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It's bad. How something like this happens is beyond me. There appears to be little to no competence when it comes to this band anymore. From legal, to marketing, to PR, to mixing, to A&R - there are few aspects about this organization that can be applauded. Certainly nobody is perfect; everyone makes mistakes. But the level of incompetence and indifference is indefensible. There's no discipline, process, or forethought. It's as though the amount of money coming in has completely blinded everyone involved; to the point that there are no hands on the wheel and the ship has charted its own course. And it's all so sad considering there are still some great elements of this band. Having Duff and Slash on stage with Axl is a great thing. Having the current lineup release new music is something to be celebrated (even if most of the songs aren't in the same league as some of GNR's best material). The band may still put on a fun show for those attending and we finally have a relatively steady stream of new music. But for all the wins there are so many losses that are almost entirely avoidable. It's a shame Guns can't operate like almost any other band in this respect.

Nice. Congrats! Always wanted one but haven’t been in any rush to get one. I told myself a year or two ago that I’d get one once I could walk into a store and buy one. But now that the day has arrived I’m going to wait a bit longer as I wouldn’t have the time to play it. Will definitely have one by the time GTA VI gets released.

I hope he doesn't lose his accounting job at H&R Block as a result

Locking the thread to clean it up. Please refrain from personal insults. Offending posts will be removed. Consider this a general warning. Any posts that are directed against another member will be removed and warning points (and likely suspensions) will be awarded.

He's not getting shit. Unless he trade-marked his "look," the best he's going to get is publicity.

Yeah, I get that. Some of the minutia of the game could really bring down the experience. That said, Rockstar usually did a great job of filling that time with fun banter between the two characters. At the very least, there were some good radio/tunes to jam while exploring Los Santos. I've heard from friends who play GTA Online that there's a lot more variety to the online missions.

Nope

I just realized that the best part about GTA VI is that I get to experience what Florida is like nowadays without actually having to spend time in Florida. That's a big win right there!

There's a lot of talk about Rock Star charging a lot more for GTA VI because it's such a big and expensive game to make and how popular it is. People are getting a lot of game with GTA and Rock Star might break the usual AAA rate that most publishers usually charge. I know I'd pay $20-$30 more for GTA at launch than any other game (save for RDR3). But double? No way. I'd wait until it was discounted. I think anything over $100 at launch would be asking too much and risks cutting into profits Rock Star could make in the back end with GTA Online. But we'll see..

The story and the missions are the best part of the game. Causing mayhem was never really my thing. I'll say $99 USD for the base game. It wasn't too long ago most new AAA games were selling for $60-$70 at launch. More than double seems a bit out of reach. Also consider that the more people who own the game the more money they'll likely make from GTA Online sales. I think it's in their long term interest to grow the user base as much as possible to get more people buying stuff online.

That's pretty common amongst owners/admins/mods. Once you've had the job long enough, you don't want anything to do with the place once you're done. I can't think of a former mod/admin who still posts regularly.

Yeah, I think as we get older we realize that a lot of this stuff doesn't matter as much as we thought it would. Even GNR. It's nice to have, but what gives you value, happiness, and what ultimately matters in life should be based on something more than a silly movie series or music album. They're nice to have and they should provide joy, happiness, escape and something to bond over with friends. They should neither ruin your life or be your life. Enjoy things for what they are. If you didn't enjoy it, then fine. That's okay too. At this point in my life I try to approach Marvel or Star Wars films like their rides at an amusement park. When I was a kid or teen they were everything. Now, I'm not going to get too upset if they're not as fun as I hoped they would be.

