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My gaming magazine of choice was the official playstation 2 one. I remember sending my memory card off to them in the post to get the official kits in my PES game. Good times.

There probably are still good gaming journalists working for official magazines/websites these days but they seem to be outnumbered by people that are awful at games or just seem to straight up hate gaming and anyone that plays them. The better stuff seems to be independent now, on youtube or their own blogs.

A positive thing about modern times and gaming is Twitter. Twitter is mostly a tool for evil but being able to contact devs easily is pretty cool.

Yeah, I think Nintendo properties tend to be pretty safe bets. I've not actually played many Mario games but Zelda, Animal Crossing and Xenoblade titles are all great. I'll have to give the Fire Emblem games a go one day too, as I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate turn based combat.

Not a Nintendo property but I hope you give Kingdom Come Deliverance a go when it's Switch port comes out. One of my favourite games of all time.

The smart thing with FIFA and PES of old would be to buy it every other year. I never did though. I also don't mind buying Football Manager yearly as I tend to play it enough to get my money's worth.

To follow up on what we were talking about the other day it looks like FIFA is going free to play as well. Considering they make most of their money through Ultimate Team microtransactions I can't say I'm surprised.

Our political systems are different but our political, diplomatic, military, historic and cultural ties are pretty obvious to see. It's pretty much been that way since WW1. We'll join a war we don't particularly agree with to appease the US. The relationship isn't quite puppet state but it certainly doesn't feel as equal as it once did.

Ah yes, that old chestnut. Just like how women can't be sexist because men have all of the power. Every race is racist, I've seen plenty of black Americans saying that they're racially abused by hispanics more than whites and lets not even get started on Asia. We live in strange times.

My favourite thing about old British games journalism was how they used to really trash games, even ones by big (for their time) devs. You don't really get those sarcastic, shit talking reviews through official channels these days.

Pretty much the football equivalent of Prince of Tennis. What even is anime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oNoX5ozDtU

Nah, we jumped onto the gambling sponsor gravy train like 95% of Premier League/Championship clubs did. Magical Vegas and then Dafabet for a few seasons. The one that lasted for a few days was some Malaysian (I think) one called BK8, they had some viral marketing thing which included some women having a competition to see how far down their throat they could get a hotdog. lmao

I doubt you'll ever get a perfect sponsor which gives you both reputation and enough money to compete with the big companies. Just the way of the world.

There are certainly race relation issues with British police and black people but you are right, it's insane how much social media has brainwashed some into thinking we're just another American state. I mean, politically we kind of are but that's another issue.

Don't think it's all about Floyd tbh, he's just the figurehead at this point. The whole BLM movement seems kind of off to me. I feel that a 'communist' co-founder of it probably shouldn't have a 3 million dollar property portfolio.

As for the kneeling, kind of think it's lost all meaning personally but I'm not going to complain if it's players supporting teammates. I'm a cynic though and think a lot of them are doing it because it looks good for sponsors. Especially when players that complain about racism are openly racist. https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210705-barcelona-s-dembele-offers-sincere-apologies-over-racism-storm Funny how that story never really blew up.

A footballer having his own game is so of it's time, kind of charming. I guess the equivalent now is when a player has his own skill move or celebration put in FIFA. Not quite as cool. Actually that reminds me of when FIFA put the 'McGeady Spin' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hn5iTRdjdc in the game. Aiden McGeady didn't have enough skill rating to perform it in game. lol

I've seen some clips from that Tsubasa game and the show in the past, looks hilarious. It's kind of surprising that we never picked up the cartoon back in the day considering that football is our main sport. Maybe I'll pick it up when it's on sale at some point. I technically have a job right now but I haven't woked since December so I don't really have the money to throw at games right now. lol

Just in general, woke is the trendy thing. Norwich had to cancel their main shirt sponsor this season because a Twitter mob didn't like how they advertised their products on the other side of the world. We're now sponsored by Lotus Cars but have lost a good 3 or 4 million pounds, which is a lot for us.

Maybe it was different in Portugal but the early 00s here there was a lot of discussion about social reform and economic decline but pretty much since the riots in 2011 the media have only cared about racial issues. I'm probably a paranoid schitzo but I kind of feel that the media fanning those flames really works in favour of those at the top of society. Lets do nothing about those decades of budget cuts but have fun kneeling for Saint George Floyd.

I was a FIFA fan until I first played PES. I still think those early 00s FIFA games are fun but I don't really like what that franchise has become. If you watch 2 decent FIFA players play eachother now the game feels more like a fighting game than a football one, PES still feels like a football simulation even if they're a company run by boomers.

Yeah, I liked the more out there football games. Or when footballers would get their own games, Ronaldinho Soccer 64 anyone.

Perhaps this will be the FIFA killer. https://store.steampowered.com/app/942370/Offside/

Yeah, pretty much my opinion too. I don't mind it getting more coverage but the virtue signalling crowd that come with it really put me off. If all the twitter crowd that championed it put in 500 or 600 quid a year like we do then their game would naturally improve. You can pick up women's super league season tickets for like £30 these days, and that's with the last 10 years of it being publicised more.

