Exactly, one of my old co-workers donates to every e-thot’s Patreon that’s out there, just save up your cash and go to your local brothel.

I support two streamers with donations when I have cash. One is a guy I talked with for 6 years or so years and helped me when I got divorced and the other is a MTG streamer who I am not sure could do a normal job. CobaltStreak makes decent money but has a wife and kid to support and makes about the same he would as if he worked a straight job and I know Annamae considers it a win if she gets food and 20 bucks. I do not get people who support guys like the mega streamers who are getting five to six figures a month. These guys do not need thousands of dollars in donations and a smaller streamer would be moved to tears by the same amount. But that is the Matthew Effect, the more you have the more you get.

I seen some really fucked up stuff that the sex appeal streamers have pulled. A few hide they are married and some even have went on dates with the people who dump them lots of money while hiding boyfriends and shit. Really messed up stuff.  Then we have Sweet Anita who has mild Tourette Syndrome and may be acting like it is a lot worse than it is to suck in money.  I remember the old video a few years back of the disabled streamer who could not walk miraculously walking when he thought the camera was off...

Even legit camwhores I don't get from a guy's perspective. I guess it shows just how lonely men can get because they're willing to shell out serious cash just to have any kind of connection to a human being. I get it. I've had a sugar baby or two in my life and did it more to combat the loneliness than sex. That makes more sense to me, even if she rinses a guy because at least it's happening in real life. Same with strippers. I wonder how things would change if prostitution was legal here. I know the type that follow streamers are more on the incel type and want to be desired and aren't simply after sex, but it's something.

My friend gave thousands of dollars to a stripper. We had to do an intervention on him one night because he did not know she was milking him for every dollar he had.  It is sad when people pay escort money for a fake friend they do not even meet in real life.  Japan has it right I think with no-sex escorts being a thing.  That ultimately is what people want.  

My childhood is being restored.

Monster Rancher is finally receiving a digital port. Currently details have yet to be revealed but I'm curious to see how they handle the monster making gimmick. Before it was all about raiding your CD collection to see what monsters they'd produce, if it's on the Switch, I wonder how they'll work around it?

By the by, that anime may have been the most avant garde media I watched as a youth. The complete non-ending of the original series messed me up and made me question the meaning of life. It was so out of left field for a Pokemon clone. They ended up bringing it back for a third season where everything ended happily ever after, but I like to think it was merely pandering to the fanbase and not their intended vision.

Will buy this if it comes out on a console but MR2 blows MR1 out of the water in depth. Wish they just made a new one. I am curious too about how the CDs work? Will it be video game CDs? My problem with MR1 was the side quests were as deep, there was a lack of different type of monsters and if I recall, the tourney fights weren't really that good.

I still remember my brother and I going to the library and renting countless music CDs for this game. Michael Jackson's Bad and other CDs gave you rare exclusive monsters. 

FOX Kids Network in the US messed up the MR series for us. We missed the Grey Wolf/Naga saga since some of it was too violent for TV consumption and they honestly skipped around to the point it got confusing. Still enjoyed the series.

FOX Kids Network in the US messed up the MR series for us. We missed the Grey Wolf/Naga saga since some of it was too violent for TV consumption and they honestly skipped around to the point it got confusing. Still enjoyed the series.

You remember the anime, Blindy?

I couldn't believe how secretly good it was. I was expecting a knock-off Digimon and the first few episodes did nothing to change my mind. Then I happened to catch one of the episodes with a dark ending and I was hooked. It was so refreshing to see a cartoon that didn't shy away from realistic consequences. One episode in particular Undines Lake was the one that hooked me. It had this cliche premise of the big gentle giant being tricked into helping out the villains, and 99/100 the episode usually ends with everybody ending up as friends and living happily ever after. In Monster Rancher, the villain realises that the gentle giant is too good for her and she could never change her nature. Instead of using the giant to save her from the flames, she succumbs to her fate and allows the giant to continue his journey. It's stuck with me after all these years and there were more emotional episodes.

It's weird how many regional differences there are when it comes to anime adaptations. It blew my mind to learn that Canada for instance continued with the original Ocean Dub of DBZ. With Monster Rancher, I was led to believe that in the States you guys weren't treated to season two or three. That basically the show ends with the build up to Gray Wolf and they just repeated the same 26 episodes ad nauseum. It's a shame, because the second season was when the show really got good.