For me it was the prequels. They were just so bad that it kind of killed the series for me. What was the ultimate nail in the coffin was actually watching the OT series again and realizing outside of Empire, the other two films weren't that great either. They have their moments, but now that they were apart of a bigger series, I just couldn't care anymore. So it sounds like the ST did for you what the PT did for me. I've always liked J.J. as a film maker (I liked what he did with Star Trek and I really enjoyed Super 8) so I was at least interested to see what he'd do with The Force Awakens. And for me, it was fun even if it felt eerily like A New Hope. It's almost as if he decided to remake A New Hope but make it an objectively well executed film (because as novel as A New Hope is, it's got some serious basic film-making execution problems). I think this is the best and really only way to enjoy Star Wars at this point: have fun and don't take it too seriously. Wanting it to be something more than it is or was will lead to disappointment. When Star Wars and its fans take it too seriously, that's when you run into problems. Same issue with the Matrix. Understand why we love it, and keep things in perspective that these aren't suppose to explain the meaning of life. I went to Galaxy's Edge a few months ago at Disneyland in California and I loved it. It was so cool. Like you, I didn't mind that it wasn't based on the OT. Rise of the Resistance was breathtaking in both scope and detail. You could forgive yourself for thinking you were actually part of a Star Wars film. I think it was one of the coolest rides/experiences I've ever had. The Cantina was a lot of fun (even though I was there on my own because my wife had taken my daughter back to our hotel at that point) and the drinks were great (if not insanely expensive). Just walking around was really cool. For that alone I'm glad Disney bought Star Wars. I tell anyone who is even a casual fan to check it out if they're either in Florida or California. For die-hard fans it's an absolute must. I'd go again but only if I was with another Star Wars fan.

This is why I'd love to see them reboot the whole thing. Start from the very beginning. Make the story of Anakin make sense. Use much better casting. Setup where the series is going to go from the very beginning and sort of work backwards. Have a master and unified vision. Take the best parts of Star Wars and eliminate what didn't work. That said, I don't think doing this would re-capture the magic and make SW a cultural phenomenon. You get your moment and then it's gone. People will want the next thing, not a retread of something they've already experienced (which is why people are moving on from the MCU). But telling the story again from a fresh and logical perspective that doesn't involve tripping over itself could still be a worthwhile exercise for me at least because as much as I enjoy Star Wars, it's not my religion like it is for some people. And I guess for many rebooting the whole thing might be considered blasphemous.

I guess for people who liked TLJ, Return of Skywalker was a let down. But for people like me who felt TLJ kind of killed the series, I just really didn't care how Skywalker turned out. I hoped J.J. could fix what Johnson broke, but the air had been let out of the balloon at that point and I just didn't care. If I cared at the point it was out of sheer curiosity how'd they land the plane. As for ST being a cultural event, I think it's a bit unrealistic in this day and age to expect anything of achieving what Star Wars and other big cultural drivers once did. Things are too fragmented. Everyone is into their own thing, whether it be news, games, music, tv shows, etc. There are five to ten films every year trying to be or do what Star Wars did in the 70s and 80s and no one really cares anymore. It's akin to people around here talking about the path to GNR being relevant again; that all they need is one big album and they'll be on top of the world again like they were in the 90s. But that's never going to happen. People turned out for The Force Awakes out of nostalgia. But the ST was never going to be the next "Star Wars" - if you get my drift - even there was a well thought out plan (which there clearly was not). Star Wars in the 70s was a completely new thing in terms of technical innovations and merging classic storytelling with the new frontier of space. It was novel in so many ways that no film or series can be these days (the closest is probably the MCU up until Endgame). I don't think either J.J. or Johnson were making their Star Wars films to check boxes laid out to them by Disney's executive class. I think they both made the movies they wanted to make (unless someone can show me a quote where either claimed they were limited). I know Disney put a stop to Trevorrow's vision, but based on what I read for what he had in mind, thank god for that. I think they did their best with what they had. I'd love a proper reunion film of the original cast. But delving into the EU stories just wasn't possible with the age of the original cast. So I'm less inclined to blame "corporate entertainment" than just the limits of what each director had to work with. Doesn't mean I agree with their choices (as I explain above). But I'm not sure I'd agree that if Lucas had never sold SW to Disney that a ST would have been any better. Based on the PQ, I think they would have been worse. Andor was sensational. The prison episode is some of the best television I've seen in years. But you're right, it had little or nothing to do with Star Wars. It just so happened to be set in the SW universe.

