wavey

Yeah it seems to accept the code, then there's a few more screens to click through, before it finally gives a "PUR-conversionblockedcurrencycountrymismatch" error. Maybe it's something special about my account? Reading through a recent thread on hotukdeals most people seemed to get Brazil codes to work, and a handful got this error.

Ah, bollocks. Bought a CDKeys £30 Brazil code to top up my GamePass, but cannot redeem it however I try (VPN to Brazil on PC, on Xbox with location changed, via the mobile app) - it starts to go through, but I get a "currency mismatch" error because I already have GamePass on my account paid for in sterling. So if anyone thinks they can use the code, and wants 6 months GP Ultimate for let's say a £20 donation to Amnesty International, PM me. Gone

Satisfied - the song itself, the concept behind it, the staging, Renée Elise Goldsberry's absolutely phenomenal performance of it - is just... perfect. Proper goosebumps. And then I see things like this, and realise I don't appreciate the half of it.

If you haven't already, take a look at the genius.com annotations for Hamilton - they are pretty exhaustive, for both historical and musical references. Lin-Manuel Miranda himself went through and added a bunch of annotations when the album first came out - https://genius.com/artists/Lin-manuel-miranda and scroll down, they're fascinating. Seeing it live is pretty amazing, and a lot more emotionally overwhelming - I've seen it in London 5 times now, and each time ended up crying a frankly unseemly amount. Jamael Westman was fantastic as Hamilton (he's left the cast now), and I especially also loved Rachelle Ann Go as Eliza. (Here's the original London cast performing the opening number)

No.

Six are doing a drive-in tour later this summer if that's a possibility for you: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/utilita-live-from-the-drive-in/six-the-musical-presale/ The wife and kids are going to see it at Leeds, I've already seen it a couple of times on the tour and that's enough for me I think. Given the kind of show it is, basically themed like a pop concert, it's one of the shows that might not be terrible to see this way?

Sure, plus you can't really have a £10/month extra subscription as a prerequisite for playing a game. I still think there could've been some fun and interesting things indie/hobbyist devs could've done with the music, even something basic like integrating user-selected tracks into AudioShield or similar, but obviously not legally possible absent written permission.

At least give it the first three songs, I'd say - if it hasn't grabbed you by My Shot, it's probably not for you. (Personally I think it's as close to being a perfect show as any I've seen, not to overhype it or anything!)

Yes, I’m sure the music publishers would have had a thing or two to say about it, hence the restrictions. Still, would’ve been cool to see what game developers could have come up with.

I was thinking more like using specific music at certain points - the game could trigger e.g. a particular Beatles song as a soundtrack to a cutscene for instance, or even have levels designed around / synchronized to songs they wouldn't be able to otherwise license.

Steam sale recommendation: I’m enjoying Tametsi a lot, which is only 65p in the sale. It’s a pleasingly tough Hexcells/Minesweeper-style game, with some interesting twists such as irrregular grids. 160 puzzles, no guesswork involved, the dev reckons it will take 40 hours fo finish. I'm only ~30 puzzles in, but some have been pretty brutal already. John Walker has a review which calls it "one of the best logic puzzle games you can buy on PC". https://store.steampowered.com/app/709920/Tametsi/

I often wondered why indie developers didn't do this - let you log into Spotify, and then use it for in-game music like GTA's radio stations, with a huge library to choose from but with none of the licensing costs. Well I looked it up, and it looks like it's against their developer Ts & Cs:

Overcooked free on Epic https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/overcooked/home

Indeed - apparently the next games to be given away by Epic will be Borderlands: Handsome Collection and ARK. They're going all out to promote their sale (which is very decent btw - you get £10 vouchers to use on each purchase £13.99 or higher, so e.g. I got Control + Season pass for £24).