Chindie

Just received a letter letting me know for the pleasure of leaving my job I'll be charged £600. Partly payment for a course I signed up to, which I never actually for much chance to do anything with, and partly payment of the bus pass I arrange through the company. Desperately trying to see if I can return the bus pass as I'd rather not have my final pay packet culled... Unfortunately the entire HR department appears to have **** off...

Christopher Lee is one that'll definitely be missed. Lead an absurdly interesting life, a great screen presence, and by all accounts a lovely guy. Legitimately a legend. RIP.

The N64 is the only console I can think of 'successfully' upgrading midcycle, with obvious nods to 'successful'. They released the RAM pack upgrade in it's later years that worked, more or less. Otherwise it's rarely done and never successfully. As said above, the console game is reliant on things not fundamentally changing much, for the manufacturers to make money and for developers to both have an easy level playing field to develop for as well as allowing them easier ways of predicting sales etc (adding in fundamentally different SKUs would split a market and make it difficult to peg userbases etc).

This morning discovered that this place doesn't even do an exit interview, you get an exit questionnaire. Which includes 3 questions that straight up ask 'how much is the new place paying you'and 40 questions on why you're pissed off enough to leave. The interview would have been awkward, and a waste of time, but at least it shows some effort, as opposed to the auto generated outside email you get instead.

This is probably the least interested I've been in an e3 for years. I'm hoping that means it'll take me by surprise. Microsoft seem to be going in fairly confidently do I'll be interested to see what they actually show. If it's what most people think it will be, and have done for months, I'm not sure why they're so quietly cocky - Gears remake, Halo, Forza, Tomb Raider... It's potentially a good lineup but there's nothing blowing anyone's socks off there. The zombified husk of Rare is rumoured to be turning up with a new title. Sony... Well, I think if Sony turn up with anything half decent they'll get plaudits purely out of desperation. Nintendo must be worth a watch purely to watch the potential car crash unfold. The Wii U is dead in all but name, and has been since about 30 seconds after launch (despite a core group of quality titles) and they aren't showing Zelda... So unless there's genuine bombshell surprises we're getting Yoshis Woolly World info a week before launch and er... Bethesda should be interesting. Doom! Proper look at Fallout (possible more surprises?) Dishonored sequel? EA will be the usual EA show. FIFA, Madden, Battlefront, Need For Speed... Probably can't be as bad as last year though. If Doom turns out to look decent I'll be prepared to call E3 a success though, I think, the bar is set that low.

It's worth looking at the TTIP's little brother, TISA. It's been argued by a few people it might be worse than TTIP. And even less people know about it.

It's all about airflow and not repeating RROD for the moment, don't expect a slimmer one til next year at least I understand totally why they went for such a large footprint, I'm just inclined to believe they could get it slimmed down if needs be without compromising the machines airflow at this point. I agree it's something for next year at the earliest though.

Unlikely to be a slim Xbox One revealed, Microsoft quietly announced a revised console yesterday with increased storage and new updated controller. They do need to unveil a slim sooner rather than later, there's no way that machine can't be made smaller.

None as far as I'm aware, and my Geralt is rooting around in every chest, hessian bag, crate, sideboard and box there is. So long as you're not in the vicinity of a military type you'll be fine. If you are near one and do it, you'll have them attack you, and most of them seem to be pretty high level so it's not recommended.

The series really has laid it on thick with foreshadowing. The particularly grim moment from this week was, as others have said, obviously coming from weeks ago (although I don't think anyone would bet on it being quite so horrific...). And (theory/guesswork possible significant spoilers for next week's finale/next season, non book reader) Unless next week is one of the greatest episodes of anything ever, I think this has to go down as a weak series. It's still perfectly good television, better than most crap, but this is a series that has been spread very, very thin.

Not in the DVD version I've just watched. Yeah it looks like the UK home media release is fine, thankfully, but some other region has found its way online that was edited and cut (apparently very badly as well) which has lead to fears of the home media formats across the board being ****. Thankfully not the case.