I think the other problem I have with TLJ is that it's just not a whole lot of fun to watch. Star Wars at its best is giving audiences high-wire action (lightsaber duels, space ship combat, etc.) with swashbuckling adventure with lighthearted moments between charismatic and likeable characters. As messy as Rise of Skywalker was, at least it had the last element. Johnson stripped most of the fun adventurous part out TLJ. It took itself way too seriously at the expense of fun. As much as I don't like Phantom Menace, at least there were some fun aspects about it. What could be more fun than a slow-motion chase in space (that makes little sense if you think about it). The guy you're supposedly rooting for (Poe) throughout the entire film turns out to be wrong because the person you're setup to not like (Vice-Admiral Holdo) turns out to have a strategy that would have saved everyone. Why this plan isn't shared? Doesn't matter. We've just spent most of the movie cheering for the wrong person. The closest attempt at "fun" in the film is the trip to Canto Bight (which turned out to be a pointless trip) where the audience is confronted with animal cruelty and child labour. So much fun! And then there's the slog with Luke, which turns one of the most beloved characters into a jaded and bitter curmudgeon that Yoda only bothers to visit once Luke has figured out that his years of sulking isn't helping anyone. Thanks Yoda for not showing up before all the damage was done. We finally get to see Luke in action, but the ability to enjoy the fight is removed once we're told that it's not really Luke - it's space-ghost Luke where the stakes of his battle with Kylo Ren mean next to nothing. Yeah! And then he dies. Why? No real real explanation. It's up there with Padme's death that makes little sense. The Last Jedi suffers from the same tonal issues that The Dark Knight Rises does: just too much foreboding dread with few light and fun moments. With Empire we still had moments of levity and the audience didn't feel beaten down throughout most of the film. Again, TLJ is a film that takes the Star Wars franchise way too seriously. Forget about my issues with how it completely changes the trajectory of the entire series by virtue of discounting the Skywalker saga and democratizes the force. It assumes the heart of the Star Wars film lies in the franchises's lore; that what the audience really wants is a deep dive into the mysticism of the force at the expense of everything else. Star Wars is great when it's fun. And I found little fun in The Last Jedi nor did I appreciate being hoodwinked by the Poe storyline and Luke's final scene. The film is beautifully shot. Love the opening scene where Poe takes out the Dreadnought. The choice to remove the sound during the kamikaze scene was really cool. And the visuals and direction during the final battle scene were stellar. There just wasn't much about the rest of the film that worked for me. Anyway, this discussion got me thinking about all of this again so felt the need to get it out.

My issue with The Last Jedi (well, my main issue, I have a lot of them) is that it tries to shift the overall story away from the story of Skywalker. It sort of democratizes the force that takes the focus off the Skywalker story. What is the story of Star Wars so far but the story of the Skywalkers. I love that Rhian wanted to do something new. Great. But tell a consistent story at least. Start a new instalment about other force sensitive people that doesn't muddy up the story of the Skywalkers. For me, that's the film's greatest fault (with Leia's space Mary Poppins routine not far behind). There's a better story after Return, the issue I think the producers had was that the original cast was too old to tell that story. So they largely got put on the back burner and let a new cast of characters carry the weight. Which would be fine if they could have done a better job tying it into the first six films. Too many narrative zig-zags due to the conflict in ideas of the two directors.

This is and was my thinking regarding Force Awakens. For me, it's the best of the three sequel films. It was still fun, even if it was a re-hash. And that was largely on the back of seeing what happened after Return and Harrison Ford reprising his role as Han. It certainly isn't without its faults. It's essentially A New Hope redux. Even Han Solo makes the comment about how they have done it before (in reference to blowing up the Death Star versus the dumb death planet). And not including Luke until the last 30 seconds felt like a waste. But it was safe, dumb fun and I enjoyed it for what it was. It was a better looking New Hope that made more sense in some respects. And I know some disagree, but for me, it did setup the series well. The problem was they gave the film to a different writer/director who decided to go in a different direction. Too many cooks in the kitchen but not enough hands at the wheel either.

