Steve

R-Ash uses it too, and he's one of the best scratch DJs out there IMO: -

I'm using an extension to block all mention of shorts on YouTube, but they're started appearing again in search results. If you want rid of them, add this to your custom filters: - youtube.com##yt-chip-cloud-chip-renderer.yt-chip-cloud-renderer.style-scope:nth-of-type(2)

If you use AI to upscale images often, this might be useful for you: - https://github.com/upscayl/upscayl/releases/tag/v2.15.0 It's free and available for Linux, macOS, Windows, and more. The only restriction is that you need a GPU that is Vulkan-compatible. If you have an NVIDIA/AMD graphics card from the last few years you're likely OK, but if you only have integrated graphics you'll probably be out of luck.

I've been playing the excellent DREDGE: - If you're playing on Xbox or PC, it was added to Game Pass today, so you can play it as part of that.

I always keep the full things, even though I only use a CD once to rip it to FLAC files. That said, I don't buy many new CDs these days; a handful a year. Some are definitely worth OK money - I have a few that sell for £50+ - but most aren't worth shit. Obviously it's all about the rarity, the particular release you have, and the condition, much like with records. If you're not going to play them, I don't see the point in keeping just the discs, cos if any of them are collectible, it's the whole package that matters. I own 2 copies of this album on vinyl, but the CD version sells for considerably more: - The market is so unpredictable. But yeah, if you wanna declutter, I would get rid of any mainstream stuff where you know it will never be worth anything, and keep the rest.

Tonight I checked out Pool Blitz, a free to play pool game available on various platforms. I'm not a fan. The core mechanics and graphics are OK, but they've tried to incorporate a bunch of ways to get you to pay real money for things. For example, there's a bunch of different cues and they each have stats that can be upgraded. Having a better cue obviously gives you an advantage in the game, so it's pay to win. There's other annoying elements too, e.g. you can win chests that contain various upgrades and prizes, but you can only open 1 or 2 a day. The rest get a countdown timer on them and you have a limited number of slots for chests that quickly fill up. Of course, you can pay real money to get more slots so you can hold more chests! Also, even though it makes it seem like you're playing against real people, you're not. Sometimes the AI takes a painfully long time to decide what shot it's gonna play, with the cue twisting left and right and different balls being targetted. You can supposedly play an 8 player tournament with friends where the 6 people not currently playing can spectate and you can chat together, which could be fun. As a single player pool game though, I would say don't bother. Being hampered by your shit cue while you either spend a very long time, or chunks of real cash, to get new cues and upgrade them is a pain in the ass. It's like they worked backwards, starting out with a monetisation system and then building a game around that. 👎

I haven't bought a physical copy of a game since the Xbox One came out in 2013. Digital on consoles has improved a LOT since then. Back in the Xbox 360 days, not every game was available digitally, there was no pre-loading, and you never got really good sales like the type you'd see on Steam. Now there are regular sales with great discounts on Xbox and PlayStation at least, and I find myself sometimes buying a game on a whim cos it's 90% off or whatever. Game Pass has been incredible value too, especially as I pay for it via Microsoft Rewards, so it's basically been free for years. Every first party MS game comes to it on day one, plus loads of great third party games come to it too, including some I'd never have otherwise tried, such as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is shaping up to be my game of the year. It's also meant that I can take a risk-free punt on games I almost certainly wouldn't have bought, which has led to me discovering some amazing titles such as What Remains of Edith Finch. The gaming landscape has changed so much that I really don't care about physical anymore. In the past, there used to be no method to patch games for example, so what was on the cartridge or CD was it and that would never change. That was fine for games of that size and scope, but games are so big now that it would be impossible to launch a big AAA or AAAA title without the ability to patch it post-launch. Also, while people obviously don't like server shutdowns, there are plenty of live service free-to-play games that would never have existed in previous generations. I'm still playing Overwatch after 9 years, for example, which has seen a TON of new content added to it, including heroes, maps, modes, cosmetics etc., which is something that just wouldn't have been possible to do in the past. I still own a bunch of older games physically, as I haven't really sold any of them off. That includes some collector's/limited editions, such as the BioShock 2 limited edition that came with the soundtrack on vinyl and a cool art book, but I don't think I'd buy anything like that now.

I don't think the delay surprises anyone, but at least it has a release date (for now); May 26th, 2026. It's a series I've never really been into, but then I've not put much time into any of the games, so maybe I'm missing out. I'm surprised it's only been announced for current gen Xbox and PS consoles too.

Sony put their prices up by ~25% just a few weeks ago, but only in the UK, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia: - https://blog.playstation.com/2025/04/13/ps5-price-to-rise-in-europe-australia-and-new-zealand/ I dunno if any consoles are being sold at a loss right now.

I'm not sure why they're doing this, given their position in the industry right now. The price of the cheapest Xbox Series S will rise by $80 to $380, while the most expensive Xbox Series X will rise by $140 to $740; more than a PS5 Pro. They are also going to be raising the price of some of their first party games to $80. Accessories will be hit by a price hike too, for example, the full Elite Series 2 package will be going up by $20 to $200. They've said that Game Pass is not going up, but I bet that will too at some point.

It came out on Xbox One and 360 but, unlike the sequel, it has no single player campaign. All of the modes require you to play with/against other players, but the game is basically dead now. It was delisted some time ago, so the only way to get a copy would be to buy it second hand on disc, but yeah; last time I played there were about a dozen people playing across all the modes combined and that was months ago.

They announced that they were exiting the smartphone business several years ago, so this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. More info here: - https://9to5google.com/2025/04/28/lg-shut-down-update-servers-june-2025/

I was just wondering what your game purchasing habits are like these days.....

Yeah, that sucks, although I didn't like Titanfall 2 anywhere near as much as the first game. I'd be happy with them releasing a remastered version of the first game with cross-play. The OG Titanfall only came out on Xbox and PC, but with no cross-play, and on Xbox it's locked at a lowly 792p.