I need to see if I can get my hands on a bluray. :lol:

The anime was great, it was probably my 2nd favorite after Digimon but ahead of Pokemon.

That Undine episode was pretty messed up, the Worm one really hurt me with the trainer that abused his worm for battle and to do whatever he wanted ended up realizing how awful of a person he was and that his worm through the years of abuse, broke down and defended his trainer to the very end before succumbing to being a lost disc. The trainer turned a new leaf and was given a brand new worm to make amends and they ended up fighting alongside the resistance vs Moo's Army.

Genki was annoying and his skate attacks were unbelieveable vs these monsters but besides that, it was cool. They tried so hard to have Moochi be the Pikachu of the series. 

We got the Dullahan saga actually and I think they had the rise of the Pheonix where all of the crew ended up getting fused to make the Phoenix who defeated Holly's father, Moo and restore all the lost discs but yeah they skipped around the violent parts. We skipped portions of Grey Wolf and Naga and the first episode as the crew's battle with Malcarbara(SP), the ancient scorpion creature that they defeated with a lightning rod. 

Jul 25, 2019 13:05:17 GMT Blindy said:

The anime was great, it was probably my 2nd favorite after Digimon but ahead of Pokemon.

That Undine episode was pretty messed up, the Worm one really hurt me with the trainer that abused his worm for battle and to do whatever he wanted ended up realizing how awful of a person he was and that his worm through the years of abuse, broke down and defended his trainer to the very end before succumbing to being a lost disc. The trainer turned a new leaf and was given a brand new worm to make amends and they ended up fighting alongside the resistance vs Moo's Army.

Genki was annoying and his skate attacks were unbelieveable vs these monsters but besides that, it was cool. They tried so hard to have Moochi be the Pikachu of the series. 

We got the Dullahan saga actually and I think they had the rise of the Pheonix where all of the crew ended up getting fused to make the Phoenix who defeated Holly's father, Moo and restore all the lost discs but yeah they skipped around the violent parts. We skipped portions of Grey Wolf and Naga and the first episode as the crew's battle with Malcarbara(SP), the ancient scorpion creature that they defeated with a lightning rod. 

Yeah, there was a lot you had to overlook with Monster Rancher to realise it was a surprisingly solid shonen anime. A 10 year-old kid fighting dinosaurs, rap song cut-aways, the decision to stick with "Moo" which has a completely different conotation in English, baddies, goodies etc. From the ads, it looked horrible but the show had plenty to offer.

That's interesting about the broadcast over there. I wonder if it was different in other parts of the States? I just recall reading at the time and even years afterwards that the show was pretty difficult to come by in the States, particularly that second season. That's good you got to watch it in real-time though. I think you'd agree that once they introduced all the characters, they really ramped up the stakes in that second season and it made for some of the more interesting episodes. Maybe I'm confusing it with the third season which was closer to the video games? Where it was all about fighting tournaments and Duruham was looking to restore his body?

Anyways that original Phoenix finale man. I still don't know how to feel about it after all these years, I seriously needed reddit or something to help explain what happened. So good, but just so bittersweet.

Hell yeah to Digimon. Just like Monster Rancher, I wrote it off as a knock-off originally until a friend showed me an episode and I instantly became hooked. For a show about selling tamagotchis, there was a surprising amount of effort put into the world building and the character development was so refreshing. I enjoyed the initial arc with the Devimon and how it would influence later episodes in the series. It was like the writers had only planned on doing 12 episodes, grew to love the series then made a point to expand on it.

I didn't keep up with the show after the first season. I was excited for Season 2 and enjoyed some of the ideas it had but I lost track of it after awhile. Everytime I'd tune in there would be Emo WarGreymon and Fusion Monsters with Overlapping Cartoon Voices acting like bad-asses and I gave up. From all reports Season 3 was meant to be the best of the lot, but I just never got around to watching more than one or two episodes.

I ended up buying one of those Digimon Season 2 Tamagotchis. You know the one where it was like a pedominator and the game would progress the more you walked? I don't know if they were popular over there, but that may have been my favourite game of 2001. Forget Paper Mario, forget Final Fantasy IX (PAL life), forget Conker's Bad Fur Day, Jak and Daxter etc. we're all about that walking game. I don't think I ever beat it, I wonder if I can find one and complete a speed-run? :lol:

You guys been following the Gamestop drama? Seems like they may not be around <5 years from now...

