Bobfoc

I think it's only a matter of time before they emulate the doubles matches and make the fifth set a super tiebreak straight away. Apart from the physical strain the players have to endure, these long matches are a nightmare for scheduling purposes. The tennis calendar is also far too packed. Obviously, it's financially motivated, so it's not likely to change, but the players have to compete in so many tournaments with such little time to recover. It's surely no coincidence that we see more surprise results at the US Open than at the other Grand Slams because the top players are exhausted by that stage of the season.

That's fair. What I'm trying to get at is that taking out anime cutscenes isn't going to bother me much. I can't remember thinking any were particularly good.

I definitely remember a couple of weird Persona 4 Golden cutscenes that didn't really add anything to the story. One of them was when the girls go to a hot springs and notice how big a character's breasts are. Then there's another where the comedy mascot fails to do a ski jump and rolls down a hill in a big snowball.

I've read that Bruce Straley, co-director of the first game, didn't get any credit or acknowledgement in the television series. While it's not a legal requirement, I think that's rather unfair. From everything I've heard, Straley was far easier to work with than Neil Druckmann, with the latter pushing the exploitative working environment at Naughty Dog to a much greater extent.

I always found the anime cutscenes in Persona to be tonally different to the regular storytelling. It's as if they were made by a different team with very little input.

Murray just came from two sets down to beat Kokkinakis in a match that took 5 hours and 45 minutes. He'll be absolutely knackered for the next match, but it's incredible how fit he still is after all his body has been through.

The Australian Open has started, with Murray beating Berrettini in a very close match over five sets. Raducanu plays Gauff in the second round in what will be a major indicator of where she is in her development.

I think the combat system wouldn't appeal to those used to the more modern Star Wars games, but perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. I'd probably say that I wouldn't recommend it to someone expecting something akin to Jedi: Fallen Order, whereas I would recommend it to someone who knows what they're getting into beforehand.

I think people have already grown suspicious of bitter Oasis-themed chants from Leeds fans.

What's the overall plan for this show? Is it going to just cover the two games or will it continue the story after that? My honest opinion is that the story in the second game was a big step down from the first, both in terms of pacing and writing, but perhaps having someone like Craig Mazin (smug though he may be) could tidy up some of its overdone excesses. It would cause a lot of complaints from the gaming community, but I think any continuation of the story would be better off in television form. I mentioned in the General Television thread that the necessity of making a game fun leads to some awkward tonal shifts in which a character is breaking down in tears after killing a named character one moment and then slaughtering dozens of anonymous goons without giving a toss the next. Taking that away at least helps give the brutal narrative moments the impact they're going for. Plus it would mean that Naughty Dog could work on something else. They haven't made a new IP in nearly ten years now. If nothing else, they could at least stop bullying their employees and working them to death.

Having played the game and having heard that it's a very faithful adaptation, I'm not sure I can really be bothered to watch it. I doubt it's going to surprise me at all. That said, it's probably better suited to television. With the game, there was the age-old issue of ludonarrative dissonance, in that there had to be plenty of combat to make it fun, but it meant that a gruff, middle-aged dad and a young teenager could mow down dozens of professionally trained soldiers. With a non-interactive medium, that's not something they have to put in.

I've played through KOTOR more than any other game except maybe Metal Gear Solid. I don't think I'd recommend it to new players, but it's a nice, familiar experience for me.

Wales are in Australia's World Cup group, so we'll be seeing another Gatland vs. Jones match soon enough.

Forest are five points clear of the relegation zone. I doubt many saw that happening a short while ago.

I got around three hours in and got bored. I wasn't finding the gameplay interesting either.

I don't know if this would be annoying or funny.

This is a fascinating example of the cultural differences between the USA and most other countries.

It isn't carried into the play, but Rowling said that she was all for a black Hermione on Twitter. Now, I don't think she said that out of malice, but it also reframes that subplot in a worrying manner as you've got several people telling a black character to stop whinging about slavery. Regardless, the eventual "resolution" of the house elves' plight is that Harry realises that it's important to treat them with kindness and respect, but there's no follow-through on the idea that slavery is an inherently awful concept. Being a violent and bullying slave owner, like the Malfoys, is bad, but giving your slaves compliments and kind words now and then is fine. This is an important distinction to make. The idea that everyone who plays the game is a transphobe is overly simplistic because a huge number of people aren't aware of the people Rowling has allied herself with over the last couple of years. I would encourage people not to buy the game, just as I do with Ubisoft games, but I'm not trying to equate ten million sales with ten million committed transphobes.

There is a subplot in the books in which Hermione wants to free the house elves and the other characters tell her she's being ridiculous because they love being slaves. Now, I've probably missed your sarcasm, but I'll add the point that making Hermione black for the stage play makes that particular part of the story even more troubling.

Another concerning thing about the game is that the plot appears to centre around crushing a goblin rebellion. Given that goblins are an underclass in the Harry Potter universe at best, and antisemitic caricatures at worst, it's rather off-putting.

I'm hoping for a Forest/Southampton final, as unlikely as that is.

I'm really baffled as to how they've handled that game. As you said, everyone would have been happy with something that expanded on the pirate gameplay from Black Flag, but they've turned it into a Sea of Thieves knockoff. They're not likely to entice many people away from a game that's had several years to churn out new content and gather a sizeable community.

I'm really not looking forward to the release of Hogwarts Legacy. I've seen so many people online saying that they're proudly pre-ordering it to "trigger the SJWs". I've no doubt that it will sell well. It's top of the Steam sales chart a full month before its release, and Harry Potter obviously has a massive fanbase. What concerns me is that its inevitable commercial success will be used as a "Gotcha" by the usual suspects to support the claim that anti-trans activists are right.

The rumours were true. An Xbox showcase will happen on 25th January to show more footage of games coming out in the first half of the year. A major absentee from the showcase will be Starfield. That will be getting its own dedicated show at a later date.

Naomi Osaka has pulled out of the Australian Open. She has a good reason, given that she's pregnant.