Author: Padraig Fahy

  • Gaming News – 27th November 2024

    Gaming News – 27th November 2024

    • A new update is coming to Baldur’s Gate 3 which adds cross-play, 12 new subclasses and a photo mode. Testing for the patch begins in January.
    • PlayStation Plus Essential Games for December are: It Takes Two, Aliens: Dark Descent and Temtem. They will be available from December 3rd until January 6th.
    • PlayStation Plus Classic Catalog for December are: Sly 2: Band of Thieves, Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves and Jax & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy – These will be available from December 10th.
    • In the first week of Ranked Play for Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, over 19,000 cheaters have been banned and is banning more players every hour. To gain access to Ranked play, you must have won at least 50 Multiplayer games.
    • Worlds Untold, a studio created by former Mass Effect writer Mac Walters, are “pausing operations” until someone can fun the studio. They are working on an unannounced AAA action-adventure game.
    • Balatro has made over $4 million on the mobile version since its release on September 26th.
    • The third ‘Kombat Pack’, story expansions and other DLC for Mortal Kombat 1 has been cancelled due to the low sales of the “Khaos Reigns” expansion.
    • ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron, Vectorman and Mercs from the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis has been added to the Nintendo Switch Online.
    • Shuhei Yoshida is leaving Sony Interactive Entertainment on January 15th 2025 after 31 years at PlayStation. But he confirms on Twitter that he is not retiring from the industry.
    • Some CDPR news:
      • The Live-action Cyberpunk project is still in its conceptual phase, and it will be another year before they present it project to studios.
      • Cyberpunk 2077 has sold 30 million copies, with the expansion Phantom Liberty selling 8 million.
      • A new Cyberpunk animation project is in the work as CDPR have partnered with Netflix, but it is not clear that if they are using the same animation studio as Cyberpunk Edgerunners.
      • Development of the Cyberpunk 2077 game is being headed by CDPR’s new North American teams in Boston and Vancouver.
      • CDPR also announced that The Witcher 4 is in full-scale production. According to the CFO Piotr Nielubowicz, this project is the farthest along, and they have started their “most intensive phase of development”
    • Nintendo is closing the Switch eShop in China on March 31st, 2026. Players who have an active and associated WeChat account will receive up to 4 Nintendo Switch Games for free.
    • 2K has removed its launcher from all PC games including Civilization V, Civilization VI, XCOM 2, XCOM: Chimera Squad, Mafia Trilogy Definitive Edition, Bioshock 1 Remastered,, Bioshock 2 Remastered, Bioshock Infinite, The Quarry and Marvel’s Midnight Suns
    • Steam Autumn Sale is now on. A lot of places have an Autumn/Black Friday sale on, so check sites like GoG, Humble Bundle, Fanatical, Amazon Prime Gaming, Gamesplanet, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop.
  • Gaming News – 21st November 2024

    Gaming News – 21st November 2024

    • Dragon Quest III (3) HD-2D Remake has sold 821,000 physical copies across Nintendo Switch & PS5 in Japan making it the best selling game in Japan this calendar year. It has been the countries biggest launch since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the biggest Square Enix launch since Dragon Quest XI (11) in 2017.
    • Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic is coming to the Nintendo Switch on December 5th featuring a port of Rollercoaster Tycoon and Rollercoaster Tycoon which released on mobile in 2016 and PC in 2017.
    • The 42nd Golden Joystick Awards were held today. Here is some of the award winners.
      • Ultimate Game of the Year: Black Myth Wukong
      • Best Game Adaptation: Fallout
      • Streamers’ Choice Award: Chained Together
      • PC Game of the Year: Satisfactory
      • Console Game of the Year: Helldivers 2
      • Best Lead Performer: Cody Christian for Cloud in Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
      • Studio of the Year: Team Asobi (Astro Bot)
      • Best Indie Game: Balatro
      • Best Soundtrack: Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
      • Best Storytelling: Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth
      • Most Anticipated: Grand Theft Auto VI (6)
    • CD Projekt Red has confirmed that they have no plans for patch for Cyberpunk 2077 for the PS5 Pro console.
    • In a upcoming patch, the ‘stealth’ part of quests in Star Wars: Outlaws are going to be removed.
    • Sony has sent a letters to Kadokawa with its intention to acquire From Software (Dark Souls, Elden RIng, Bloodborne) – No decision has been made at this time.
    • Square Enix in partnership with Lightspeed Studios (PUBG Mobile) have revealed that they are working on Final Fantasy XIV (14) Mobile. It will initially launch in Japan and will feature the first 9 classes that appear in the 2013 release of Final Fantasy XIV (14): A Realm Reborn – There is also speculation that the voice acting has been updated/replaced. No release date.
    • It has been confirmed that there won’t be any DLC for Final Fantasy VII (7): Rebirth as Square Enix wants to get Part 3 released ‘as soon as possible’
  • Gaming News – 17th November 2024

    Gaming News – 17th November 2024

    Late Sunday night edition (because I have been busy and lazy all week.)