Aug 1, 2019 19:50:25 GMT @ness said:

You guys been following the Gamestop drama? Seems like they may not be around <5 years from now...

I hope no one here is financially affected by them doing bad, but won't shed a tear if they vanished. I am in the group of people who had mainly bad experiences from them.

Not going to lie, as someone who just goes to buy used games, I really don't have too many bad experiences with them. If a game was bad and or just didn't work, I had my 7 days to bring it back to trade for something else. Worked out great for me. Once digital started getting better prices though last generation, was when I really stopped going. Last time I went to Gamestop was because Borderlands 1 GOTY edition was exclusive to them and I wanted. Lo and behold Gearbox thought 7 copies per store was fucking enough. Anyway, long story short, will miss it but frankly there isn't one in town, so I would have to drive a bit to get to it. So can't say it will affect me much.

It feel like people have reported Gamestop's demise for years now but they still stand. So who knows if this is really it's final hoorah. Likely will close a decent chunk of their stores to try to stay afloat. That town that I drive to has 2 Gamestops within like 5 miles from each other. I could see one of them not being there in the future.

Game

GameStop (EB Games) is pretty much the reason I avoid most stores now, I maybe get prompted once for extras online but that’s it

*goes to counter to buy game*

Do you want to buy a used copy instead?

Do you want scratch protection?

Do you want to sign up to our newsletter?

Do you want to pre-order this game?

Is there anything you want to trade in?

I've generally had nothing but good experiences at EB Games. A couple of years ago, I was after the SEGA Mega Drive Classics for the 360 and one of the staff members dug through every pre-owned stack to find the one copy. The case was pretty wonky, but the guy's customer service was so good, I just had to buy it then and there.

The only weird experience I've had was when I bought Fire Emblem Awakening around four years ago. I gave them my membership details so they could log the purchase in and my pre-order for a special edition 3DS came up. Suddenly this guy thought it was a great time to try and sell me on more 3DS games. Have you heard about this game? Want to pre-order it? What about this game? You know what's supposed to be really good? Half the games I already owned and if I wanted the other half I would have bought them online. It was a sore subject anyways because the post delivered the 3DS to the wrong house (fortunately a month or so later they brought it around mine).

I just figure a lot of the people there are teens/early 20 somethings and they're under all sorts of pressure to upsell. Management doesn't treat their staff well at all and they expect way too much out of them. I thought it may have just been an issue here but judging from YouTube videos it's a widepsread issue.

In fairness, I'm not their best customer either. Last time I was there, I re-organised their pre-owned games so the rarer games and better deals were upfront. I was weighing up my purchases and considered taking advantage of one until I saw CEX selling Bloodborne for $8.

I would be surprised to see GameStop go out of business entirely. While the industry is moving forward to more digital platforms, EB Games always seems to be one of the more popular stores and the marketplace always seems to be replenished with newer generations. I can see them downsizing, but not going away entirely at least in Australia. Personally, I'll always have fond memories of them if only because it gave us an alternative outside of Tandy, Dick Smith and Harvey Norman. The video game marketplace pre-1999 was very rough down under.

I haven't gone into a Gamestop for a good 5-10 yrs, so it doesn't really affect me. I just rent games through Gamefly* and worse case I'll buy them digitally. I'm sure the rise of Amazon has done just as much damage to them as digital distritbution. Before they ended those deals, Amazon and Best Buy had better prices that they really couldn't compete. $5 off for used was always kind of a joke especially when there was no difference between "new" since they were gutted and being taken home by employees.

We'll see who makes it to the finish line though, them or TNA.

* Now if THEY go outta business... I'm gonna weep.

Don't think I told this story on this forum or at least this version of it about Gamestop.

But after I already sworn off gamestop my friend ask me to drive him to one to get a game. We saw a game online for $40 so went to store to get. We walk into the store and find the game which has a price tag of $40 on it. When he rings it up it comes up $60. Shows him the $40 sticker and he saw us pick up from the shelf so he knows we didn't change it. He won't sell it for the ticket price but friend wants it still. But he will sell him a used version for $55. A whole $5 dollars off gee how kind of you. I told him I would just got for the new one if he has to get it. Friend buys the used copy. His money and he is grown I don't care. Remember the short lived online game pass that only came with new games. Well guess what type of game this was. Tries to play the game that will be $10 more dollars please. Nope, let's go back to that store again. I didn't go in this time he paid $5 more dollars I think and corrected his mistake.

