DC

How does 5 days of uninterrupted gaming sound? How about doing it in an amazing luxury retreat in Palm Springs? That’s exactly what Duracell Optimum is giving to one lucky gamer.
It gets better! The contest winner will be flown first class to Palm Springs and whisked to the “Duracell Estate” where they will be able to game distraction-free for 5 glorious days. Seriously. No chores - the winner will have their own housekeeper and chef! And who needs to work since they will get $2,000 cash. And no worries about a dead controller, since a stack of Duracell batteries will be ready and waiting.
Duracell Optimum batteries are designed with gamers in mind allowing for them to Game Longer with less distractions. Optimum batteries actually deliver longer life in the leading alkaline battery powered wireless controller. You know the pain of getting into the meaty part of a game and then getting distracted. And so does Duracell. That’s why they want to help one gamer to get away from it all, avoid those distractions, and just game.
Entries can be submitted through Twitter, Instagram or Reddit. All of the details and official rules can be found at gamelongergetaway.com.
 

The new Scourge expansion for Path of Exile is finally coming out this October 22 (27 for consoles) and excitement in the community is ramping up again.
Scourge brings new story elements in the game and what we find most exciting about this expansion is the random nature of the Blood Crucible. You can "scourge" your items by killing enemies and when enough has been slain, the item transforms to a special one. We especially liked the fact that if you don't like the new stats, you can "scourge" it further and repeat the process for a possible 2nd or 3rd randomization—a fantastic addition to the PoE trade system. Along with the Dream Furnace which provides buffs and debuffs to a map experience, the replay value is just through the roof.
We're excited how this will affect the overall PoE currency value with regards to the general economy of the game. The Uber Endgame content they're also adding will make things more difficult but on the bright side, this means the expansion will take up a good chunk of our time since we'll need to strategize and possibly fail many times before we are able to finally take down these dungeons to a tee.

How does 5 days of uninterrupted gaming sound? How about doing it in an amazing luxury retreat in Palm Springs? That’s exactly what Duracell Optimum is giving to one lucky gamer.
It gets better! The contest winner will be flown first class to Palm Springs and whisked to the “Duracell Estate” where they will be able to game distraction-free for 5 glorious days. Seriously. No chores - the winner will have their own housekeeper and chef! And who needs to work since they will get $2,000 cash. And no worries about a dead controller, since a stack of Duracell batteries will be ready and waiting.
Duracell Optimum batteries are designed with gamers in mind allowing for them to Game Longer with less distractions. Optimum batteries actually deliver longer life in the leading alkaline battery powered wireless controller. You know the pain of getting into the meaty part of a game and then getting distracted. And so does Duracell. That’s why they want to help one gamer to get away from it all, avoid those distractions, and just game.
Entries can be submitted through Twitter, Instagram or Reddit. All of the details and official rules can be found at gamelongergetaway.com.
 

That... is ambitious, but hey, why not try, eh?

I entered yesterday. I hope i did it right because I have never used Twitter before.  Im going to try and see if @The Blackangel will tweet or reply with redit as well. We’ve had a very hard year (not covid related) so this would be such a nice way to go and destress and get away from it all. For those of you who don’t know we had to two of our beloved dogs die this year. One right before my birthday and the other last month. So this would be great for us if we win.  
 

There is one winner.
Understand, maybe the next one. Feel free to share the contest with your friends and family located in the US.

If you play sports or auto racing games, ads in games and billboards and the like are more common.

Pretty much took the words out my mouth. I tend to play fantasy games or games otherwise detected from reality. I'm not sure even EA are shameless enough to have a barbarian warrior charge at you, stop just before he swings his battle-axe, smile and then say "Drink Pepsi". Outside of sports sims and sports emulation, a world that whores itself out so constantly to the point where having no adds could even spoil the immersion, the only real way to promote things in games is through skins and themed items. Marvels Avengers was regarded as being infinitely shameless having, for example, Version Media themed skins in that game. I mean, what the fuck?
 
I don't mind it when it's at least done with at least some tact. For example, I started playing a game called Two Point Hospital on steam a few days back. The game is published by SEGA, who are celebrating the 30th anniversary of thier most famous icon Sonic, and boy do they want the people playing TPH to know it. You can decorate the Hospital with Sonic rugs, Sonic plants, Sonic wall art and even Sonic rings on pedestals, it's complete madness! I've also been playing Tales of Arise that's been really pushing DLC costume packs themed around what I think is Sword Art Online, then there was the free Phantasy Star 2 and Nier Automata skins in Gravity Rush 2. Outside of sport sims, it's far more subtle because it has to be, but @StaceyPowers, it IS there, more often than you think.

This may be aggressive but 100,000 forum posts milestone over the weekend?

can we get guild stash tab sales tho? 
😆

The other day, a friend said that after he fails a video game task a certain large number of times (i.e. a few dozen), he would prefer if the game offers to skip him past it or offer a workaround. Would you want a feature like this, or would you not?