I use to play GTA 1 and 2 on PC when it was a top down racer/adventure game. Thought it was fun but never lasted long. I didn't have a PS2 until later and was never that impressed with GTA 3. It was a cool concept, but I couldn't get past the clunky controls. Plus it felt like the reason most of my friends were into it was just to kill hookers after sleeping with them in your car. So ended up passing on it. Then Vice City came out and it felt like Rock Star had finally ironing out the kinks. The controls were finally sorted and the missions were fun. Plus the 80s theme and having Ray Liotta voice the main character was pretty cool. The story was great. I think I was in my early 20s when this game came out and I had just seen Scarface, so I enjoyed all the references. It felt like the game was more than just a game, but a cultural statement and work of art. Moreover, it was an actual world to inhabit that wasn't fantasy based. And the sound track was spectacular (I think still unbeaten). I was finally hooked on GTA. San Andreas, in my opinion, is still the most fun I have ever had with a video game. The scale was unprecedented with the inclusion of Los Santos, the country side, and smaller scaled versions of San Francisco and Las Vegas. The missions were spectacular and on the whole the most fun of all the GTAs (in my opinion). I would replay some missions almost right after I beat them because they were so much fun. Getting to own property, garages full of cars, and be able to change CJ's physique and look was awesome. Plus, we finally heard from Axl. I'd listen to K-DST endlessly just to hear what Axl was going to say. Keep in mind Axl was in his super reclusive phase having only toured once in over ten years. It was a thrill to hear his voice even if it was just him talking. It's a shame the remake Rock Star released last year was shit. I think of all the GTA games released, this is the one I'd play again. It's maybe not the most impressive technically, but for me it had the best story, characters and the most fun missions. Also loved the mini-game they gave people after the main story was done. It was a blast looking at the map to see where the rival gang had territory, role up and take it for Grove Street. I did play GTA IV all the way through, but if I'm being honest, I didn't love it. It was impressive, but it just wasn't fun. There were only a few missions that I really enjoyed. The rest felt like a bit of a slog and on the rails (save for the driving mechanics). I get they were trying to tell a different kind of story. But I never really cared too much for the main character, and it was a shame that in a city like NYC players were limited to what they could own. I hear the DLCs were a lot more fun, but I was kind of done with the game once I finished the main storyline. It just felt like a bit of a drag as a whole. GTA V is probably the most impressive technically of all the GTA games, and it did restore a lot of the fun. I'm not sure if having three main characters worked as it felt hard to connect with any of them due to the nature of often changing characters. I do recommend going back and play this game from beginning to end if you haven't (maybe even more than once since there are different endings). There are so many glorious moments. They did a great job in allowing players decide how to pull off heists. A lot of room for creativity and something that GTA IV lacked. You could tell they wanted to fix some of the mistakes they committed with IV by having it less like a real and gritty drama. It was balls-to-the-wall and over the top nonsense throughout (though, I still think some of the missions on SA were more fun). Plus if you ever want to travel to Los Angeles without being there, GTA V is the next best thing. Rock Star nails the look and feel of Southern California. My only real criticism of the game is the lack of DLC. I never got into GTA Online as I didn't have any friends who were interested in the online component and the public servers were a nightmare to navigate. I keep hearing about great new content online but I just can't be bothered to deal with the insanity that is the GTA Online world. I wish they offered DLC missions and campaigns for people that didn't want to bother with the online world. It looks like with GTA VI they've taken what made V great and giving us more. I read that this is the Florida Man of video games, and I'm here for that. Whereas the original Vice City game felt like a cartoon reference of South Florida, this game looks like it will do for Miami and the surrounding area what GTA V did for SoCal. That alone gets me excited. There's so much material to work with considering the insanity that is American society these days that I'm really excited for Rock Star's social commentary. Only shame with this game is that it's taking so long to make and release. In the same amount of time that Rock Star made GTA 3, GTA: VC, GTA: SA, GTA IV, GTA Liberty Stories, and GTA V we're getting GTA VI. At this pace I think I'll hopefully live long enough to play two, maybe three more GTAs. I'm hopeful that the new programming tools (Unreal 5 engine, AI) allow for quicker deployment of additional locations and campaigns than what Rock Star has been doing for the last 12 years. Maybe unrealistic, but how great would it be if they could put out a RDR and GTA every successive two years? Anyway, a man can dream. I'm hoping with GTA VII they have a VR component and that it takes place in a new location (London makes sense). But I likely will be, at best, in my mid 50s when that game comes out. So hopefully GTA VI is great enough for several play throughs. Rock Star rarely lets me down so I'm excited.

That’s funny because Grand Theft Auto and RDR are the only games I play at launch and finish. The last game I played at (or near) launch was RDR2.

I think you can bank on that… Other likely targets for parody: - Joe Rogan/Jordan Peterson/Tucker Carlson - Elon Musk - Cancel Culture/anti-cancel culture - Trump/Desantis - MeToo and MeToo backlash - Billionaires who own rocket ship companies - Mom’s For Liberty - Alt-country - A.I.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0eifAsI6nj/?igshid=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==

Thank you for reminding us that there's no one more sensitive these days than white men. May?