Aug 3, 2019 6:28:44 GMT Big Pete said:

I've generally had nothing but good experiences at EB Games. A couple of years ago, I was after the SEGA Mega Drive Classics for the 360 and one of the staff members dug through every pre-owned stack to find the one copy. The case was pretty wonky, but the guy's customer service was so good, I just had to buy it then and there.

The only weird experience I've had was when I bought Fire Emblem Awakening around four years ago. I gave them my membership details so they could log the purchase in and my pre-order for a special edition 3DS came up. Suddenly this guy thought it was a great time to try and sell me on more 3DS games. Have you heard about this game? Want to pre-order it? What about this game? You know what's supposed to be really good? Half the games I already owned and if I wanted the other half I would have bought them online. It was a sore subject anyways because the post delivered the 3DS to the wrong house (fortunately a month or so later they brought it around mine).

I just figure a lot of the people there are teens/early 20 somethings and they're under all sorts of pressure to upsell. Management doesn't treat their staff well at all and they expect way too much out of them. I thought it may have just been an issue here but judging from YouTube videos it's a widepsread issue.

In fairness, I'm not their best customer either. Last time I was there, I re-organised their pre-owned games so the rarer games and better deals were upfront. I was weighing up my purchases and considered taking advantage of one until I saw CEX selling Bloodborne for $8.

I would be surprised to see GameStop go out of business entirely. While the industry is moving forward to more digital platforms, EB Games always seems to be one of the more popular stores and the marketplace always seems to be replenished with newer generations. I can see them downsizing, but not going away entirely at least in Australia. Personally, I'll always have fond memories of them if only because it gave us an alternative outside of Tandy, Dick Smith and Harvey Norman. The video game marketplace pre-1999 was very rough down under.

From what I’ve heard they are very strict on KPI’s, it’s like that at every store you go to now unfortunately.

I was in the top 100 buyers at my local store at one point but that’s gone down a lot, which is a good thing in the long run.
Also helps that my relatives would put Xmas gifts they would buy for each other on my card, leaving me confused when I apparently bought a PS4 & Assassin’s Creed one day 😂😂.

Most of the EB Games in my area are Zing/EB Games combined now, which is a smart move as things head towards digital.

Everywhere seems to sell board games now (as sandylea can vent about) as I assume it’s because they are much better deal to buy in store than online and pay for shipping especially heavy games like Gloomhaven.

So A Hat in Time, will be released on the Switch, on October 18th, if I'm not mistaken, it was Big Pete, that had good things to say about the game. This def looks interesting, and I'll be adding it to the ever-growing list of yet to be released games, that I want to get.

Put it up there up top because it was indeed an awesome game. I only played it randomly, had no idea it was so beloved. True definition of a gem. Way better than Yooka Laylee as a fun platformer.

Maybe not right at the top, what with both the Spyro Trilogy and of course Link's Awakening coming out before it, plus Luigi's Mansion 3 in October as well, but def have it higher than Lego Jurassic World and Super Monkey Ball HD.

Also, they don't make controllers like they used to, can't even play Smash Bros. with my Bowser Pro Controller (picked it up back in April, so four months ago), and It's already being a pain in the ass. I'm trying to use the analog stick to run right, but instead, the character moves in the left direction right off the stage and kills me.

I would like to see it for myself, but everything I heard suggested A Hat In Time was everything Yooka Laylee should have been. A more focused 3D Platformer that is just a blast to play through from start to finish. From what I heard with Yooka Laylee, it feels like a product of a by-gone era, a 3D Platformer that reminds you of all the tedious design choices from that era. At least that's how I had it explained to me, I haven't touched either and stuck with Mario Odyssey which was everything I wanted in a 3D Platformer. I beat it in one day and have never gone back to it, that one experience was just too strong.

I've been meaning to ask, does anyone own a Pro Controller? I'm considering picking one up with Astral Chain, but kind of feel weird paying more for an accessory than a piece of software. Well worth an upgrade? Or stick with the joycons?

Honestly I only use the pro for playing the Switch.

As I mentioned above, I do have a Bowser Pro Controller, though that seems to be causing problems for me (at least playing Smash) which I've had for about four months now, so I might have to replace it. Having said that, I do prefer the Pro Controller, over the joy-cons in the grip pad charger thing that comes with the system, not that the grip pad is bad or anything, I just prefer the feel of the Pro Controller, when holding it in my hands.

