Chindie

Wahey

Yes and no, for me. I held off doing a lot of the main quest and eventually finished it when I sitll had about 10 achievements to pick up, mostly for finishing off a few of the guild quests and doing the Daedric quests. When I did finish it, I personally lost a little of the wonder the game had had to that point, but still had a drive to play it as there were those quests that needed doing and so on. Once I had all the achievements, however, I've had no desire to play it at all really. I'd loved it, really enjoyed every minute, but the game felt done fo me then, there didn't seem to be much left to investigate. Thats why I'm quite interested in this DLC, I'm hoping it really gives me the impetus to pick it up again and hammer the hell out of the game again.

Not as bad as feared but still hardly exciting. It's almost like Spain are scared to shoot.

Holy shit at that shot.

Yep, look more dangerous on the attack to me. I'm hoping for a patented Chiellini 'strong tackle' at some point.

Started a NG+ of Arkham City myself this afternoon. I'm rusty with the combat but even so, it's noticeably more of a challenge straight away, it's hard to predict just how much those counter warnings come to be relied on - I was getting battered to begin with! Great game still. So much fun.

A better showing than I'd expected so far, hard to call it exciting though... I think I'd be happier seeing an Italian win than a Spanish one. I'm tired of Spain.

If this is anything more than boring I'll be shocked.

A few people made the comparison to Gears when it came out but having played it myself I think the resemblance is slim. A lot of people called it Gears without the knee high walls, but Gears is pretty much defined by it's use of a cover system, Space Marine is defined by it's demand of using the hack and slash gameplay. 40k forces you to use melee combat, making it the easiest way to regain health. They're not really similar at all.

I guess I'm the typical 'old school British fan' that enjoys even end to end all or nothing style play. When it comes to football, I'm less interested in strategy and tactical battles, and more in excitement, especially when I'm not watching Villa. I think thats also why I appreciate Spain's style less than others. I can appreciate the skill on show, and I understand why they play as they do, but I really don't enjoy it. Same thing happens in the Prem, if you took Arsenal at their best and Manchester United at their best, I prefer Manchester United's more direct, powerful, simple game to Arsenal's delicate but impressive 'pretty' game. I usually compare Spain to a virtuoso rock guitarist. I appreciate the mastery of, say, Satriani's skill with a guitar, but I'd rather listen to something less gifted.

I'm actually expecting to be bored by the Spain v Italy game. Italy are fairly weak and have always been a defensive side, and I just find Spain immensely dull to watch. It'll turn into Spain parked in the Italian half ticking up the possession count and ending up with a comfortably couple of goal win. As impressive as Spain can be in full flight, I just don't enjoy it.

I'm surprised you liked Tintin. Super 8 is alright. Suffers from its desire to be homage and some of its design.

Can't say that's undeserved. But Gomez continues his run of looking crap and still managing to score. Great header though.

Some cheap dig about non-German nationals I did have to use some self restraint to not make a joke about that. Though I think they've over 20 German-born players in the squad anyway. Oh I know it was just too easy a jab to make. Well... that was a pretty naff half of football. 0-0 anyone? The Portuguese really aren't looking that good, and the Germans aren't really looking particular amazing either.

Some cheap dig about non-German nationals Portuguese haven't really got in this game yet.

I'd have felt hard done by had either of those handballs been given against England/Villa. Agree with Rev that they are definite examples of 'Seen 'em given'.

Good performance from the Danes. The Dutch are just an incredibly flawed side. Obvious talent (going forwards at least) but lack an edge, their defence isn't the best and even with the 2 holding players you just don't see them being particularly resilient somehow.

Danish no.9 looks lively...

Rev is bang on with the advice to go to Markarth if you are a melee character. The quest with the abandoned house is easy and you'll be glad of the reward early on. I would do that, then go do enough of the main quest to the point you can talk to the head of the Greybeards and have him tell you where shouts are - he will say that they've heard a shout somewhere and add it to your map, go there and you'll have a dungeon to go through usually, or sometimes have the shout just out in the open, usually somewhere remote. These quests are straight forward, get you around the map a lot which opens up fast travelling more for you, often have quite nice loot, and at the end you get a shout which will give you options. I'd mix those up with the Daedric quests, most of which you stumble upon, really, and the rewards for those are usually well worth the effort. I was one of those that largely avoided the main quest, I wanted to take my time with it worried that I would find the game lost some of it's charm once the main event was over.

Well that was better than anyone would have expected before KO.

The Greeks may as well not bother any more set pieces, if the standard this far is anything to go by.

Red cards barring particular violent conduct ones are 1 match bans I think. I do agree he's not as good as Arsenal would have you believe. He got away with a lot of shifty moments in the league this season IIRC.

Knew he's miss it.

The replays highlight just how ludicrous that decision was. Congrats ref, you've ruined the game.

Referee has decided to stamp his authority on it. Now - Greeks become even worse and it turns into a spanking, or they turn into an even more crazily defensive side?