My main problem with it isn't actually the lower skill/physicality ceiling but most teams I've seen seem to lack basic teamwork and communication skills. I'm not sure if that's something that will improve with better coaching or it's just an evolutionary thing but for that reason I'd rather go and watch a non league men's team than one in the wsl.

I'm honestly more interested in it as a part of football manager. The match engine changes, the economy (record women's transfer is 250k) and not having any biases on teams or players would make it pretty interesting. FIFA did include women's teams but gameplay wise it's just a reskin of the main game, EA are still lazy bastards.

The PES changes seem pretty extreme but I suppose it's just a sign of the times. Most people play the online team building/pack opening mode now and not the old school stuff like master league (still my favourite). FIFA is also such a juggernaut going free to play is probably a decent way to try and compete.

Seems that SI are going to be adding women's football to FM.

https://www.footballmanager.com/news/how-were-introducing-womens-football-football-manager#desktop

I remember joking years ago about season ending pregnancies. Now it could genuinely happen. lmao

If I'm enjoying a certain game I will keep playing it like a sandbox even if I'm pretty sure somebody else is going to win. That being said it's quite possible to turn it around by knocking out one or two of their cities through military matters. There's also barbarian clan mode in 6 which lets you pay them to go and attack them, I've found that good for interfering with other civs early game. When you play on diety the olther civs do get a huge early advantage.

Yeah. Losing in the final was much easier to take than a semi to Croatia. I'm also not hugely invested in the National team so it could be that too.

Funnily enough the first ever Norwich match I watched was a playoff final defeat. That would have hurt a lot if I was actually invested at the time.

City States were a great addition. I think I used to rush military and take them over in 5 but they seem more fun to just have as allies in 6.

I think the war part is fine, just rotate troops and use the terrain. City building in 6 is the main change from 5, you have to place your own districts in the tiles surrounding a central city tile. It means you can defend easier if you plan your city well.

Mostly play on the slowest speeds but I turn the moving and battle animations off so it still feels quite snappy. On the normal and fast speeds the golden/normal/dark eras don't feel as good or bad. I think those are new for 6 actually, you earn points through doing various things and if you hit a threshold you end up in one of the eras and get to pick up an extra buff or policy.

Holland, England, Portugal, Egypt and Poland are good trade civs in 6. Trade in general is quite powerful so pretty much any of them can be.

Germany are indeed still good for most things, heavy production again. Russia, Australia, America, Kongo, Greece, Japan and the Maya. Honestly it's pretty well balanced, most civs can do most things if the player uses the districts well.

I honestly don't feel much about the football, losing in a final is much easier to take than losing in a semi. I don't get the penalty shootout at all. As you said, the 19 year old who's never taken a penalty 5th and then 2 guys he's rarely used all summer on to take them. We did win one at the world cup, unsurprisingly it was a much more normal set of takers. Despite the fact he got to a final he made strange calls in a lot of the games but oh well. Real football's back in a month or so.

Diplomacy is certainly 1 of the aspects that has improved, something I should probably use more often. There's a pretty cool grievance system now which results in less random nukes being dropped. I quite like using the city states as puppets too, it's funny when they go and raze a city of a civ you're fighting of their own accord. That being said the AI does still make some strange choices with city placement, this is still early game so there's plenty of room on the map.

https://i.imgur.com/PkU3Vch.jpg

Korea are easily one of the best science civs in 6, very annoying to be situated near. Made even more annoying by how smug her character is.

I started one as England tonight (for some reason I felt the need to see us own the world) and interestingly I've started right next to Portugal (just bought the dlc). 2 of the strongest trade civs as neighbours.

That would be great for playing consoles from around when we were kids. To be honest if my TV broke tonight I wouldn't buy a new one, I hardly use it and when I do it's for YouTube.

Yeah, I've not played it yet but they have a few weird ones. I think there's one with vampires or something too. lol I've started one with a capitalism spin, something to do with the luxury resources but I'm too early to know what it really does.

Had a look at Portugal's new Civ and they seem good. Unsurprisingly a powerful trading based game.

They added climate change and sea level rise in one of the big updates for 6. It's surprisingly fun to take out costal civs by pumping out greenhouse gasses and flooding them. That being said some of the other additions have been strange, they added a zombie defense game mode with the recent Portugal civ pack.

Not sure what the meta is with 6 but it doesn't seem to favour either play style. Naval stuff still feels OP though, especially if you're a civ which starts off with that boosted. You could circumnavigate the world whilst everyone else is still fighting with clubs.

I forget that the Switch is touch screen, I always play mine docked. You're right though, civ without quality of life mods would be rough.

I'm like most people with international football. Sort of care about it every other summer.

Yeah, 6. Although I've modded it to look like 5.lol It's a lot better than it was at launch now they've done their 2k publishing thing and released a load of DLC that should have been in the game at launch. Apparently they've put it on Switch which seems even more odd than Football Manager on Switch to me.

Am I right in thinking you're a fan of the Civ games?

Think this might be the roughest start I've had in a while. Literally within 14 turns, and on a world map with plenty of room to spread out.

https://i.imgur.com/VNG8uc7.jpg

Not going to lie, I thought I'd be more exited about England getting to a final. Wish it happened when I was a kid and not a depressed old man.