Lamarr the strelok

I've never known anyone personally, but I have seen the effects of gambling addiction. Loss of job, house, cars, and more important, family. People who can't control their addiction and get help for it often lose everything.
Like any addiction, it can easily destroy you. I had a massive drug problem when I was younger, but I was lucky enough to beat it. I've now been clean for 18 years, but it's a never ending battle to keep from falling back into it. When you have heavy stress you think things like "A little bit of blow would settle me down". There's no such thing as "a little bit of blow". Do it once and you're back in.
@Rain Dew has said that if I do fall back in she would do what she had to to get me help. But if I refused, or kept using in secret, she would leave me. So I fight myself to keep from going back. I have a medical marijuana card, so that helps if I feel that I absolutely have to get stoned.

Yes New Dawn is great fun. Sorta generic story but it was awesome.There's a weapon that shoots saw blades and it's just stupidly fun.Getting New Dawn is worth it for that alone.It's usually on sale, I wouldn't pay 40 or so for it.

LOLOL...I think Ubisoft predicted the future!!! I feel for you playing this game with similar sentiments where you live. Shoot, the whole country by now has already drawn their line. It was no accident that recently 'trumpy sentiments' was in Waco to celebrate the David Karesh cult which was willing to kill and die like they were zombified in Faith's gardens from the game. But I guess that's as far I can go into it w/o breaking the politics rule. I'm hooked on this game. First time I rode in the mounted gun on the truck while my ally drives just put me in a place....yeah a place where I want a truck with a mounted gun! 😆 I need welding tools for Christmas and a .50. Anyways...Have you played Far Cry New Dawn? It's a nuclear fallout 12 years after Far Cry 5 using the same map. I'm definitely getting that one. 

RvA ! Brother- man! We can talk some FC 5 but it's personally an electron away from politics. All I can say is I live a few hundred miles east of Montana and there is plenty of the Trumpy sentiments here.It took some of the enjoyment I had because it was so on the nose ,I think UK folks would say. Post something in Politix and I'll respond.

This game has really drawn me in. The beautiful Montana landscape is a nice bonus while fighting religious anti government cultists. But the theme itself is what really has pulled me in. I've tried to play this game in the past and stopped for some reason. That was a few years ago. I think in today's fucked up cult like world Americans are dealing with really feels like this theme hits home. Well, if you are in a cult, you may also enjoy playing this game to see how you crazies end up lol. I like how they have this chemical everywhere that puts people in a zombie like craze. And every now and then some ghost appears out of the blue. Weird, but cool. I'm not religious so this backdrop of churches and white picket fences in a beautiful serene place just feels all too.....creepy.
Basically, a religious militant cult rebels against law enforcement and takes over the whole state going door to door killing everyone who doesn't conform to their cult. Bible and guns! Come Hell or High Water! Yes...yeehaw! Come get some! Kill a cultist! Bring the sanity back!
I think I had to get that off my chest. Have fun ladies and gents

I always thought Conker used a frying pan, not a gun.

That gave me a good laugh. Actually looks like a fun game. Who would have ever thought to give a squirrel a gun? Especially that uzi...lol

I'm not going to lie - this is hilarious! An eye patch and a beret? He sure looks like some Bond Villain...They'd probably call him Professor Acorn or something like that. Holding the world hostage for acorns.

You know what, I can't even formulate a thought about this, just watch...
 
 
Suffice to say, this trailer makes me feel drunk.

1000% agree with you on the Twisted Metal, and not the version that they gave us for the PS3 since it was a horrible remake in my opinion. 

I'm not sure if this counts as a genre, but I do avoid the "Soulsborne" type games as much as possible. The closest thing I've played to such a game that I've actually liked is Jedi: Fallen Order. I've long since accepted that, despite loving RPG's and 3rd person action/adventure games, the "Soulborne" just aren't made for me. I hate thier gameplay tropes, like no pausing (And that really is ridiculous in a single play game) and the sluggish combat. I hate the way they look, it the same dreary, demon underworld cliché every time. But most of all, I hate the trial and error philosophy behind the so-called "challenge". There're not hard games, merely cryptic ones loaded with beginners traps and cheap enemy AI that prays on one's natural instincts as a gamer rather than combat your techniques and strategies in a natural way.

Is there a genre of video games that you absolutely refuse to play? What is your reasoning for not playing? Of what is available today, I can think of only one that I would flat our say "no" to. There's genres that aren't my thing, but I don't just absolutely refuse to have anything to do with them. In recent years, my taste in games has actually expanded dramatically. I'm not the biggest fan of first person games, but I do play a couple. The only thing absolutely I refuse to play is online games. I absolutely hate them and quite often just want to puke at the mere thought of them. I'm not condemning anyone if they like them. Have at it. But I still can't stand online gaming, and I've given it many tries, from many games, on many platforms. I absolutely hated it every time I tried, and actually DID puke after a couple due to the experience.

I am not kidding, that is literally how it works. Here's a clip of me doing so.
 
 
And as you can see, the tutorial didn't mention that QTE was going to happen either, so I actually failed it the first time because I was caught totally off guard.

This does look good. The quick look systems looks very practical and fun to use and the setting is interesting. Not a huge FPS fan, but I'm ready to give this a shot... get it, shot!

 
I'll go sit in the corner...

lol Ubisoft is on a roll over the past few years and not a good one either. From the data leaks to the failed NFT venture to seemingly shutting down game servers without any prior warning, Ubisoft is outdoing EA at this point.

