Tried playing Ori & the Will of the Wisps yesterday, and it's been that long since I last played it that I have no idea what any of my moves do - I'm probably best off restarting it lol. Game says I'm 19% complete so I won't lose that much progress, I don't think.

If there ever was an argument that Xbox 360 is/isn't a retro console, it's 20 years old today so it is now (and it's on the cover of @retrogamermag.bsky.social, so they'd know!) Fond memories of spending most of my GAME wages, which were fortnightly back then, on one without a hard drive.

Fair warning that there might not be a SNS tonight. We've had a slight wrinkle in our flight plans for Paris next year that we need to work through and, depending on how long that takes, I might not have time to set up for it. We'll see - I'll keep you all posted.

Had a whirl on CloverPit after the Silksong stream. I'm usually not a fan of describing a game as "This is X, but Y", but it is essentially Balatro, but slot machines instead of poker. Don't know if it'll have the addictiveness that Balatro does, but it's fun so far.

Want to hear something a little different this morning? Then tune into me streaming Silksong this morning - I've had a cold all week and I sound husky 😅 Side effects include spontaneous coughing and sneezing. It's gonna be fun! See you soon!

So. I was watching Season 4 of Upload on Prime earlier (it's only 4 episodes long, so hardly a season but nevermind), and whilst browsing discovered that they have the Legend of Zelda cartoon! That's getting a watch one day soon.

The only AI I will accept in video games is actual AI for enemies. If you use machine learning AI so I have to keep changing strategies against an enemy, that sounds cool. If you use it to create slop or to not pay artists/VAs, then that's awful and you can get in the bin.

You have to love the scammers sending a scam email saying there was an issue with a recent vehicle tax attempt to somebody who doesn't even own one. I don't even own a bicycle but yeah, sure, I'll click the dodgy link just in case... Idiots.

Star Wars Celebration opened up their merch shop for left over Japan stuff today. £85 postage for two t-shirts and a plush, so that got a very kind "fuck right off" and a closed tab.

We could talk about the Geoffs, and how ultimately bullshit they are, OR we could spend time listening to a new version of BFS' best song.

We are doing Silksong today, I've just got some stuff to sort beforehand. It's Alexis' birthday today and she needs a balloon 🤣

Talos Principle II being added to PS+ is definitely a reason to keep streaming in the New Year, even if that's the only game I end up doing lol.

Amazon are a global company, that actually sell PAW Patrol products. Did they really need to use AI to promote this?

I'll link it later so other people can either agree with me or tell me I'm going mental, but I swear Sabrina Carpenter's new single has a vocal hook that sounds a LOT like a Sonic level theme. I've heard it a couple of times on the radio at work and just one little bit reminds me of Sonic.

I picked up a ROG Ally dock for £27 yesterday, so now I can play it on the TV if I fancy. Minor issue that you can't use the analog sticks to control the mouse if leaving a game, but that can be remedied by...using a mouse. There's probably another setting somewhere that I've overlooked though.

Hi all. I've got friends around this evening so I'm going to make an early decision and postpone SNS. Time hasn't been kind recently when it comes to trying to setup at short notice, so leaving it a week until laptop has more time to play ball is better.

In about 10-15 minutes or so I'll be going live with Hollow Knight: Silksong. I'll play like I did the first game - trying as blind as I can but not against a walkthrough if it feels like I'm going nowhere. Don't fancy weeks of walking around in circles... Usual link - twitch.tv/gavvie

Thought I'd give Football Manager 26 a go on Xbox and...oof. Oh dear. Might install it on the ROG and see if the PC version is any better and, if it isn't, then I'll just wait for next year's edition, because this one isn't great at all.

Stream plan for the rest of the year is to delve into Silksong, but then get a bit festive on the last two streams of the year with Grinch Xmas Adventures lol. As for 2026...I don't know yet. I think it might be time for a clean break and leave the streaming behind.

Deleted my account on Duolingo today after 810 days. Not because of the AI - in this instance I actually didn't care about that - but after 810 days you'd think I'd be able to be somewhat conversational in Japanese, which is what I was learning. I'm not. I know words.

Hope everyone at Sonic Con has a great time this weekend - we couldn't make the finances work to get all 3 of us down, so maybe next year?

Well, those last 9 days went by far too quickly. Probably didn't help that I was ill for most of it as I was back to the sleepless nights last night. I don't think I can stay in this job for too much longer. It just does a number on me far too often and I can't get out of my own head.

I'm not entirely sure we needed another remake of Halo, but I'll take it as Halo: CE in any form is better than Infinite was. Man, I really wanted to love Infinite but it just didn't hit right.

No SNS again this evening - I'm recovering from this sickness bug (and an adjacent cold), so I'm going to take the time to get my energy levels back up. Promise we'll be good for next week. Third time's a charm!

Feeling much better today, so we should be alright for a Hollow Knight stream from 9 - if it starts to wipe me out again though don't be surprised if I cut it short. It shouldn't do, but yesterday just watching Man Utd Women took me out for about an hour after the match finished 😅

I've got 8 days off starting from tomorrow...is what I would be writing if I didn't end up being violently sick last night, so it's starting today instead with a sick day. Feeling a bit better now, but then I have only just gotten out of bed so..

