wavey

2 hours ago, makkuwata said:

Imagine being in pitches on this show

That reminds me, I enjoyed this a lot:

3 hours ago, bradigor said:

Urgh, nothing is installing on the PC with Game Pass. Anyone else have this issue and how did you solve it?

Is this a recent thing, or is it your first time with PC Game Pass? If it's the latter, I think it needs a certain Windows update before it will work properly - I remember having to find a way to force a particular update through. But if you've had it working ok before, that won't be it.

I thought this was interesting: a well-written and highly critical review of the game, questioning whether Cyberpunk is actually cyberpunk.

https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2020/12/15/looking-for-the-cyberpunk-in-cyberpunk-2077/

Really enjoying this so far - just got to Act 2, playing on a reasonably good PC.

But I think I'm going to leave it there for a few months... I've seen dozens of glitches so far (no crashes yet though), and I do think it will be worth the wait to experience the rest of the game when it's in a better state.

Something about sealions.

I know I should really, just laziness on my part and wanted to avoid the hassle if I could.

I finally bought a Pro controller this week. Out of the box, it didn't have any charge, so plugged it in and used it for a bit, seemed great. The next day, I tried to use it wirelessly, and it would keep disconnecting and turning off, every minute or two. The console reported it was fully charged, then 5 minutes later, that it had no charge left. I was about to send it back when I noticed that I could cause it to disconnect by gently shaking it, suggesting a loose connection - I opened it up, and the battery did have a little room to slide back and break connection with the contacts. So I taped some cardboard to the side of the battery to wedge it in firmly, and it's been fine since.

Anyway, just posting 1) in case anyone else sees the same behaviour and wants a quick fix, and 2) c'mon Nintendo, you can do better than this for a £55 controller!

4 minutes ago, dr_manhattan^ said:

 

The bit in the video of the kart driving around with paint on the wheels is how you map out a track.

Yep, just to confirm this:

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Mario-Kart-Live-Home-Circuit-1832413.html

Quote

Assemble the gates and place on them on the floor around your room.

Drive your kart through the four gates to make a course in any shape you please.

11 minutes ago, rafaqat said:

You've tried it on your actual xbox console after switching region on it?

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.

28 minutes ago, Stigweard said:

I'm sure there's a few other parts in it like that too? Anyone pick up on any?

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)

13 minutes ago, Professor Puzzles said:

Does this version have the bit when Hamilton comes on in the (opening?) number and says 'Alexander Hamilton' and the audience starts roaring for minutes and everyone on stage has to wait until they're done so they can start up the song again?

No.

45 minutes ago, Wiper said:

I'd been hoping to see Six (coincidentally another history retelling in musical form), but lockdown rather disrupted that plan; a recorded version in the same vein as this would be a very pleasant alternative.

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?

3 hours ago, glb said:

0 songs?

38 minutes ago, Fry Crayola said:

Aside from licensing, another issue with this is it leaves the game at the mercy of Spotify's music deals and API. Is the game still going to play that song in a year? In five?

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/

On 03/07/2020 at 09:51, sir stiff_one said:

I’m surprised you can’t stream from Spotify in any of these games.

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:

Quote

Games and trivia quizzes. Unless you receive Spotify’s written approval, you shall not use the Spotify Platform to incorporate Spotify Content into any game functionality (including trivia quizzes).

...

Synchronization. You may not synchronize any sound recordings accessed through the Spotify Platform with any visual media, including any advertising, film, television program, slideshow, video, or similar content.

Overcooked free on Epic

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/overcooked/home

21 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

That's fucking ridiculous!

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).

Civ 6 free on Epic

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/sid-meiers-civilization-vi/home

Ubisoft are giving away the educational Discovery Tour modes of their Assassin's Creed games: Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.

These are really good! There are loads of narrated museum-guide style tours you can go through, with extra photos of historical artifacts etc. If you have school kids around to keep occupied,  they make a fun history lesson or two.