How does 5 days of uninterrupted gaming sound? How about doing it in an amazing luxury retreat in Palm Springs? That’s exactly what Duracell Optimum is giving to one lucky gamer.
It gets better! The contest winner will be flown first class to Palm Springs and whisked to the “Duracell Estate” where they will be able to game distraction-free for 5 glorious days. Seriously. No chores - the winner will have their own housekeeper and chef! And who needs to work since they will get $2,000 cash. And no worries about a dead controller, since a stack of Duracell batteries will be ready and waiting.
Duracell Optimum batteries are designed with gamers in mind allowing for them to Game Longer with less distractions. Optimum batteries actually deliver longer life in the leading alkaline battery powered wireless controller. You know the pain of getting into the meaty part of a game and then getting distracted. And so does Duracell. That’s why they want to help one gamer to get away from it all, avoid those distractions, and just game.
Entries can be submitted through Twitter, Instagram or Reddit. All of the details and official rules can be found at gamelongergetaway.com.
 

It is an honour and a pleasure to welcome you to VGR. @The Blackangel has been one of my favourite things about this community. She's spoken about you and I just know you enjoy being here at least as much as we will enjoy having you 

This sounds quite interesting if I'm being honest. Chance to not worry about cooking because my own chef and can game worry-free? I'm definitely signing up...

Hey everyone I’m Rain Dew, @The Blackangel girl. Rain Dew is my character’s name on Final Fantasy 14. I’m on Goblin server.
I’m 36 and live in Missouri. I have several pets: Two Chihuahuas, Clover our oldest and miracle baby, Caoimhe @The Blackangel‘s puppy, a rescued Pit Bull Lady who is the live of her life's @The Blackangel‘s, and my baby Bella an English Bull dog. I got the name Bella because the night before we went to pick her up @The Blackangel and I were watching the remake of Beauty and the Beast. Which is where I got the name Bella from. I also have a parakeet named R2D2 and 5 rats: Sprocket, Chop Chop, Shroom Boom, Drobot, and Trigger Happy.
One question I know people are curious about is “What is it like living with a sociopath?”  I have been with her for so long that I actually forget that she is one. She says she is hard to live with but I don’t really see it that way. Living with her and being in a relationship to me is just like any other normal persons relationship.  We have our ups and downs like anyone else.  There is one big difference. A lot of couples will say they would do anything for their partner but the way I see it is that in reality there are limits what they would do. Not with The Blackangel. She will LITERALLY do anything for me and do anything to protect me. Some examples: let’s say I might go to jail for something, she will step in and take the rap for me and go to jail in my stead. God for bid if anyone hurt me, especially if they physically assaulted me. She will do whatever it takes to protect me. With all of this said she is Not controlling at all. She does not tell me what to do or what to wear. She knows that if she tries to control or tell me what to do in any way that our relationship would be in big jeopardy and it will possibly end. 

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ve seen a lot of speculation online about the series, and hopes in articles about what the next entry into the series will be. Some want a sequel to the first Red Dead where we would be playing as Jack Marston and hunting down everyone who killed John and caused the death of Abigail. Others are thinking that it will be a prequel to RDR2. Showing how everyone ended up in Blackwater and what happened on the boat. Also showing how the newer members of the gang joined up. Maybe even delving into the long past and showing how Arthur and Dutch met and became closer than blood.
Personally, I like the prequel idea. I would love to know what the hell exactly went down in Blackwater, and how they ended up in that situation to begin with. Playing as adult Jack avenging his family could do well in the series, but I think RDR2 left too many “How” kind of questions unanswered. Don’t get me wrong, I’m obsessed with the game, and always willing to talk about it, and help out if I can. The same way the rest of the forum feels about Skyrim and TLOU.
I also want to know what the hell kind of path they had to take to end up north of everything so that they would have to head south to go away from where they were running from which is south of them. Either I forgot how to read a compass, someone decided it was time directions were changed, teleportation existed, or that damn UFO got ahold of them.

How does 5 days of uninterrupted gaming sound? How about doing it in an amazing luxury retreat in Palm Springs? That’s exactly what Duracell Optimum is giving to one lucky gamer.
It gets better! The contest winner will be flown first class to Palm Springs and whisked to the “Duracell Estate” where they will be able to game distraction-free for 5 glorious days. Seriously. No chores - the winner will have their own housekeeper and chef! And who needs to work since they will get $2,000 cash. And no worries about a dead controller, since a stack of Duracell batteries will be ready and waiting.
Duracell Optimum batteries are designed with gamers in mind allowing for them to Game Longer with less distractions. Optimum batteries actually deliver longer life in the leading alkaline battery powered wireless controller. You know the pain of getting into the meaty part of a game and then getting distracted. And so does Duracell. That’s why they want to help one gamer to get away from it all, avoid those distractions, and just game.
Entries can be submitted through Twitter, Instagram or Reddit. All of the details and official rules can be found at gamelongergetaway.com.
 

Just entered, thanks for the share.

Entered! 😄

That's a real bummer guys. I'll try to share some contests/giveaways that are more expansive beyond the US. Meanwhile, please feel free to share the details of this awesome giveaway to any of your family or friends that live in the US. 🙂

That’s one hell of a deal. I would be interested in the trip, but being that I’m a classic gamer with a slight handful of exceptions, the gaming part of the prize would be more or less wasted on me. But my girl might be interested, as she is on FF14 all the time.
I’ll give her the link here and have her come to the forum to check it out. She’s not the biggest poster on forums. Including the ones I’ve built and run. But I’m thinking she would see a lot of rewards by joining VGR. I know the returns were immediate for me.

Just entered! 😋

This is really cool! I am lucky I am in the US and can enter 🙂

Thanks for the share, @DC. Just entered through Instagram.

Let's see how it goes, I've applied, and commented base on how the instruction was outlined. Let me wait to see the future outcome of the contest.