Got to the end of Act I of Expedition 33 last night and...wow. Actually surprised that I wasn't aware of it beforehand. Also, I reminded myself of just HOW GOOD the writing is in that game.

Just walked past Cex and they've got a copy of Haunting Ground on PS2 for £135. It wasn't even that good, was it? Seem to recall it was during Capcom's survival horror era where every game they released was in that genre to varying degrees of quality.

I'm trying to stop getting hyper fixated on one console and actually getting through my backlogs by rotating around consoles. I've tried this before but inevitably I'd get stuck on one, so I'm making more of an effort now.

I don't know what Square Enix are playing at, but FFVII Rebirth is ~18 months old now, and I would like to listen to the soundtrack in places where lugging a CD player isn't entirely practical.

Hey. Quick one - I'm going to postpone SNS for a week. No major reason, but I do have friends around this evening and as it's Episode 550 I don't want to half-arse it if we end up talking into the night. Better to give it the attention it deserves, so will be back next week.

I've just noticed that Dynamite are doing a Christmas special one shit based on...The Terminator, and yeah, I'm going to have to buy that. Santa fighting a Terminator, or a Terminator pretending to be Santa, just sounds amazing.

Ready for some more Hollow Knight this morning? Today I PROMISE I'm not going to spend an hour going the wrong way! Hopefully some real progress will be made this time. Let's find out in about 10 minutes at twitch.tv/gavvie

Update on the yesterday posts! Apparently, everything is already done, but there hasn't been any announcement regarding it because there's other stuff going on with the higher ups. So...that's reassuring. I might be able to sleep tonight.

To those who saw my posts this morning/afternoon - thanks for reading and for reaching out. I appreciate it. It's been a crazy 3-4 months as I'm sure you'd understand. It was never anything personal on my end, yet when it became personal it took me a day or two to really calm myself down.

It doesn't look like the work drama is going to be over this week, so fuck it. Here we go. I'll update this over time and some bits will have to remain vague. In June, I reported my manager for what I suspected to be fraudulent activity. I'd found things that were ordered but we had no records for.

Here's a random fact for the day: the Game Boy Advance is the only Nintendo console that didn't get a dedicated Mario platformer - all of the Super Mario Advance games are ports of previous games. Even the Virtual Boy got its own Wario Land.

It's World Mental Health Day on Friday, I've been reliably told, and I've spent the last week or so trying to figure out how, if the work thing isn't resolved, I can post about my headspace without getting too deep into it. This morning I've realised that I don't have the same issue here.

It's been an absolute week, and one that I'm glad is now over as it means I can sit and chill with you all whilst we play some Hollow Knight. That's from just after 9, once I've had a chance to get a drink, and maybe I won't spend an hour and a half going the wrong way this week 😅

Oof, that Game Pass price hike isn't great, but speaking purely on a personal level I'm not THAT bothered by it as long as EE continue to offer Ultimate as a benefit of my contract. I haven't paid for GP for about 2 years now because of that.

Hit have only just taken payment for Mario Galaxy 1&2. I can't see that arriving for tomorrow 😂

Every October, I attempt to watch as many horror films as I can - I love them and, because I like doing them in October it's sometimes hard to hold off on watching them throughout the year. The most I've ever done was 43 - let's see how many I end up doing!

Did I get very far in Tactics yesterday? No 😂 Apparently, trying to figure out a strategy doesn't work too well when you're half asleep. I managed to get through three or four battles, though, and I feel like this could be the first SRPG I see through to the end.

Hit & Royal Mail: We're going to deliver Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds a day after release. Also Hit & Royal Mail: Sorry. To make up for that we'll deliver Final Fantasy Tactics a day early. I guess I'm not doing Ninja Gaiden 3 tonight after all 😅

If Saudi Arabia wanted to improve the way it's perceived by the world, at this point it would be considerably cheaper to actually just allow basic human rights to all of their citizens, right?

Sorted out all of our restaurant bookings for Disneyland Paris last night, so that's the 40th birthday holiday pretty much set up now. It's not an age I'm looking forward to (and it's not until next year anyway so I have time to mentally prepare), but that's something to make it a little better.

After finishing Mario yesterday I thought I'd best go in order so I'm doing Lost Levels next and, let me tell you, the Switch's rewind function is getting abused like mad with that one. Yes, you can argue it's cheating, but I don't care. The feature is there for a reason, love it or hate it.

Got a couple of Grand Prix done on CrossWorlds at the end of the Hollow Knight stream. Still a fun time, still annoying that the crowd "singing" on the final laps is still there. It was bad during the Closed Test, it was bad during the Open Test, and it's still bad now.

Hollow Knight continues in about 10 minutes, just as soon as I get home really. I've already played it for 4x longer than my last longest run, so let's see what progress happens this week.

Watched all of Marvel Zombies this evening - saying it's based on the comics is...kinda wrong, but I'll allow it because I love the comics. It's a fun little thing, though. If it gets a second season I'll be happy, but I'm equally happy if it stays as it is.