock
It's a matter of time before we all run out

Quote:she caught him by the mouth

Quote:I waited eight long months, she finally set him free
I told him I couldn't lie, he was the only one for me

Quote:Whoa, I never meant to brag
But I got him where I want him now
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now
But God, does it feel so good
'Cause I got him where I want him now
And if you could, then you know you would
'Cause God it just feels so
It just feels so good

Quote:Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change
Once a whore, you're nothing more
I'm sorry, that'll never change

Quote:And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged
I'm sorry, honey, but I passed it up