    • The plot to the 3rd part of the Final Fantasy VII (7) remake has been completed, and the game has gone into full production.
    • The Game Awards has confirmed that expansion packs, DLC and remakes are eligible for the Game of the Year category “if the jury deems the new creative and technical work to be worthy of a nomination”. The Game Awards air on Friday 13th December at 12:30am GMT.
    • Ratatan, the sequel to the 2007 PSP hit Patapon, has a new trailer with a release date of April 2025, and it comes to PS5/PS4/Xbox Series X|S, Switch and PC.
    • The Splinter Cell movie, with Tom Hardy, is reportedly been cancelled as they “couldn’t get it right”
    • In a new documentary celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Half-Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode Three was 6 months into development but was dropped in favour of Left 4 Dead – With the new 20th Anniversary, there have been some game updates too: “Every map in Half-Life 2 has been looked over by Valve level designers to fix longstanding bugs, restore content and features lost to time, and improve the quality of a few things like lightmap resolution and fog”
    • Job roles have appeared online hinting to a Starcraft shooter. The game was revealed in Jason Schreier’s book “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall and Future of Blizzard Entertainment” – Former head of Far Cry at Ubisoft, Dan Hay, is set to be leading the project.
    • Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, Joan in… Joan, Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse) is reportedly set to play Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider TV show.
    • Blizzard has announced and released Warcraft: Remastered, Warcraft II Remastered and Warcraft III Reforged as a Battle Chest which also includes a 2.0 patch for Warcraft III Reforged
    • According to Phil Spencer, there are no rules for which game from Xbox’s library gets released on PS5 or Switch.

  • Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 40 – The Live Final

    Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 40 – The Live Final

    • LIVE: Backdoor evictees Martha, Sarah, Thomas and Baked Potato get to have their catwalk exit.
    • (We cut to the later end of yesterday) Housemates are brought to a room to have a formal dinner together. Each one stands up to give a small speech about their time in the house.
    • LIVE: Vote Frozen.
    • A dance floor was put into the sitting room and they danced.
    • They are talking about Lily and how they couldn’t live with her but enjoyable in small bits
    • Marcello and Ali are arguing about how Ali has conducted herself and how she viewed others and criticised others, including Ali. Marcello says that Ali is very hypercritical.
    • Ali argues that she just says what she is true
    • BB says “Goodnight” to the finalists as the lights are turned off.
    • LIVE: Apparently Marcello and Ali made up this morning.
    • LIVE: It’s time to find out who is 5th and 6th.
    • LIVE: The housemate finishing 6th is: Segun!
    • LIVE: The housemate finishing 5th is: Nathan!
    • LIVE: Voting re-open.
    • Ali, Emma, Hanah and Marcello are the final 4.
    • LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Nathan and Segun.
    • LIVE: Vote frozen.
    • LIVE: The housemate finishing 4th is: Hanah!
    • LIVE: Voting re-open.
    • LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Hanah.
    • LIVE: Vote frozen.

    * LIVE: The housemate finishing 3rd is: Emma!

    • LIVE: Voting re-open.
    • LIVE: They are having a sit-down interview with Emma.
    • LIVE: Voting closed.
    • LIVE: Celebrity Big Brother will be coming back next year.

    * LIVE: The winner of Big Brother 2024 is: Ali!

    * LIVE: The runner-up of Big Brother 2024 is: Marcello!

  • Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 39 Notes

    Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 39 Notes

    • Hanah is in the DR – She is happy to have got where she got. She wants Segun to be happy today.
    • Segun is in the DR – Segun thinks of Hanah as a sister.
    • Emma is drying her face by running around the makeup table.
    • Ali and Nathan talking about Segun being “fake” and how Marcello is a game player once he has seen money.
    • Emma and Hanah have been called to the DR – BB has a special task for them. They are going to be beauty specialists. They are part of Big Brother Spa. They have to give a pre-final glow up.
    • They have to give a makeover to 2 clients.
    • Emma is asking the most important questions: Where are the baby pigeons?!
    • Nathan talks to Hanah about his past relationship and how BP is his first “proper” true love.
    • Ali is the next client in the spa.
    • Marcello is in the DR – Praising Hanah. Marcello and Ali are not clicking. He needs headache tablets in order to talk to her.
    • Nathan is in the DR – Commenting about his spa experience. Doesn’t like people touching his feet.
    • Emma’s first client is Marcello.
    • Ali rated Hanah’s spa session 5/5
    • Nathan rated Hanah 3 out of 5.
    • Marcello talking about his upbringing with Emma. He later talks with Ali, he got expelled from school after 6th form (between 16-18)
    • Emma is with her next client, Segun. They talk about Hanah. Hanah is not his type. The relationship is platonic. Hanah said to Emma before that Segun reminds her of her father.
    • Emma and Hanah are talking about Emma’s spa session with Hanah. They believe that Segun is saying one thing to Hanah but when talking to others, he is saying another.
    • BB has gathered everyone to the sofa – Badge of Honour task.
    • Most Embarrassing Moment – Nathan sharting on Day 2.
    • Biggest Regret in the House – Marcello’s relationship with Ali.
    • Biggest transformation in the house – Nathan not expecting to form friendships but then forming a relationship with Baked Potato.
    • Segun is speaking with Ali and Hanah about the friendship/relationship. Emma comes up and Ali leaves.
    • Emma clarifies that she said that “If there was no religion, and it another time and another place”, then yeah the two would get together.
    • They have drinks, playing Jenga and then play Truth or Dare on the floor.
    • Nathan bunny hops. Marcello kissed Emma for 3 seconds. Segun has to do a dance in front of Ali for 10 seconds shirtless.
    • Hanah thinks Khaled is better looking than Segun.
    • Ali is in the DR – She is happy that she got to the final.
    • Nathan is in the DR – Everyone is deserving to win.
    • Hanah and Segun believe that Emma and Nathan are trying to throw them under the bus.

  • Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 38 Notes

    Big Brother UK 2024 – Day 38 Notes

    • Nathan wakes up during the night looking for BP.
    • Ali had a bad dream and stormed to the oxygen room. She dreamt about her brother (who is no longer with us)
    • Nathan and Emma are both in the DR – Emma is talking about Nathan’s feet. Nathan shows his feet. BB: “Get those trotters out of my camera” – BB asks them what makes them good friends.
    • The phone rings, Hanah answers. She and a housemate must go to the Vault. She chooses Marcello. They must go to the Vault without being seen.
    • Inside the Vault, there are coins. They are messages from family and friends. 2 coins will get them a full message, 1 coin will give them half a message.
    • As Marcello and Hanah are chosen, they are given 2 coins each and cannot change it. They have 5 coins remaining to split between everyone else.
    • They have given 2 coins to Segun, Emma and 1 coin to Nathan. Ali would get no coins. Marcello feels like giving 1 coin to Ali.
    • BB has gathered everyone to the sofa – Emma got 2 coins. Nathan gets 1 coin. Ali gets 1 coin. Segun gets 1 coin.
    • Marcello puts his 2 coins into the payphone. A message from his brother plays into the house.
    • Emma puts her 2 coins into the payphone. A message from her daughter plays.
    • Segun puts his coin into the payphone. A message from his mum plays.
    • Nathan puts his coin into the payphone. A message from his mum.
    • Ali puts her coin into the payphone. A message plays from her girlfriend.
    • Hanah puts her coins into the payphone. A message plays from friend Yasmin. The girls are warning Hanah about Segun, saying that he is 2 sides of a coin.
    • Ali is in the DR – Thinks that Segun and Hanah are mutually flirting with each other, but according to Ali, he is pushing some of the “flirting” towards Hanah.
    • Hanah and Segun talk in the bedroom about the comments that Hanah’s friend said in the message. Segun believes that people are potentially viewing him in the wrong light.
    • Later, Segun in a bit of a slump goes into the living room, but then heads upstairs to pray.
    • Marcello is recreating Segun going up the stairs.
    • Segun is really not happy.
    • BB has gathered everyone to the sofa. Everyone is stood up. All 6 are finalists! They are the Class of 2024. They are to get ready for an evening of celebration.
    • They pop the bubbly, there is finger food. Music is played in the house. [Luther Vandross – Never Too Much]
    • Hanah is in the DR – She is talking about the message and how it affected Segun.
    • They all toast each other as they are finalists.