Sledgstone

Next month is mostly boring followed by Nioh, which has nothing to do with Keanu Reeves.

This was a mess of a launch. My progress from OW1 didn't migrate over immediately and I had to wait a few days. I don't agree with how the F2P works as far as character locks. None of the OG characters should be locked... but they are... including D.Va who is by far the best tank in the game right now. I'd say buy the watchpoint pack if you try it out and really like it. A lot of current meta heroes are locked. Under the old 6v6 this would have been fine, but with 5v5 the game is faster paced and killfeed heavy. Kiriko is a monster, the best off healer in the game. She can two shot any non tank with head shots, and has Genji's and Hanzo's wall climb, plus a teleport. Each season the meta will change as they only do major balancing from season to season. The name of the game right now is high mobility. Thats Solider Sojourn, Tracer, Sombra, Winston, D.Va, Genji, Lucio, Moria, and Kiriko.
Thoughts on gameplay? Its fun... a lot of people will like it over old OW. I personally liked OW1's style... slow, methodical, it was all about positioning. It was truly a team effort. Now you can solo carry, its much faster... hardly any crowd control. Sojourn is a beast... basically Soldier on steroids minus the self heal. Now that there can only be one tank per team, they really are TANKS and they are pure brawlers. They're not worth trying to kill unless you take down the healers first. D.Va is going to be nerfed.... She has access to her boosters way more now, so you can easily escape when your healers go down. Her damage is insane on top of that. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. As long as they don't tone down her damage, I think its more fair to increase her CDs instead. Healers have to be more aware and prepared to fend for themselves. I feel like this was in the planning stage pretty early when Baptiste came out. Luckily I have tons of experience of being aggressive with Lucio I can regularly place top 2 in eliminations. (I get a lot of endorsements when I Lucio XD) Moria is a fucking nightmare for squishies. Shes impossible to get away from for characters without a mobility skill, and her fade is even better than it was in OW1. Basically there is less reliance on keeping each other alive. Keep your tank up, provide what you can to your DPSs that aren't running off like morons... and prepare to fight.

I'm more shocked that Google had an App called Game Builder than Stadia failing.
https://killedbygoogle.com/
*Edit*
 

3 years later and Google has killed the Stadia platform. It looked like it was failed to start just from their pricing model and game costs regardless of actual streaming performance.
https://kotaku.com/stadia-google-refund-cloud-streaming-assassins-creed-1849597014

As a customer I would love for this to be a sign that 18+ games are no longer considered taboo. If GameStop wants to die like Blockbuster, then let them die.
*Edit*
I still expect to buy 0 next gen consoles IF everything I really want, I can get from Steam or other places on the internet.

Part of me still thinks this won't happen just like Crank 3D, Machete Kills Again (In Space), & Kick-Ass 3 will never happen.
 
 

If only Cheetah had a Cheetah head instead of looking like an OC of Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn.
Also, I'd be looking forward to buying Xbox 360 games right now if it weren't for Nintendo Switch preorder season & I still have to get my Xbox 360 Controller fixed.

I believe GameStop would've been a better place IF GameStop wasn't obsessed with selling me COD back when PS3 was current gen.
I'm pretty certain Microsoft wins even if Xbox fails because most developers rely on Windows instead of trying to make their games work on Linux... You know that OS even Sony relies on when they sell their games on Steam.

The movie was terrible and very forgettable. 

AyaNeo Air on IGG cost about $501, but I'm not a fan of Windows plausibly being replaced by AyaNeo OS. If I wanted Linux, I'd use Ubuntu.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ayaneo-air-first-ultra-thin-oled-windows-handheld/x/26128503#/
https://ayaneo.com/product/AYANEOAIR.html

Free to Play. I guess they are gonna go hard on loot boxes. The best part if all the OG players keep all their cosmetics from the first game. They'll really have to step up their creativity to top my current favorite skins. I've heard the 5v5 has toned down the need for team cohesion and allows more solo carry. This lead to a lot of support heroes struggling to even stay alive. They've been revamping them giving them more offense. We'll see how it plays out.

At a glance it looks like they totally ripped off Guild Wars 2 dynamic events and world boss system. I'm ok with that. 160 dungeons? Its looking promising. I really dig the old school, less colorful tone of the world.
Kinda disappointed no demon hunter. I'll probably main Barb and alt Rogue.
 

If you haven't played God of War yet, I highly suggest it. Amazing game that lived up to all my hype and expectations.

Too good to be true. I think I hate my childhood & everyone else's. This might be interesting. I'm glad I don't want a PS5.  
I haven't watched this video, but I already know Microsoft gave me another game they gave me before. I think that's the 3rd month in a row & 5th time they've done this.

Rumor
On some level I can comprehend Sony wanting to buy Final Fantasy 14. If I remember correctly, Sony convinced Bethesda to bring ESO to PS4. Bethesda brought ESO to both PS4 & the 3rd Xbox. Now that MS owns Bethesda, Sony wants to own a bigger MMO.
What I can't comprehend is why wouldn't Sony want to own reboot Laura Croft? Were they afraid they might be too Woke with Laura Croft being better than Nathan Drake? Do they have proof that reboot Laura Croft doesn't sell as well as original Laura Croft? Or is it some other reason?

But Cyberpunk was the "Next Fallout 76"

https://kotaku.com/square-enix-embracer-deus-ex-1848866849
Wow. This is pretty huge. What I'm shocked about is the relatively small price tag of $300 million. Considering Sony bought Bungie alone for $3+ billion it make me wonder if Sony or MS even knew these properties were for sale. If they did, it would have probably caused a bidding war. Microsoft had a solid 1 year exclusive deal for the release of one of those Tomb Raider reboot games, I'm sure they would have bought crystal dynamics and tomb raider by themselves for more than $300 million.

Reminds me that I still need to try my AyaNeo.
Sledgstone's thread, Square Enix selling Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics studio and more.

PC Master Race will be like "git gud with mouse and keyboard scrubs".

PS Home looks better than this despite no longer being available.

I thought Season 1 was pretty good. But holy shit The Train Arc and Entertainment District Arc set a new standard for animation quality... like almost Violet Evergarden levels... for high octane fight scenes. Entertainment District's last half is just non stop action, leaving you with a solid cliff hanger going into the next ep.

I doubt Elon Musk will buy Ubisoft & rename it You Be Hard. /Sarcasm

I'm sticking to PlayStation Plus Essential.
TLDR Version.
Remember when
Sony was desperate enough to start giving away "free" games with PS+? Microsoft started copying PS+, but there 360 Games are actually free on GWG? THQ (& by extension Valve) were desperate enough to sell Steam Keys through Humble Bundle? Times have changed. Now
Sony is trying to save its other services by calling them PS+. Microsoft will eventually destroy GWG once more people switch to their other service I don't want. Valve is trying to sell people on Steam OS, which doesn't play their entire Steam Library. I miss the days when they were actually desperate instead of just greedy.