Quickly I remembered that is easier to downstream content rather than upstream it.

Entertainment

• Westworld - What is the number for Bull Shit? I'd like to call them to discuss this finale. It Inception and combined it with Dollhouse but only used the bad parts. Did not enjoy, will not recommend.
• Transformers: The Last Knight - Oh god, please let this be the last movie they make. Please cancel that Bumble Bee movie.
• Baywatch - Way better than Transformers: The Last Knight but that is a pretty low bar. I didn't expect much out of this movie and I think I got what I expected. It leaned into making fun of itself and was self-aware of doing. Please don't take this as an endorsement or support for a sequel.
• Luke Cage: Season 2 - I haven't been able to finish it because I keep falling asleep while watching it. That tells you how dull the show is. I've gotten to a point where I think I'm in the late game of the season and things are starting to play out but it is failing to make me care what happens. I just want to see the end and have it be over with. This show bums me out because the soundtrack is fantastic.
• The Unlikely Herocast: Episode 3 - Chuck and I sat down for another podcast. Brad and Omar couldn't join us but we look to have them back as soon as they are available. You can listen to Chuck question my movie choices here.

Games

• XCOM 2 - The more I play the more I wonder how much is left. Every time I hit the point when I think it is a turning point to the finish it feels like it is just leading me down another street to yet another turn. Still into it but I feel like it needs to crescendo and start wrapping up.

News

• Cross-play - Microsoft and Nintendo seem to be ganging up on Sony. Not that they don't deserve it and not that they shouldn't continue.
• Sony's cross-play problem - They've at least admitted they are evaluating what they need to do to satisfy their customers' and business needs. Still, don't expect anything in the near future.
• PS Now downloads? - It is still a rumor and until Sony makes it official take it as such. It would be a great move to make the service more like Game Pass since people with "not great" Internet service would then be able to make use of the service. It would even be better if it makes PS3 games playable on PS4. It would be even be betterer if it made PS3 games playable outside of subscribing to the service, say for those of us that own the game on disc or digitally. Just a thought.
• PUBG drops lawsuit against Fortnite - Wait... PUBG didn't invent the battle royale mode??? I think this one just got put away because PUBG had a weak claim and if they wanted to pursue this against Fortnite then they would be obligated to sue every battle royale style game. It also could have been a backroom deal since PUBG and EPIC are sort of partners.
• Fortnite patch - One of the biggies in this patch is the edit mode. The change is that panels being edit are now no longer see-through. It never even crossed my mind how much of a competitive advantage this was for a good builder and completely explains some of the things I've seen in matches. Applause for this simple but fantastic change.
• Atari Box "fake news" claim - LOL. Maybe it's not a good idea to call someone out for making up news that has a recording to prove that you said what they wrote. Either way, that Atari Box looks like a hot mess.

Closing Arguments

A few weeks ago I was streaming fairly regularly. Then I hit some technical snags. Then I hit a vacation snag. Then I hit a laziness snag. After all of that I fixed the technical issues(isolator on the audio input if you need to know). After that I wasn't on vacation anymore. Finally I got over being lazy.

So this was going to be the return to streaming. Nobody watched me before so no trumpets were needed. Since I'm trying to finish up XCOM2 I decided to stream that. This was the point when the game went mental on me and stopped my stream. Look at the picture at the beginning of this post. See something wrong? Something missing? There is supposed to be an NPC there. They were straight up gone. Not only this particular one but all of the ones in my base. On top of it, no voice over audio. The base was silent and if I started a mission I could only hear gunshots and footsteps. This game had f'd me over yet again.

I tried various fixes but ultimately cancelled my stream without fanfare. I tried everything from loading different saves, quitting and restarting the game, loading different saves after restarting the game, restarting my console, loading different saves after restarting, restarting then trying one save, restarting then trying a different save, etc., etc., etc.. Nothing.

As a last ditch effort, I loaded my last save and started my next mission. It was weird hearing nothing but footsteps and gunshots for the entire playtime. Especially since it was layered on top of the normal frustration that is XCOM2. I save scummed once, still no improvement on the audio front, but I managed to successfully complete the mission. Upon returning to my base... huzzah! Everything was back to normal with full audio and NPC's.

This is yet another moment where I gain a little bit more respect for content creators because problems like these can completely derail them. Not only does your setup have to be technically sound you have to deal with the games themselves glitching out. I wonder how a pro-streamer would have dealt with this situation? Would you power through it and take the audience along with you on this garbage ride? Would you jump to another game and get it back to working? Would it just depend on how you do your content? Would you just throw your hands up in the air and curse the Gods of XCOM?