hazeredmist wrote: ↑October 22nd, 2019, 8:49 am Sunday just gone at a softplay with the boy, a little girl came over to us and proudly told me her daddy played football, he was Jonjo Shelvey.

So, I had a kick about with him when he was at Charlton and was just coming through the academy down there.

He ran rings around everyone.

He still sends my cousin his old boots .

I have heard some pretty bad things about Shelvey as a person, so it’s good to hear he has redeeming qualities.

Good player either way.

On a more thoughtful note the thing that struck me was the fact that in the 30 second interaction, she mostly spoke about how he is away all the time travelling, obviously unprompted. So while she will not want for things or money, she's not gonna see her Dad that much with school through the week, matches at the weekend, golf, R&R time... A footballer's career may not be that long really but that's how it'll be for large chunks of time for a lot of their kids, right?

I may not provide footballer wages to the family but I'm happy to know my kids will get the best of my time when they're developing and beyond. Money ain't everything...

True, but when Newcastle are at home he trains three or four mornings a week, and he gets international breaks off...

There are plenty of other time commitments that go along with being a modern top flight footballer too of course.

Does the poor wain have her father’s looks..?

Ah well. I nearly had myself convinced!

Hopefully people won't have heard pretty bad things about me as a person so I can at least have that

ratsoalbion wrote: ↑October 22nd, 2019, 12:28 pmDoes the poor wain have her father’s looks..?

Her mother's genes seem to have beaten his there

I played football with Bruce Grobbelaar once. He didn't want to play in goal, and instead went up front! He was alright!

On the far less interesting games front - most played game this year is probably The Division 2 at around 40 hours, so not that much in the grand scheme of things really.

My only claim to fame is I still have a guitar pick given to me by White Zombie's bassist.



EDIT: And I once passed on a chance to have pizza with Trent Reznor. Still kicking myself 15 years later

I’ve got dozens of mostly lame celebrity encounters in my past. Too many to list.

Definitely Apex Legends at hundreds of hours, I guarantee it's not even close.

EDIT: Actually, that may not be true by the end of the year, as I've already put over 100 hours into various Pokemon game to try and get every Pogey up to what's available in XY. And Shord/Sweild hasn't even come out yet.

My son’s best mate’s dad is a former Premier League and England footballer. I played football with him and two other former internationals the year after he retired. Don’t think I touched the ball. I tried, but the speed of everything is just incredible. The most generous, caring guy I’ve ever met though. For various reasons I won’t go into now, I’ve also got some lovely stories about a Dave Grohl barbecue, sharing a table with Fatboy Slim and all of Metallica, a Spice Girls Brit Award ending up in a bin bag outside my house, and my best mate’s short-lived romance involving a member of the full S Club 7 (not the aforementioned Juniors)! That’s the tip of the iceberg too...

Anyway, I think I’ve played more Virtua Racing on Switch than anything else, which I didn’t see coming when I bought it. Closely followed by Out Run and Super Mario World, also on Switch

^ fantastic. Love all this

Ooh what are your times on Virtua Racing... There's a community thread!

Hahahahaha, great little tid bits there Steve .

Steve couldn’t get into the community thread for some reason, I did mention it to the staff on Twitter but didn’t get a response. Not sure if it ever got resolved to be honest.

Jay gave me a solution. Unfortunately it only got me in once before it happened again, and I’ve been too lazy to do it a second time. I’ll make an effort I promise!

These are my times, default settings:
Big Forest - 3:14.59 (updated since posting - knew I could go faster)
Bay Bridge - 3:16.09
Acropolis - 4:16.93

Most of my time was spent trying to come first on Bay Bridge, hence the decent time there. I know I can go way faster on Big Forest but need to put some more time in to get back up to standard. Coming first on Acropolis was enough for me, and I’ve got no great desire to improve my time there.

Have not even finished it but Yakuza 0 has easily been my most played game this year. 63 hours in and just at Chapter 11 which I feel is far from the end. Been spending ages pocket car racing, becoming a real estate magnate and managing a hostess club. God, this game has been an absolute delight, every second I have spent on this I have just loved. In no rush to finish it, taking my sweet, sweet time.

Jobobonobo wrote: ↑October 24th, 2019, 9:28 pm Have not even finished it but Yakuza 0 has easily been my most played game this year. 63 hours in and just at Chapter 11 which I feel is far from the end. Been spending ages pocket car racing, becoming a real estate magnate and managing a hostess club. God, this game has been an absolute delight, every second I have spent on this I have just loved. In no rush to finish it, taking my sweet, sweet time.

It's amazing really, and testament to what a great series it is, that I hated the club management stuff and pocket racing and still absolutely loved the game, whereas you've spent hours and hours enjoying it! For me it was the main story that was the attraction, but there really is something for everyone. I don't understand how these games have remained quite a nichè product and not really broken the mainstream (although yes, they are more popular now than ever, you're not going to see Gary from accounts talking about it at work on a Monday morning). Such a fantastic series. I can't wait to get on to Yakuza 3 when I've got some cash.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑October 25th, 2019, 2:12 pm It's amazing really, and testament to what a great series it is, that I hated the club management stuff and pocket racing and still absolutely loved the game, whereas you've spent hours and hours enjoying it! For me it was the main story that was the attraction, but there really is something for everyone. I don't understand how these games have remained quite a nichè product and not really broken the mainstream (although yes, they are more popular now than ever, you're not going to see Gary from accounts talking about it at work on a Monday morning). Such a fantastic series. I can't wait to get on to Yakuza 3 when I've got some cash.

Well the great thing is that these are almost games within games with how involved they can get but since they are not really required to finish the game you can ignore hem and still have a good time. While I do dig the main story a lot (which is very compelling like all great crime dramas) it is the various substories that I really adore which can range from complete daftness to genuine tearjerkers. But absolutely agree that this is a fantastic series and one that I plan to return to in the future. However, they really are gargantuan games so I will space them out to every few years or so I think! The best thing Sega has done in years imo.

FYI, I found Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 far shorter than Zero. 2 is my favorite so far, the story is brilliant.

Alex79uk wrote: ↑October 26th, 2019, 5:51 pm FYI, I found Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 far shorter than Zero. 2 is my favorite so far, the story is brilliant.

Need to go back and finish 2. Think I'm midway through

94 hours on MGSV The Phantom Pain and I didn't even get to the end.