Oh man, welcome to Ubisoft hell. They have the absolute worst servers for games that I know of. In fact, I blame my AC Valhalla game crash on Ubisoft Connect where every single game save data was corrupted. I went to Connect to get a free gift or something, can’t remember, and it froze everything leading to corrupt save files.   This is a scary insight since Ubisoft is going all out Infinity for all future AC games, meaning their servers at its current state will bring hell to Earth.  I don’t know exactly how they will utilize their online server, or if Connect will be used for Infinity. Connect is super slow and just plain fucked. 
 
With that said, I just started a new + game with Odyssey playing as the male version because I love the game so much. I’ve recently finished playing as Kassandra with all DLC. And this is awesome you are playing Odyssey. Look, Ubisoft isn’t known for a hair pulling story. But there is so much in the game to love. Stick with it. And play the DLC. Understand the animus storyline. Oh! Don’t forget about the Discovery Tour as you play along. You will love it even more. 

Earlier this evening, I thought, "I haven't played Assassin's Creed Odyssey in a while, I think I might just re-install it and give it a go". Given the install size, I had to remove a couple of games giving myself plenty of room for the game and any updates it might install. I originally bought the game from the Epic Game Store (After a combination of sale prices and coupons, It ended up being quite the steal.), so naturally I use the EGS launcher to install the game. A couple of hours later, I start the game and Ubisoft's launcher Ubisoft Connect opens up. That's OK, I expected that, but then Ubisoft Connect prompts me to install the game, all 100+GB of it, all over again!

It turns out Ubisoft Connect does not recognise the EGS install of the game. Why? Because when EGS installs the game, the game is listed as "AssassinsCreedOdyssey" without spaces, but Uplay installs the game under a file called "Assassins Creed Odyssey" with spaces. I am not kidding, that is why Ubisoft Connect couldn't recognise the game was already installed! I understand Ubisoft wanting to verify a digital game copy, but this is just plain stupid. This isn't an indigenous problem with this game either, it happens with others. I read a Reddit post from somebody who had the exact same problem with AC Syndicate.

Thankfully, I didn't actually have to install the game all over again as Ubisoft Connect does have a feature that allows you to tell the launcher whare the game files are and verify them, but that was still a full 20 minutes waiting for it to do so for no good reason.

I don't know if the same thing happens if you install and launch Ubisoft games through Steam (If somebody can confirm, please do so), but this is why nobody wants to have to buy a game through one platform, then have to link it and run it through another. EA makes you do the same thing when you install EA games through Gamepass, for example, but to thier credit at least that works without any stupid bullshit like this. I wouldn't put it past companies like Ubisoft and EA to make this whole process deliberately inconvenient just so people will use thier own launchers instead of EGS, the Xbox Windows App or Steam.

Anyway, rant over. I just wanted to put this out there in hope this might see others avoid the same problem.

Kinda makes you want to cry, doesn't it?
 
 

I've never played any of these games, but I know a lot of you have, so I thought this video would spark some lively conversation.
 
 

Is it possible they were claimed through games with gold by the previous owner? I think there was a time when games that were claimed through GWG remained yours even if you ended your subscription.

An update on this deal, or perhaps no deal.
 
The UK's business watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (The CMA) has sensationally blocked the proposed merger between Xbox and Activision-Blizzard. The CMA were concerned over how this move would affect innovation and competition going forward into a future of cloud based gaming. Read the full brief on the the UK Government Website.
 
Basically, the CMA feel Microsoft have such a head start in the field of cloud gaming through Gamepass that having control of Activision-Blizzard on top of what they already have would make it difficult for other companies to compete in that market, leading to Microsoft lagging innovation in this market to better the consumer. Difficult to argue against those points, I suppose.
 
As you might imagine, Microsoft and Activision are not pleased. Responding in a statement, Microsoft president Brad Smith said;
“We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal. The CMA’s decision rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns and discourages technology innovation and investment in the United Kingdom. We have already signed contracts to make Activision Blizzard’s popular games available on 150 million more devices, and we remain committed to reinforcing these agreements through regulatory remedies. We’re especially disappointed that after lengthy deliberations, this decision appears to reflect a flawed understanding of this market and the way the relevant cloud technology actually works.”
 
An Activision Blizzard spokesperson was even more savage;
“The CMA’s report contradicts the ambitions of the U.K. to become an attractive country to build technology businesses,” it said. “We will work aggressively with Microsoft to reverse this on appeal. The report’s conclusions are a disservice to U.K. citizens, who face increasingly dire economic prospects. We will reassess our growth plans for the U.K. Global innovators large and small will take note that - despite all its rhetoric - the U.K. is clearly closed for business.”
 
(Both Quotes found on Polygon)
 
So whilst there will almost certainly be an appeal, the history of the CMA does not bode well for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard for that working in thier favour as appeals to the CMA tend to get rejected. And if what the CMA have said in thier statement is true and they have worked with the parties involved to try and alleviate those concerns and yet they still came to this conclusion, it seems unlikely that there is anything that Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard can say now to change thier mind.
 
I wouldn't say the deal is dead, but there is no point sugar coating this, this is a disaster for Xbox and Activision-Blizzard.

An oxymoron written by a treasonous moron.
 
 

Get this, The Florida governor DeSantis said he refuses to extradite Trump, who lives in Florida, to New York to face charges. And it is in Florida's constitution that the governor must extradite someone to face criminal charges. One dictator helping another, throwing the constitution of Florida out the window. MMMM, I need more butter on the popcorn.