Aug 18, 2019 16:38:10 GMT @ness said:

Honestly I only use the pro for playing the Switch.

How would you compare it to the Wii U Controller? Actually should I assume you even bought a Wii U? :lol: Okay, is it true that it's basically a 360 Controller in Nintendo clothing? Or is it even better?

As I mentioned above, I do have a Bowser Pro Controller, though that seems to be causing problems for me (at least playing Smash) which I've had for about four months now, so I might have to replace it. Having said that, I do prefer the Pro Controller, over the joy-cons in the grip pad charger thing that comes with the system, not that the grip pad is bad or anything, I just prefer the feel of the Pro Controller, when holding it in my hands.

That's a third party controller though isn't it? I just want to know whether it's worth the investment, if it actually improves the quality of the experience exponentially then I'll jump on board, otherwise I'd rather put that $100 towards another game.

Don't have much exp with Xbox controllers but yeah it's basically that. Guess they more or less perfected it. I don't use my Switch for it's intended purpose (portable or away from tv play) so I bought it alongside my Switch just to have a "normal" controller. It's comparable to the WiiU one since they're not reinventing the wheel.

Yes I'm one of 200 that actually owned a WiiU!

Finally announced a collection of Yakuza 3-5 hitting PS4 stateside, though it says the physical release will be limited, so I hope it's not stupid limited, as I want it to bridge Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6 on my shelf.

I still have my PS3 copies but in my shelf lies a empty spot for the Yakuza 5 which didn't have a disc in the US. So I look forward to jumping on this. The fact that it has extra juicy cut content, I really look forward to playing it. Still have to play Kiwami 2 though.

Did anyone catch ProJared's response video?

The bulk of it focused on the accusations that he'd been grooming underage fans, particularly this one fan called Chai. Jared debunked a couple of the claims they made with alibis and then put the focus more on who this Chai person is and their sketchy history. Normally I'd consider this a deflection, but I thought it was relevant here because the timeline called into question the validity of their claims. It was more than 'this person is crazy' and more 'straight up, this couldn't have happened'.

I'm still not sure if he's in the clear there. The apology he made earlier still seems like an admission of guilt and possession of underage porn is an extremely sensitive matter that can vary based on the jurisdiction. I'm not sure if being lied to about their age is a sufficient defence, and it's a timely reminder why an unofficial porn group is a terrible terrible idea.

No news on the Heidi situation, Holly basically covered his perspective on the matter and I'm willing to believe it. Again, another cautionary tale about changing a relationship to poly instead of just cutting the chord altogether. The only thing we don't really know is about Ross, but that seems like a complicated matter in of itself. I would not be surprised at all if it came out that Ross used Holly for citizenship. Maybe I just watched too much GLOW and Parks and Rec but that's my theory.

The only other bit of news was about Pamela Horton. I wasn't aware of this, but Pamela threw her 2c in accusing Jared of being a misogynist who forced everyone at some Nintendo event they were at to look at her Playboy nudes. Then later on, they did a panel at E3 where Jared completely ignored her. Jared called bullshit, but as nicely as possible making a point to say that she probably wasn't trying to be vindictive but got her wires crossed. As it turns out, it appears he was right. An old podcast emerged where somebody relayed the same story but made a point to say it wasn't Jared or anyone from his group. Then the video of the E3 panel emerged and it looks like she got ProJared and Kyle Bosman from Easy Allies confused. The Bosman confusion seems odd considering they had collabed together at GameTrailers and there were rumours she was seeing him.

Anyways between this and the Andy Signore response, it's a really interesting time for sexual assaults and just highlights how incredibly hard it is to deliver justice. At the moment both seem to be in the camp of 'well, they were extremely stupid...but not criminals.'

Aug 21, 2019 10:50:13 GMT RagnarokMike said:

Finally announced a collection of Yakuza 3-5 hitting PS4 stateside, though it says the physical release will be limited, so I hope it's not stupid limited, as I want it to bridge Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6 on my shelf.

I find it annoying, all I want is to play Yakuza 3 and I have to spend $100 on games I bought for $20~ total.

I'm happy that they're doing a collector's edition, but I don't see why they can't release them individually on PSN.

The best thing about today's Nintendo Direct, SNES games coming to Nintendo Switch Onlne.