Spartacus is basically 300 - the Series. It's heavily influenced by 300's style, slowmo, overblown CGI environments, gore... Is also played in a completely overwrought manner, everyone is turned up to 11 in every way and 90% of the cast is gnawing the scenery. Once you attune to that, it actually becomes a decent watch, fairly compelling and good fun. I was watching it myself but lost my way midway, need to go back to it. The prequel mini series, Gods of the Arena, is very good too.

Also booked to see Jurassic World today. They've gone on a serious push this week with yet anther trailer, and early word is that it's, surprisingly, not shit.

Hearing that Kingsman has been cut/ for home release. The controversial ending scene has apparently been toned down a little, which is a shame as, as low as the humour was, it fit with the tone of the film well.

The creatures you encounter also break down into different types of creature (hybrids, draconids, etc etc). In my experience so far, these groups of creature have very similar weaknesses, so if you do encounter something completely new, chances are you've met a similar beast already so just use the same oils and signs. I've spent all afternoon today running around collecting Griffin School gear and clearing ?s off the map. It's glorious

I've come exceptionally close to buying this more than once recently. Intrigued to see what you make of it. I've never actually read the books so largely going in blind. I've had Blood Meridian on my shelves for about 6 years, to this day it irritates me that I got a third through it and finally couldn't bear Cormac McCarthy's style anymore. I actively hated reading it. But given that it is supposedly a masterpiece and I like the set up, I have this annoying itch whenever I see it sat there to grin and bear it and make it to the end... Edit - I'm currently rereading the Discworld series. I know it like the back of my hand but is nice to revisit some that I've not read since school in many cases. Currently on Pyramids, which is roughly where Discworld becomes the fleshed out world it is famous for being. Fantastic opening. And bought Look to Windward today, plugging a gap in my Iain M Banks collection. Holiday read methinks.

Colleagues and people from other companies I deal with day to day.

It's 2 sects of Islam. The split first occurs due to differences of opinion over who would succeed Muhammad when he died. That caused a war which has subsequently split the religion. They also have slightly different takes on other matters, like which parts of the other Islamic holy text, the hadith, are accepted and how they are interpreted. Basically, usual nonsense as any split in religious groups, but this one has a war at it's heart about a fundamental part of the religion at it's founding so is more bloody than you'd usually see.

Resigned yesterday . Team that a month ago stood at 6 now stands at 1. Hoping for gardening leave in short order (as would happen at any other company in this market) but doubt I'll get it. Some of the others have. Weight off the shoulders . Choice made isn't perfect, mostly as it's a temp to perm role, but is a significant increase in wage (good, as 3 people outside the business in the market were shocked at my wage as it stands in the last week), and there should be a role for me after the end of the temp role as the business basically doesn't have enough people doing what I do. Just brilliant. Out, finally.

Neither World Cup is in doubt, realistically. The Qataris won't be sleeping quite as soundly as the Russians but neither is going to be changed at this point. I'd also be shocked if the English FA comes out of this whiter than white. My understanding of FIFA is that everyone is in on it, everyone is giving everyone else cash and favours for one thing or another. We will have given some for our bid.

I never got on with Fallout 3. I really, really wanted to, but it never grabbed me. I hated the VATS system, and the relentlessly grim look of it all, and suffered terribly from aimless wandering that all Bethesda's open world RPGs sometimes have. A shame as, on paper, that game is exactly what I would go for. Hopefully this one can win me round. Shame it's not a huge leap on the face off it graphically, despite obviously being more polished.

Rickon is currently running away from an unprecedented earthquake along the San Andreas fault, with help from the Rock.

What's the odds on a HD remake of 3?

The Witcher is the better game, for sure, and by a distance as said above. Dragon Age is good though. It takes a while to adjust to the way the game hangs together, and it does drag in place, but once you get going it's good fun. It's not really like Skyrim at all, and it's fairly different to Mass Effect (which leans more towards polished action than this does). Take a look at some gameplay bids and see if you fancy it. The Witcher is definitely better, though.

Bloody hell. Net must have closed too close for comfort...